This weekend, the United Football League will conclude the 2024 regular season with the playoffs on the horizon. The playoff matchups are already set with the San Antonio Brahmas and St. Louis Battlehawks facing each other in the XFL Conference, and the USFL Conference will feature the Birmingham Stallions and the Michigan Panthers.
Preparations are already underway for the 2025 season. Rumors are beginning to come out in regards to next season. According to UFL News Hub’s Mark Perry, the league is leaning towards keeping the eight teams, a possible relocation for two teams, no expansion, and is considering two different start dates for next season.
The USFL and XFL merger that formed the United Football League in 2024 did a lot of damage in a short period of time and the league needs to use this offseason to begin the process of undoing the damage that they caused.
Regaining The Fans Trust:
When the merger became official, those teams that were not included like Philadelphia, New Jersey, New Orleans, Pittsburgh, Vegas, Seattle, Houston, and Orlando, had many fans hurt when they found out that their team was not going to play in 2024. This prompted them to not watch or attend a UFL game this year.
Currently, the UFL is averaging 916,000 views between the networks of FOX, ESPN, ABC, and FS1. Right now, these numbers are better than both the USFL and XFL in the last two seasons. However, those numbers could be better had they attempted to keep all 16 teams, while turning those watching the games into paying customers and filling the stadiums.
Another reason many do not trust the league is the leadership of the UFL. Many people do not like Dwayne Johnson, Dany Garcia, Russ Brandon, and Daryl Johnston whether it is politics, broken promises, both, or more.
For the fans who did get to keep their teams, the majority of them are not happy that they are practicing in Arlington, Texas. In 2023, the XFL held all practices in Arlington before sending the teams to their respective cities for gameday.
These teams are not true home teams, they are traveling teams who on any given day could be relocated except for the Arlington Renegades. The fans want to watch their teams practice for the upcoming games and right now they cannot and that has hurt them from creating new fans.
Meanwhile, for the last two seasons, the USFL did a hub model where all the teams played in Birmingham in 2022 and then two teams shared a stadium in 2023. Philadelphia, New Jersey, New Orleans, Houston, and Pittsburgh never got a chance to host games in their respective cities. We will never know what the crowds would have been like in those cities.
The league needs to work on regaining the fan’s trust in 2025. These people have been burned before by previous leagues time and time again, and they need to show that they are not going anywhere but up. Maybe, they can convince some but this is going to take years.
Houston’s Identity Crisis:
For the last two seasons, both the USFL and XFL had a Houston team but the XFL’s Houston Roughnecks actually played in Houston. When the merger took place, the XFL’s Roughnecks folded but the name was transferred to the Houston Gamblers, thus placing them in the USFL Conference.
This season, despite being called the Roughnecks, many fans still referred to them as the Gamblers. When the merger took place, the league should have kept the Houston Gamblers name in the USFL Conference.
There are other solutions the UFL could have done. If they wanted to keep the Roughnecks in the XFL Conference, they should have axed one of the existing XFL teams and got rid of the Gamblers, which would have allowed a team like Philadelphia, New Jersey, Pittsburgh, and New Orleans a chance to stay. The last option would have been axing Houston altogether and keeping one of the four USFL teams. They could try Houston again in a few years.
The UFL had problems finding a stadium for Houston before the season began. They eventually got Rice Stadium as Houston’s new home while TDECU Stadium is undergoing renovations.
In 2025, if Houston is going to remain in the UFL, they need to do one of two things. First, if they are going to remain in the USFL Conference, they must go back to the Gamblers name and no more Roughnecks brand for the time being. The Roughnecks brand could be brought back in the future to another city.
Second, if the league does decide to expand, the Roughnecks should be moved back to the XFL Conference taking the original Roughnecks stats from 2020 and 2023 along with the 2024 stats and dropping the Gamblers name, colors, and both their 2022 and 2023 stats.
The two new teams or previous teams would go to the USFL Conference. The Gamblers is a great name that would make a solid addition to a new market down the road again if they make it far. The Las Vegas Gamblers has a nice ring to it.
Relocation:
Right now, the rumor going around is that the Houston Roughnecks and the Michigan Panthers are going to relocate to improve attendance. I had already discussed this in an earlier post, which you can read here, about the UFL needing to move teams to smaller stadiums if possible.
