The United Football League (UFL) announced it has initiated its first expansion process and is accepting proposals from markets looking to bring spring professional football to their communities.
The league, founded by Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Dany Garcia, RedBird Capital Partners and Fox, began play in 2024 after merging the latest incarnations of two other spring leagues—the USFL (United States Football League) and the XFL.
“These expansion efforts validate our vision and early success, demonstrating how spring football resonates with fans and reinforcing our commitment to broadening its reach,” Russ Brandon, the league’s president and CEO, said in a statement. “With the strength and structure of our ownership group, along with our media partners, we are well-positioned for the long haul and look forward to identifying communities that have the potential, and desire, to host a UFL team.”
The brands of the prior leagues live on as the two UFL conferences, with the Birmingham Stallions, Michigan Panthers, Houston Roughnecks and Memphis Showboats forming the USFL Conference and the Arlington Renegades, San Antonio Brahmas, St. Louis Battlehawks and D.C. Defenders as part of the XFL Conference.
In a phone interview, Brandon declined to reveal which cities the league is considering, nor any information on expansion fees. “We’re going to stick to the integrity of the process; that is (have) an open mind and have good communication with our fellow markets to see where it takes us,” Brandon said.
The Battlehawks, in particular, have built a strong following in their city in both the XFL and now the UFL. “St. Louis has obviously been a model franchise, and we’ve had tremendous support there from legacy XFL into the UFL, and we’ve seen that across many of our markets,” Brandon said. “We’ll be patient, we’ll be very disciplined with the process, and we’ll continue, internally, to work through all of the metrics that we’ve set ourselves.”
The league’s second season kicks off on March 28, with a 10-week regular season followed by the conference championship round and the UFL championship game in June 2025. Birmingham won the league’s first championship last spring.
(This has been updated with quotes from an interview with Russ Brandon.)
