Newly-Merged UFL Provides Last Hope For Long-Term Viability
Barring another attempt by the NFL to fully fund a pro football league in its offseason, the newly-merged United Football League provides one last hope for long-term viability. The USFL and XFL have combined forces in what is likely the last viable attempt to make spring pro football work.
Both the USFL and XFL have friendly relationships with the mighty NFL, and have served as proving grounds for not only players but officiating and innovation. But you can't assume that the NFL will come in and save the day by fully financing the UFL.
This is it. If this doesn't pan out. It's hard to envision another pro league coming along with the cache or backing that this one has. If this fails, how can others succeed?
The newly formed UFL has a lot going for it, even without a direct NFL affiliation, which many presume is one of the end-game goals of the league's joint leadership group.
From an exposure standpoint, as a new league trying to find its footing in the sports landscape, you can't ask for anything better than what the UFL has heading into their 2024 season. It's something that any new sports league would kill for.
Starting on March 30, the UFL will have its games airing on FOX, ABC and ESPN, with FS1 as a supplement. The same layout as the XFL 2020 league, which had a strong showing in viewership, especially as a first-year entity among established sports leagues. That league surprisingly often outperformed or stood toe-to-toe with established sports entities.
XFL co-owners Gerry Cardinale, Dany Garcia and Dwayne Johnson joined forces with the USFL to form the United Football League.
The XFL in 2020 on FOX still, to this date, has the highest-rated non-NFL game in America, a Sunday afternoon game between the New York Guardians and Tampa Bay Vipers, which drew an average of 3.4 million viewers.
At the time, both FOX and ABC worked diligently to cross-promote the league's games — an open-door invitation by the two powerhouse networks to change the channel to the other side. It was an effective marriage. One that saw them outmatch head-to-head the NBA, NHL and even NFL Combine coverage on ABC with the XFL as the lead-in.
A positive early sign of how the league's coverage can work in their favor was how the newly born UFL rolled out their league and team announcements. Both arrived during Sunday FOX NFL and ESPN's College Gameday programming.
The brass of the UFL wisely leveraged their networks to plant seeds for the new entity to two key audiences they are attempting to lure — NFL and college football fans.
Thus far, the USFL and XFL have carved out a respectable but what can be categorized as a niche audience. Only the most diehard football fans passionately follow these leagues. It's that and the fans who are invested in terms of their local markets. See the wildly successful St. Louis Battlehawks, who routinely draw strong viewership and attendance.
Let's face it, though, for the newly merged league to thrive rather than survive, FOX, Disney and the UFL's marketing team will need to work overtime to convince mainstream sports fans to give their league a shot.
In that respect, it hasn't worked out for either the USFL or XFL. Both leagues are operating in a bubble with minimal attention given to them by the mainstream press or casual fans. They are barely on the sports radar.
Last spring, the USFL and XFL, competing head-to-head for eyeballs and attention, cannibalized their audience. By joining forces, the two make this league the one destination for viewers. They just need NFL and college fans to give them a chance. In order for the property to see real growth.
The UFL also becomes the premier one-stop destination for professional football players who just missed the cut in the NFL. Rather than compete head-to-head for talent. The USFL and XFL have eliminated the competition by uniting.
There are plenty of options for pro football athletes looking to continue their playing careers. There are several indoor leagues, including another back-from-the-dead entity in 2024, the AFL. There are also European leagues like the ELF.
Then there's the great Canadian Football League up north. An option for players that has better long-term security with a proven track record. But that doesn't provide the best avenue for American pro football players who want to play at home and potentially get their first or another shot in the NFL.
Beyond uprooting your family to make the journey to Canada, there are also the challenges of making a CFL roster due to a limited American player ratio, which guarantees a Canadian quota for all nine CFL rosters.
The CFL has amazing players and has produced quality athletes in the NFL for years. Past and present. However, from a scouting perspective, the Canadian game doesn't translate to the NFL the way that the XFL or USFL does, with both leagues playing a similar NFL-college style game.
The CFL's line of scrimmage rules with players separated by a full yard, field dimensions, forward motion before the snap and other differences are not NFL applicable.
In 2023, nearly 120 players from the XFL and USFL signed NFL contracts after their seasons ended — nearly 70 of them on the XFL side. A handful of players have signed with multiple NFL teams this season.
There are currently 23 XFL 2023 players on NFL rosters heading into the final week of the regular season. The USFL has 16 players also currently on NFL rosters. The XFL in 2020, a league that played three years ago, also has 16 players still on NFL teams. Many of them are going on their fourth straight season of collecting paychecks in the NFL.
Even the Alliance of American Football from 2019 has several of its standouts as continuous active NFL players, such as Pro Bowl kicker Younghoe Koo, among others.
The success of two NFL All-Pros like Dallas Cowboys specialists Brandon Aubrey and KaVontae Turpin, has shown that these leagues can produce and develop long-term stars.
As a result of all of this, the United Football League has a chance to be the premier destination for players for years to come. If done correctly from a football operations perspective, the UFL can be the strongest pipeline to the NFL created by any spring pro football league since the original USFL four decades ago.
One positive to the newly merged UFL is that the talent level is condensed now because the American spring pro football landscape has been pared down from 16 to eight teams. Finding eight quality quarterbacks or offensive lines for eight teams in the spring, an arduous task, will be easier now than producing 16.
Beyond the quality of football and the league's reach is the ultimate measuring stick. The money.
It's no secret that FOX, owners of the USFL, and RedBird Capital Partners, the main ownership group of the XFL, have cut corners to buy themselves time. Both have hired prestigious investment firms to get investors to bankroll the league. Neither group has been successful to this point.
The end game, besides an NFL-funded affiliation, is getting others to buy into spring pro football. By others, that is to say, potential team owners. It's the Major League Soccer model: start in-house and then build outward.
The USFL and XFL have merged because they haven't been successful individually in drumming up enough interest or money to make their leagues viable financially. They've got the short-term survival part down. Now comes the attempt at long-term thriving.
The history books have not been kind to non-NFL pro football leagues. The odds are against the new UFL making it. But unlike the last UFL that played in the fall a decade ago, which very few noticed existing. This UFL has the best chance to overcome the odds and rewrite history. Quite frankly, it might be the last chance we get.
You can find Mike Mitchell on X @ByMikeMitchell.
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