The other team that should be included with Houston and Michigan is Arlington. Next year, I would like to see Houston either go to TDECU Stadium or Shell Energy Stadium, Michigan relocate to Waldo Stadium in Kalamazoo, Michigan, and Arlington goes back be being called the Dallas Renegades and move them to the Ford Center in Frisco, Texas.
Expansion:
First off, I am against expanding the league next season. It would be a bigger deal if the UFL can sell the eight teams they have right now for 2025 and if there are additional owners interested, then expansion can occur. The league cannot just sell these teams to anybody who is a millionaire.
They need to be people who are serious about owning and operating them. A couple of years ago, the USFL hired Allen & Co. to find investors interested in buying the teams.
The UFL needs to reach out to those who have attempted to buy teams like the Washington Commanders and Denver Broncos and see if they are interested in buying a UFL team.
Right now, investors are cautious about the UFL. Not long ago, the Big3 Basketball League sold its first franchise after seven years in existence. It is going to take time before investors start to buy the teams and it is why the league should stay at eight teams.
However, under the USFL and XFL agreement of the merger, both leagues were going to expand to ten team’s next season. Right now, the league is leaning towards staying at eight teams as of this writing.
Recently, FOX is planning to air live games on Friday nights once WWE Smackdown moves to the USA Network in September. FOX is planning to air UFL games on Friday nights in 2025.
How are they going to do this? Are they going to air one game on Friday while Saturdays and Sundays would switch between one game on one day and two the next? This can’t be done unless there is expansion involved which leads me to believe that the UFL will go to ten team’s next season.
When it comes to the two teams, the UFL should focus on rivalries. After all, rivalries help grow the league. Right now, the only rivalry in the UFL is St. Louis and D.C. When those two teams clashed, attendance was great. In Week 5 in D.C., 16,058 fans showed up, and in St. Louis was 32,403 fans in Week 8.
As I mentioned earlier, if the league is keeping Houston, they need to move them back to the XFL Conference which would reignite their feuds with the Arlington Renegades and San Antonio Brahmas while leaving the USFL Conference two teams short. When it comes to these two teams, the UFL should focus on the Northeast and the two perfect teams that fit the bill are the New Jersey Generals and Philadelphia Stars.
They have a rivalry already in place and the USFL Conference desperately needs two rival teams because Birmingham and Memphis do not cut it. In addition, there are smaller stadiums there for both New Jersey and Philadelphia to play at. New Jersey could play at Red Bull Arena while Philadelphia plays at Subaru Park. Bringing these two teams back would be nice in 2025.
On the other hand, if the UFL decides to keep Houston in the USFL Conference and give them back the Gamblers name. Then, both conferences would get one team each in 2025.
The league should still focus on the Northeast market with Philadelphia returning to the USFL Conference and for the XFL Conference, the UFL should bring back the New York Guardians and have them play at Red Bull Arena. The Guardians had a rivalry brewing until the pandemic hit in 2020. When the XFL moved the Guardians to Orlando, the name did not fit the city and a return to New York would give D.C. another rivalry next season.
Schedule:
The UFL is considering two start dates right now either March 1st or March 29th. I think the league should start on March 29th but realistically, I would like to see them start the season a week after the NCAA Final Four Tournament concludes. If they do air the UFL on Friday nights, the first game should feature the team that wins the UFL Championship in 2024. In addition, I would like to see both FOX and ESPN/ABC have a 30-minute pregame show before the actual games start.
One important part of the schedule I would love to see is the D.C. Defenders host a home game during Memorial Day weekend. The UFL’s partnership with the U.S. Army has been a good one. Now, if the UFL brought back the New Jersey Generals, you could have D.C. and New Jersey host home games during Memorial Day weekend. It would be a new tradition for the UFL.
Slight tweak to the extra points rule:
There is one more thing I would like to see the UFL do next season is allowing kickers to kick extra points. I get they went with the XFL conversion point method but I would like to see the league allow kickers to kick the extra point and keep the two and three-point conversions. In addition, keep the USFL kickoff, many leagues are copying the XFL model, and staying with the USFL separates themselves from the other leagues.
Final Thoughts:
By making these suggestions, the UFL can take the first steps to undo the damage from 2024. While some fans want the league to expand to the West Coast, the league is not ready for it yet and should not spread themselves thin unlike the XFL did.
The league needs to concentrate on connecting with the fans which will help improve ratings and attendance. If the league can do the things that were mentioned in this article, they might have a chance to grow the product and become a true alternative football league.
