UFL ABANDONS BIRMINGHAM, HOUSTON IN LATEST MARKET RESET

The United Football League will leave Birmingham and Houston after the 2026 season, removing one of modern spring football’s defining franchises alongside a market the competition concedes it failed to cultivate consistently.

Two as-yet-unidentified cities will replace the Stallions and Gamblers in 2027 as part of what the UFL has termed a ‘strategic market realignment’. Oklahoma City is then scheduled to join as the competition expands to ten teams in 2028, with a 12-team model targeted for 2030 — or potentially a year earlier if discussions with prospective markets continue to progress.

The announcement represents another aggressive remodelling of a league which replaced Memphis, Michigan and San Antonio with Columbus, Louisville and Orlando before the 2026 season. Unlike those departures, however, Birmingham’s removal cannot be readily attributed to a lack of competitive relevance or a weak connection between the team and its city. Revived as part of the USFL in 2022, the Stallions won three consecutive championships under Skip Holtz: back-to-back USFL titles in 2022 and 2023, followed by the inaugural UFL crown in 2024. The franchise went 32–4 across those three seasons and remained unbeaten in postseason play, establishing Birmingham as the dominant team of spring football’s latest incarnation, although relocation rumours were rife even then.

After Holtz stepped aside, however, the UFL strengthened the Stallions’ local identity by appointing former Alabama quarterback A.J. McCarron as its youngest head coach. The 35-year-old inherited a rebuilding job and finished his debut season 4–6, with a three-game closing run leaving Birmingham one victory short of the playoffs. None of that, according to UFL co-owner Mike Repole, outweighed the league’s dissatisfaction with Protective Stadium. Its capacity of approximately 47,000 conflicts with Repole’s preference for smaller grounds in which crowds of around 10,000 can produce a fuller, more television-friendly atmosphere.

“Departing a market is never easy and this decision is not a reflection of the dedication shown by players, coaches, fans, local partners or civic leaders in Birmingham or Houston,” Repole said. “We are grateful for their passion, commitment, and support, which have helped shape the continued evolution of the UFL.

“My mission is to build a league that is not only sustainable today, but also successful and thriving for decades to come. Building a spring football league has required discipline and difficult decisions, which have been guided by our clear long-term vision. Every market evaluation begins with the same three principles I have said since day one — the right market, the right sized venue, and a passionate fan base.”

Birmingham demonstrated the last of those qualities when the Stallions attracted more than 16,000 spectators for their opening home game. Repole’s argument is that the same attendance would have appeared, and sounded, more impressive inside a compact venue than it did at Protective Stadium.

“With Birmingham, this decision was 100 percent due to the wrong sized venue,” he said. “I appreciate the passion of the fans and respect the history of the Birmingham Stallions. It was clearly my decision that, with the wrong sized venue, spring football could not succeed in Birmingham.

“Even on opening day, when 16,000 Stallions fans showed up, the energy, passion, and game atmosphere was not felt due to the size of the venue. We’ve been transparent with local mayors and city leadership that we’d love to return as soon as the right stadium solution becomes available, and we are willing to participate in accelerating those efforts.”

That leaves open the possibility of a future return, although the immediate decision risks alienating a proven audience in pursuit of an ideal venue which Birmingham cannot currently provide. Alternative sites have presented their own complications, with the Hoover Metropolitan Complex required for the SEC baseball tournament during the UFL season.

Houston’s departure carries a different explanation. The market has been part of every season since the XFL’s 2020 revival but was repeatedly asked to follow an organisation whose identity, home ground and league affiliation continued to change.

The original Roughnecks played at TDECU Stadium before the pandemic ended the 2020 XFL season. Following the USFL-XFL merger, the Roughnecks name was retained for two UFL seasons before the team moved to Shell Energy Stadium and reclaimed the Gamblers identity for 2026. That return to a familiar USFL brand was intended to draw upon the city’s spring football history. Instead, it became one more reset for a team that also went 4–6, missed the playoffs and averaged only 5,683 spectators across its home schedule, according to the Houston Chronicle. That was the lowest figure in the league.

“Houston played an important role in re-establishing modern spring football, and we’re grateful to the fans, partners, and community who supported the Roughnecks and Gamblers,” Repole said. “Houston is a great sports city, and Shell Energy Stadium has been an outstanding partner and venue. The reality is that we did not give this market the consistency it deserved. Between venue changes, team name changes, and different approaches, we made it difficult to build lasting momentum.”

The admission is notable because Shell Energy Stadium appeared to satisfy the very venue criteria now being used to remove Birmingham. Houston’s problems were instead rooted in years of league instability, limited competitive success and declining public engagement that a nostalgic nickname could not reverse in a single season.

Repole’s willingness to close both operations illustrates the scale of his intervention since joining the ownership group in 2025. The UFL insists its wider business indicators improved during 2026, when Louisville won the championship in its expansion season, and says interest from prospective host cities has encouraged it to bring forward its growth plans.

The identity of the two immediate replacements will now determine whether this latest overhaul amounts to a more durable national strategy or another short-term exchange of established markets for untested ones. It could also unlock the door to moving further west to expand the currently narrow geographic spread that is a legacy of not carrying Seattle and Los Angeles over in the XFL-USFL merger.