Railing against the expectation of sceptics, both the 2023 versions of the XFL and USFL made it across the finish line to stage championship games, yet neither league will be operating in 2024. Instead, a new entity will rise to take their place, realising that to be divided is the easiest way to fall.

Since the 1986 demise of the original United States Football League — famously derailed by the braggadocio of one Donald J. Trump — there have been several attempts to kickstart spring football in the U.S., but the World League of American Football lasted just two seasons with American teams before morphing into NFL Europe, Vince McMahon’s original XFL was dealt a knockout blow after a single round, and the promising but woefully under-funded Alliance of American Football (AAF) capitulated financially after just eight weeks. Even McMahon’s 2020 attempt to launch XFL 2.0 was ill-fated, cut short by the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic before the almost inevitable suspension of operations and bankruptcy filing.

After a couple of fallow seasons, the USFL was rebooted for 2022, using team names from the original league but playing every one of its regular season games at a central locations in Birmingham, Alabama. Defying the odds set by previous attempts at spring football, USFL 2.0 made it through to its finale, with three postseason games taking place at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium in Canton.

Continuing into 2023 made the USFL the first U.S-based spring league since the WLAF to successfully complete a first season and return for a second, before again going the distance. This time around, games were played in four locations — adding Detroit and Memphis to Birmingham and Canton — but still struggled to attract large crowds, despite teams representing supposedly major markets.

As if one struggling spring league wasn’t a concern, however, XFL 3.0 rose from the ashes of McMahon’s dream, taken on by WWE superstar — and sometime NFL hopeful — Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson and a team that included his former partner, film producer and businesswoman Dany Garcia, and Gerry Cardinale’s RedBird Capital finance company. After a couple of false starts, including a proposed merger with the Canadian Football League, the ‘new’ XFL finally hit the field in 2023 and, like the USFL, made it through to its championship game unscathed.

Both leagues had reasonable financing and strong broadcaster partnerships — with Fox owning a chunk of the USFL and ABC/ESPN collaborating with Johnson — but, with attendances still only lukewarm, could see the writing on the wall in terms of continuing to go head-to-head. That the XFL and its partners considered 2023 a success despite reporting a near $60m loss across the season always hinted at a return and, with the USFL’s Daryl Johnston intimating a similar intention, it initially appeared that the two leagues would again compete for eyeballs. Sense prevailed, however, and, after a drawn-out courtship, a merged competition, under the United Football League (UFL) banner, was formally announced on the 30 December edition of Fox NFL Sunday, with Johnson subsequently revealing the eight centrally-owned teams and their respective head coaches two days later on ESPN’s College GameDay.

Understandably, but still somewhat controversially, those eight teams were drawn equally from the UFL’s two predecessors, slotting neatly into conferences named USFL and XFL in deference to their origins (see sidebar). With two strong brands in the Houston area, however, one concession had to be made, with the USFL’s Gamblers moniker ceding to the XFL’s Roughnecks while retaining the former’s player rights and coaching staff, as well as lodging in the USFL conference.

The decision to focus on a similar number of teams to previous seasons, rather than expand to 10 or 12 or even 16, naturally left some fanbases frustrated. Last year’s beaten finalists Pittsburgh, as well as New Jersey, New Orleans and Philadelphia have been lost from the USFL side of the merger, with Seattle, Las Vegas and Orlando expunged from the 2023 XFL lineup. There have been rumours of potential expansion in future seasons but, for now, that likelihood remains on the backburner.

“I think the big thing is ‘crawl, walk, run’,” former Dallas Cowboys fullback Johnston, now the UFL’s head of football operations, told Fox. “Let’s make sure that we are doing everything in the correct and timely manner, where we’re not getting ahead of ourselves. We want to make sure that we crawl, then we walk and then we run.

“I think a lot of people, when they looked at us, said, “Well, you had two eight-team leagues and you’re back to a single eight-team league. Why would you do that?” Well, we’ve got to come back together, re-establish and build that foundation back up again. Embrace the positives on both sides, and improve in the areas where we struggled. That’s going to take time.”

A dispersal draft consisting of players from the eight teams not part of the 2024 lineup was held in mid-January, with an ensuing free agency phase allowing the acquisition of undrafted USFL/XFL players or those either cut from NFL rosters or included on practice squads.

“We don’t have any egos, and that’s been fantastic,” Johnston continued. “We are aligned at what’s best for the company, and that’s why we’re here. What are we doing this for? In that regard, there’s no deviation from the end goal, which is creating opportunities for these players to continue to chase that dream — not just get to the NFL but stay in the NFL. That’s where we change a young man’s life.”

Mike Pereira and Dean Blandino, respectively the heads of officiating for the USFL and XFL, will hold similar roles with the new league, which will continue to innovate with regulations that, in some instances, are now being adopted by the NFL.

A lot of the UFL’s more unique rules were common to both the USFL and XFL, only differing in their minor details. Ironically, the new league will adopt the USFL’s kickoff rule — with the ball being placed on the 20-yard line instead of the more familiar 35 — just as the NFL veers towards that pioneered by the XFL. The latter’s variation on the ‘point after touchdown’ made the rulebook, removing the kicking game but allowing teams to shoot for one, two or three points depending upon how far away from the goalline they opt to attempt the conversion from scrimmage. A compromise on the requirements to achieve the league’s alternative to the onside kick will see teams attempting what amounts to a fourth-and-12 from its own 28-yard line, while touchbacks will see play resume from the 25 (including any punt that goes out of bounds beyond that same point). Receivers will have to get used to getting two feet down inbounds instead of the one previously used by both the USFL and XFL, while fumbles through the endzone will be returned to the spot where the ball was dropped. Pass interference penalties will be limited to a maximum of 15 yards, two forward passes will continue to be allowed from behind the line of scrimmage and overtime will take the form of a shootout from the five-yard line.

