The 2023 USFL season is in the books with the Birmingham Stallions winning their second USFL Championship by defeating the Pittsburgh Maulers 28-12. Now, the USFL starts to prepare for the upcoming 2024 season.
Before the championship game took place, the USFL held a press conference where Executive Vice President of Football Operations Daryl Johnston announced that the hub model will return in 2024. In my last opinion piece, I mentioned that the USFL should rip the band-aid off and have all of their teams in their home markets next year.
One reason I say this is the television ratings revealed that the USFL’s viewership dropped 16% compared to last year. In some games where the “home team” were not affiliated with the city, had fewer fans at the game compared to the hometown teams.
The XFL’s first season had 3% more viewers than the USFL’s second season. Why is that? Well, the XFL had their teams playing in their markets. However, the league does not see it that way.
In the press conference, Johnston said the hub model is returning in 2024 with adjustments which explains why Canton is returning next season as they have already begun to sell tickets for next year. However, Canton does not have a football team. This year, they hosted the Pittsburgh Maulers and New Jersey Generals.
Canton’s Tom Benson said Hall of Fame Stadium is nice. The problem is they do not have a team to call their own. I think one or two things will happen next year. One, the Pittsburgh Maulers play one more year in Canton before moving to Pittsburgh. The other would see the Maulers undergo a new identity to become the new Canton team. I do not want to see the Maulers rebranded.
The USFL has shown they are not afraid to make this move. In 2023, as they put the Tampa Bay Bandits on hiatus and relocated them to Memphis, Tennessee. I think the league would not be afraid to do it again this time rebranding Pittsburgh to become the new Canton team.
It would be a downer if this happens considering the league changed its colors to match the rest of the other Pittsburgh teams. I do think that Pittsburgh is in the USFL’s future but as far as next year is concerned, it is up in the air. If they go ahead and rebrand Pittsburgh, I think they will be back playing at Acrisure Stadium once the league is ready to expand.
In addition to Canton, Birmingham, Memphis, and Michigan will host their respective teams without sharing it with another team. As for the hub cities, I think the USFL will introduce two more markets.
The first market is New Orleans. In the spring, New Orleans does not have a major sports league other than the New Orleans Pelicans. That would be the time to re-introduce the Breakers and have the Houston Gamblers go with them as a hub city playing at Yulman Stadium.
With no major spring team other than college, I think the Breakers will be a hit in New Orleans. The league cannot continue to have the Breakers playing elsewhere like Birmingham. While it stinks for Houston, the only positive is Houston would be close.
Houston played in Memphis this year and fans of Houston that wanted to see them had to travel 8 hours and 42 minutes to get there. This time around, it would be five hours and four minutes to drive to New Orleans.
While I still don’t think Houston fans will make the trip. They will continue to watch them on television. Hopefully, the Gamblers will play in Houston by 2025.
The second hub city and I don’t know why I thought of this stadium is SHI Stadium on the campus of Rutgers University. While I said that Red Bull Arena in Harrison, New Jersey, should be the home of the Generals. SHI Stadium is another place where the Generals could call home if they can’t get into Red Bull Arena.
This would be the home of the Generals and I think they will share the stadium with the Philadelphia Stars. Realistically, the USFL could put both teams in their respective cities like Philadelphia playing either at Lincoln Financial Field or Subaru Park but they are going to want both teams to play in one stadium and I believe that this will be the other hub city.
As it stands right now, it looks like 2025 could be the year when all USFL teams will be in their respective markets unless something changes between now and the start of next season.
The one positive takeaway from this is the USFL will enter its third season. It would match the old USFL’s time from 1983-85. Depending on the markets they go to next, those that do not get their teams will have to be patient a little bit longer.
As fans of the USFL, it is frustrating to not have all the teams in their home markets. The league does not want to rush the process. They want sustainable growth for long-term success. As we have seen in recent years, other football leagues have come and gone without completing a year due to poor planning. This league does not want to repeat those mistakes.
If we must go another year with the hub model in place that is fine. Eventually, they will have all the teams in their home markets and that is exciting. Once everyone is in their markets, then we can talk about expansion. Until then, let’s look forward to the upcoming 2024 season and beyond.
