In the midst of the National Football League (NFL) offseason, the United Football League (UFL) has emerged on the sporting scene to give football fans quality football in the spring. But the UFL doesn’t just provide entertainment for avid football fans, the new league could change the entire landscape of professional football through opportunities arising for players, coaches, fans, and cities.
The UFL is a product of the Xtreme Football League (XFL) and the United States Football League (USFL) merger, which because of funding issues, consolidated the two leagues. The predeceasing leagues were produced to carve out a niche alongside the NFL, but because of the talent disconnect and lack of money both leagues faded out of the professional football market. The merger to create the UFL has different hopes though, and many people believe that with the consolidation of talent and higher attendance and ratings, the UFL could be a permanent developmental league.
The XFL was founded on a joint venture between the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) and NBC by Vince McMahon in 2001. This was the first attempt to implement spring football in the United States. With the promotion of the WWF and high wrestling ratings in the new century, McMahon had high anticipation for ratings towards the new league, but with under achieved income, advertisers cut the league after one season.
In 2020, the league was revamped and was promoted by former professional football player, former professional wrestler, and actor, Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson. The league exceeded expectations regarding viewership, but the season was cut short due to COVID-19. Fortunately, Johnson was determined to reinstate the “second chance” league and in 2023 following the effects of social distancing, the league joined the professional football seen yet again.
Much like the XFL, the USFL had two standalone seasons before the merger. The USFL was founded in 2022 and had decent turnout according to advertisers with Fox Sports, in its first season. During the 2022 season the USFL was the lone spring football league in the United States and benefited from the solitude. In the 2023 season, ratings and attendance numbers dropped due to the shared season with XFL and because of competition with television networks and rivaling cities.
Excluding the lone 2001 XFL season, a trend has formed where viewership and attendance has sparked when there is only one spring football league playing during the NFL offseason. In 2020, before COVID-19, the XFL had higher television viewership than any other spring football league ever. In 2022, the USFL saw a skyrocket in the attendance both digitally and in person. Brandon Russ, UFL CEO, believes that now as the only spring football league, the trend will continue.
“The historic combination will anchor professional spring football with substantial capabilities and resources to ensure future growth and continue to enhance the development of the collective players, coaches, and staff that are coming together.”.
The UFL currently calls eight cities across the United States home: Arlington, Texas, Birmingham, Ala., Detroit, Mich., Houston, Texas, Memphis, Tenn., San Antonio, Texas, St. Louis, Mo., and Washington DC, four of which do not host an NFL franchise. The XFL and USFL have attempted to center the focus of the league in cities absent of the NFL, but it is difficult to create an entire league in this manner because the NFL holds a majority of large markets.
All UFL teams practice and live in the greater Dallas-Fort Worth area in north Texas and travel out to their respective cities for games. During the 2023 season the USFL had four cities that shared practice facilities with another team in order to save costs, but the UFL figured out the XFL’s method of the “hub system” could ensure finances are directed towards other things.
So far during the 2024 season, cities that are not home to NFL franchises, hold higher attendance and television popularity compared to cities who share professional football teams. St. Louis, Mo., Birmingham, Ala., and San Antonio, Texas have all shown out in breaking last years in-person attendance records and those three cities could be a prominent part of the future of the UFL. San Antonio native and Brahmas fan, Noah Hernandez loves the addition of a professional football team in his hometown and thinks it helps grow unity in the city he grew up in.
“Football is really big in Texas and now having a team in San Antonio it makes the community come together to cheer on the Brahmas.”.
The correlation to no NFL team and having high viewership and attendance isn’t linear though. The Memphis Showboats rank six out of eight in this category and the DC Defenders who share a city with the Washington Commanders of the NFL, rank second. There is still testing to do, but if the UFL can stick it out and experiment with different cities it is believed viewership and ratings will follow.
St. Louis Battlehawks star wide receiver, Hakeem Butler believes that what is going on in St. Louis could be something special and could lead to the city getting an NFL team again after the Rams moved to Los Angeles in 2016. He compared the excitement with the expansion of the NFL in 2002 and his home city of Baltimore getting a professional football team.
“What St. Louis is seeing right now is different,” said Butler, “Every time we play at the dome the crowd is excited and rocking. It reminds me of when Baltimore got the Ravens when I was little, the whole city was involved.”.
Not only is the league based on wished longevity and meaningful cities, but the main point of the league is to give professional football players another opportunity to get back into the NFL.
About thirteen percent of the 2023 XFL and USFL rosters got a second opportunity in the NFL last year, but very few made a 53-man roster. The goal for the UFL is to give its players that next opportunity to seek larger opportunities like bigger contracts and better situations in the NFL and with all the talent in a centralized league some people believe production is bound to increase.
Professional strength and conditioning coach, Jeremiah Yiadom believes that the UFL is a level above any other spring football league and the talent, strength and athleticism in the league should translate into the NFL once the opportunity arises.
“The guys I train really want it man,” Yiadom said, “A lot of them got into training camp last year but didn’t make the final cut. They are hungry to make that leap.”.
Halfway through the season, the scoring gap margin and point differential has been significantly closer than the two leagues last year. To start on a UFL roster can be seen as the first chance to make the NFL and an example of that can be Battlehawks quarterback, AJ McCarron, who was the backup for the Cincinnati Bengals during the NFL season. He came to play in the league for more than just a salary and he has stated multiple times that he came in so his kids can watch him play the sport he loves.
The league provides more opportunities for everyone involved and the creation of the United Football League means more to players, coaches, fans and cities than the opportunity to be a part of spring football.