For all the other names involved with the UFL project, however, Johnson very much remains the figurehead and driving force. Energised by the failure to realise his own professional football ambitions, he found fame as a pro wrestler and actor before returning to his first love. Along with Garcia, he led the $15m acquisition of the XFL brand, determined not only to resurrect spring football, but use it as a means of giving NFL hopefuls a second chance at making the big time.

Both the XFL and USFL achieved that aim to some degree last season, with a combined 110 players signing on with NFL teams ahead of its 2023 season. Although the majority were subsequently cut or stashed on a practice squad, some stuck around, including Brandon Aubrey (K, Dallas Cowboys), Jacques Patrick (RB, New York Jets), Ben DiNucci (QB, Denver Broncos), Khalil Davis (DT, Houston Texans), Josh Pederson (TE, Jacksonville Jaguars) and 2023 USFL MVP Alex McGough (QB, Green Bay Packers). The UFL, meanwhile, will continue to feature myriad names that fans will recognise from previous stints in the NFL.

“From day one, our mission has been to expand the game of football and be a league of opportunity, culture and innovation,” Johnson said in an official league statement, before adding during an interview at NASCAR’s Daytona 500 that “these players are going to play hard-nosed, intense football, passionate football. You tell them they’ve got one more shot in the UFL to potentially go on to the NFL, how do you think they’ll play? They’re going to ball out!”

The new UFL, with ownership shared equally between Fox Sports and Johnson’s consortium, kicks off with the reigning USFL and XFL champions — the Birmingham Stallions and Arlington Renegades respectively — pitted against one another at the latter’s Choctaw Stadium, formerly the home of the Texas Rangers baseball operation.

All eight teams will be based in Arlington between games, using four different venues around the city for training camp and practice purposes, but each will have a home market in which to play out the planned 10-week season. Each team will play its conference rivals both home and away as well as facing the four cross-conference teams once apiece. Four teams will then progress to the postseason, with the respective conference champions taking on their runners-up for the right to feature in the UFL Championship Game which, for 2024, will be held at The Dome at America’s Center in St Louis.

“The right thing for spring football is to have one focused league,” long-time Buffalo Bills front office executive-turned-UFL CEO Russ Brandon insisted to ESPN. “I think we all are very confident that this league will be here well beyond our years.”

MEET THE TEAMS

USFL CONFERENCE

Birmingham Stallions

Colours: Red/Gold/White
Head Coach: Skip Holtz
Home Stadium: Protective Stadium, Birmingham
Of Note: USFL champions in 2022 and 2023
Who Might I Know? Chris Blewitt, K; Taco Charlton, DE; Matt Corral, QB; Amari Rodgers, WR; Jace Sternberger, TE; Scooby Wright, LB
Title Odds: 4/1

Houston Roughnecks

Colours: Navy/Red
Head Coach: Curtis Johnson
Home Stadium: Rice Stadium, Houston
Of Note: Roughnecks nickname chosen over USFL Gamblers
Who Might I Know? Reuben Foster, LB; Cyril Grayson, WR; Hunter Niswander, P; Chris Odom, DE
Title Odds: 10/1

Memphis Showboats

Colours: Navy/Yellow/White
Head Coach: John DeFilippo
Home Stadium: Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium, Memphis
Of Note: Returned to replace Tampa Bay Bandits in 2023 USFL
Who Might I Know? Vontae Diggs, LB; Vinny Papale, WR; Darius Victor, RB; Trey Williams, RB
Title Odds: 9/1

Michigan Panthers

Colours: Royal Plum/Champagne Silver/Light Blue
Head Coach: Mike Nolan
Home Stadium: Ford Field, Detroit
Of Note: Won the inaugural USFL title in 1982
Who Might I Know? Adonis Alexander, CB; Ron’Dell Carter, DE; Danny Etling, QB; Kai Nacua, S; Breeland Speaks, DE
Title Odds: 12/1

XFL CONFERENCE

Arlington Renegades

Colours: Light Blue/Black/Red
Head Coach: Bob Stoops
Home Stadium: Choctaw Stadium, Arlington
Of Note: XFL champions 2023
Who Might I Know? Vic Beasley, LB; Deontay Burnett, WR; Sal Cannella, TE; Marquette King, P; Luis Perez, QB
Title Odds: 5/1

D.C. Defenders

Colours: Red/White/Silver
Head Coach: Reggie Barlow
Home Stadium: Audi Field, Washington
Of Note: Winners of the inaugural game in XFL 2.0
Who Might I Know? Francis Bernard, LB; Keke Coutee, WR; Abram Smith, RB; D.J. Swearinger, S; Jordan Ta’amu, QB
Title Odds: 4/1

San Antonio Brahmas

Colours: Dark Grey/Yellow/Light Grey
Head Coach: Wade Phillips
Home Stadium: Alamodome, San Antonio
Of Note: The Brahma bull is a personal mascot of Dwayne Johnson
Who Might I Know? Donald de la Haye, P; Cody Latimer, TE; Anthony McFarland, RB; Teez Tabor, CB; Brad Wing, P
Title Odds: 13/1

St. Louis Battlehawks
Colours: Royal Blue/Silver
Head Coach: Anthony Becht
Home Stadium: The Dome at America’s Center
Of Note: Renowned for fanatical, record-setting XFL crowds
Who Might I Know? Marcell Ateman, WR; Hakeem Butler, WR; Kameron Kelly, DB; A.J. McCarron, QB; Channing Stribling, CB
Title Odds: 9/2