BY AUDREY STOTTER
STAFF WRITER
The idea of having a football league outside of the NFL and the normal NFL season time is nothing new. There have been many attempts over the years, with little success. However, two competitor spring leagues, the USFL, and the XFL, have merged into one united league. These are their stories.
David Dixon started the original USFL because he wanted an NFL team in New Orleans before the Saints were added. Seasons ran from 1983 to 1985. The league shut down after getting into financial trouble. They eventually sued the NFL for monopolizing stadium and broadcast deals. The USFL won but only ended up receiving $3.87. In 2022, The Spring League, a developmental league, was rebooted into a new USFL. They played two successful seasons.
Vince McMahon started the original XFL. It was a tougher NFL with a similar show aspect to wrestling and reality shows. It finished the season, albeit with bad ratings. Vince McMahon tried again in 2020, but due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, the league was forced to shut down. Bankrupt, Dwayne Johnson & Dany Garcia bought the rights to the league and resurrected it in 2023 for a successful season.
In September of 2023, it was confirmed that the two leagues would be merging for the 2024 season into one united league, hence the name for the UFL, the United Football League. In later months, they decided what teams would survive and held a draft for the players on teams that didn’t survive.
The league will start on March 30th, and there are eight teams: the Arlington Renegades, San Antonio Brahmas, Houston Roughnecks, Birmingham Stallions, Memphis Showboats, DC Defenders, Michigan Panthers, and St. Louis Battlehawks.
What good comes out of watching this new league? Both leagues have experimented with different rules, trying to innovate the game. In addition, the players are often the ones who made the NFL but didn’t stay for long or college players who never got into the NFL in the first place. So, you’re watching players performing on a stage they never would have in the first place. However, it’s more football to watch, and that means a lot in an offseason world.