Over the weekend, the USFL concluded the 2022 season by crowning its inaugural champion when the Birmingham Stallions beat the Philadelphia Stars 33-30 at Tom Benson’s Hall of Fame Stadium in Canton, Ohio. The league held all of its regular season games at Protective Stadium and Legion Field in Birmingham, Alabama.
This was a history-making season as the USFL lasted an entire season. The Alliance of American Football folded after eight weeks in 2019, and the pandemic killed the XFL in 2020. The USFL is already planning for the 2023 season as they will compete against the XFL in 2023.
The new USFL started its journey by introducing the teams, rules and held a draft featuring many former NFL, CFL, and college football players, looking for a second chance. The teams in this new USFL were the Pittsburgh Maulers, Houston Gamblers, New Jersey Generals, Michigan Panthers, Philadelphia Stars, Birmingham Stallions, New Orleans Breakers, and the Tampa Bay Bandits.
For many fans who watched the original, it was nice to see some of them again for the first time in 37 years. They remember the days when Keith Jackson and Lynn Swann broadcasted the USFL games on ABC, featuring plenty of Hall of Famers from Reggie White, Jim Kelly, Steve Young, Sam Mills, and many more.
Before the USFL Championship Game took place, the Pro Football Hall of Fame made a permanent exhibit for the USFL. On one side, you have the newer jerseys and memorabilia. On the other side are the old-school USFL uniforms, from Jim Kelly’s Gamblers uniform to the Houston Gamblers’ old helmet and former Philadelphia Stars running back Ken Dunek’s jersey.
I would love to see the new USFL reconnect with the old USFL. It’s essential to tell the history of the league as a whole. However, just before the season started, the original owners of the USFL sued the new USFL, but the courts denied a preliminary injunction to bar the new USFL from using the original league’s name and trademarks.
That’s why Sunday’s championship game was titled Inaugural instead of the continuation because of the lawsuit. These two must settle their differences and do what’s right for the league. The stats and the old logos of the teams should be incorporated with the new USFL.
In the first week of the season, the New Jersey Generals and Birmingham Stallions started the season on both FOX and NBC and drew nearly 3.5 million viewers. Viewership went down as the weeks went on, and the league averaged 1.034 million viewers on FOX and NBC and 715,000 when the games were on USA Network and FS1.
The season started out rough, but the play did improve as the weeks went along. There is a market for spring football. However, if the USFL is going to succeed, they need to find homes for the seven other teams. This would allow a fan base to support the team. This might be difficult as most NFL owners do not want to lend their stadiums to USFL teams. Even though most team stadiums were built with public money.
Outside of the Stallions, not many fans showed up for the other games, and the broadcast inserted crowd noise, which made it worse. Viewers are not mindless of the fact that the number of fans in the stadium did not add up to the crowd noise. This tactic is getting old; stop pretending. They didn’t need that at the Championship Game. Next year, the XFL plans to put their teams in their markets, and the USFL needs to do the same.
According to The Sports Business Journal’s John Ourand, FOX Sports CEO and Executive Producer Eric Shanks plans to have two to four markets next season. Then, FOX Sports hired investment bank Allen & Co. to find minority investors to help fund the league’s expansion. Allen & Co. helped the Denver Broncos get sold to Walmart heir Rob Walton for $4.65 billion. The company knows investors who have shown interest in investing in football and might be able to get them on board with the USFL.
When the league announced its coaches, they were veteran coaches that have been around for a long time. Bart Andrus (PHI), Mike Reilly (NJ), Kirby Smart (PIT), Kevin Sumlin (HOU), Skip Holtz (BIR), Todd Haley (TB), Jeff Fisher (MI), and Larry Fedora (NO). Once the players were signed and picked with these teams, you could tell why they were not in the NFL. Most of them were trying to make a comeback from injuries, while others have character issues.
Many of these coaches and broadcasters have pointed out that many of them are not accountable for their actions and don’t take responsibility. Most of them showed up late for meetings and practices and were doing their own thing on the field rather than following the playbook. Most of this was featured on a documentary show called United by Football: A Season in the USFL 2022, where fans got to go behind the scenes of the players, coaches, and games.
Kirby Smart, the head coach of the Pittsburgh Maulers, was the center of attention in the first week when he cut running back De’Veon Smith for violating three team rules. It was known as pizza gate because Smith wanted pizza instead of chicken salad.
Many quickly criticized Smart for cutting him and benching players during games. He’s trying to teach these players lessons, not just about football but life.
Most people and fans will always side with the players. However, I don’t think Kirby Smart is a bad coach that many are claiming him to be. He’s been a running backs coach for 23 years and has won two Super Bowls with the Steelers and Buccaneers.
These coaches were brought in to help teach these players accountability, respect, and discipline, rather than be buddies like you see in the NFL. These players have the talent to get to the next level, but their lack of discipline is holding them back.
In the 2022 NFL Draft, many big-name college players were not drafted, including Nevada quarterback Carson Strong, Notre Dame wide receiver Kevin Austin, and Ohio State defensive lineman Haskell Garrett were among the names not drafted.
Some of these players did sign with NFL teams after the draft and will compete for jobs during training camp. Heading into next year’s USFL Draft, the league needs to work on convincing recent college grads to come and play in the USFL.
Overall, the USFL was enjoyable to watch this year. The weeks went by fast, and now NFL training camps are just around the corner. All eight teams will return in 2023, and now the countdown begins for the 2023 season.
