You may have seen the football league, the UFL, mentioned in the news recently. Whether you’re a football casual or deeply knowledgeable fan, you may not be sure exactly what the UFL is, given it’s a complicated story. Let’s go through the history of this spring football league.
The UFL is a new spring football league that was announced as the product of a merger between the rebooted XFL and the rebooted USFL. It was the third iteration of the XFL (led by Dwayne Johnson, Dany Garcia and Redbird Capital) and second iteration of the USFL (owned by Fox) that merged. Since then, Mike Repole has also les a soft-relaunch of the UFL that changed some of the team names and locations. The UFL currently includes 8 teams, listed below.
Current UFL (as of 2026 Season)
- Birmingham Stallions
- DC Defenders
- St Louis Battlehawks
- Dallas Renegades (rebranded Arlington Renegades)
- Houston Gamblers (rebranded Houston Roughnecks)
- Columbus Aviators (relocated Michigan Panthers)
- Orlando Storm (relocated San Antonio Brahmas)
- Louisville Kings (relocated Memphis Showboats)
Following the initial USFL-XFL version in 2024, these were the announced teams.
USFL Teams
- Birmingham Stallions
- Houston Gamblers (transitioning to XFL’s Houston Roughnecks branding)
- Michigan Panthers
- Memphis Showboats
XFL Teams
- Arlington Renegades
- DC Defenders
- San Antonio Brahmas
- St Louis Battlehawks
The merger had been in the works for months, but was formally announced in late December 2023 with league details released in early January 2024. The UFL inaugural kickoff date is March 30th, 2024, pitting the two 2023 league champions against each other (Arlington Renegades vs. Birmingham Stallions).
Elements from both leagues will be taken in with the merger. ESPN, Fox and their various channels will be broadcast partners for the UFL (ESPN had been the XFL’s partner while Fox and NBC were partnered with the USFL). The league will play in home stadiums like the XFL, unlike the USFL, which operated in hubs. The teams will play a ten game regular season, culminating in playoffs and a championship game. The playoff structure has not yet been announced.
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