Month: March 2022

We already knew Birmingham would have its busiest pro football year ever in 2022, with the new United States Football League slated to hold all 40 of its regular season games here.

Now we know the weekly matchups.

On Monday the USFL rolled out its 2022 schedule, with the Birmingham Stallions and New Jersey Generals lifting the lid on the inaugural campaign with a 6:30 p.m. CDT start on Saturday, April 16, at Protective Stadium. That game will be televised simultaneously by Fox, NBC and Peacock.

On Sunday, April 17, fans can take in a tripleheader, with the Houston Gamblers and Michigan Panthers meeting at 11 a.m., followed by the Philadelphia Stars vs. the New Orleans Breakers at 3 p.m. and the Tampa Bay Bandits tangling with the Pittsburgh Maulers at 7 p.m.

Week Two will see Michigan vs. New Jersey at 7 p.m. on Friday, April 22; Philadelphia vs. Pittsburgh at 11 a.m. on April 23; Birmingham vs. Houston at 6 p.m. on April 23; and New Orleans vs. Tampa Bay at 2 p.m. on April 24.

All games the first two weeks will be played at Protective Stadium.

Starting in Week Three, games will be assigned specific dates and times on the Monday two-weeks prior.

“Football is America’s favorite sport, so we’re proud to give fans 10 weeks of highly competitive regular-season matchups this spring,” Daryl Johnston, USFL executive vice president of football operations, said. “We’re confident and ready to kick-off our inaugural season on April 16. Our eight teams are loaded with incredible players, and we anticipate heated rivalries to develop as the season unfolds. We purposely back-loaded divisional matchups down the stretch to make for an exciting run-up to the playoffs.”

Perhaps the best news for fans is that ticket prices are $10 and “single day.”

That means anyone who wants to watch back-to-back-to-back football on Easter Sunday can do it for one price. In addition, each general admission ticket purchased by an adult can include up to three free tickets for children under 15.

“Being family-friendly is a core value that will drive the new USFL,” said Edward Hartman, executive vice president of business operations. “We’re making USFL games affordable so families can be together while enjoying these professional football matchups this spring. It’s a big part of our strategy to deliver a world-class fan experience that is fun, exciting, and engaging.”

The Magic City has been home to the World Football League, original United States Football League, World League of American Football, Canadian Football League, XFL, Alliance of American Football and now the new USFL. All of the Birmingham-based teams in those leagues called Legion Field home, while the 2022 Stallions – along with the other seven teams in the upstart league – will play the majority of their games at Protective Stadium.

The April 16 matchup between Birmingham and New Jersey will mark the first professional (tackle) football game played at the Uptown venue, which opened in October, 2021.

As for venerable Legion Field, it last hosted a pro game when the Birmingham Iron defeated the Atlanta Legends, 17-9, on March 31, 2019. That was the final weekend of play for the AAF, which folded after eight weeks of its first and only season.

The first pro football game played at Legion Field came on September 5, 1938 when the Chicago Bears defeated the Southern All-Stars, 32-18, in an exhibition game.

The schedule release is the first news drop in a busy week for the USFL.

On Thursday the league holds a 10-round supplemental draft to select 80 more players. Teams will have two minutes between selections during the process and may pick from any position group. At the conclusion of the supplemental draft each team will have 45 players. Once the season begins, active rosters will consist of 38 players plus a seven-man practice squad.

And while the 2022 USFL will be courting fans next month, it’ll find itself in court next week.

A hearing will be held in California on March 16, pitting an entity called “The Real USFL, LLC” against Fox’s version of the USFL. The former, representing several former executives of the original 1983-85 USFL, is hoping for a preliminary injunction to prevent the new organization from using the name “USFL” as well as team names and logos.

A ruling in favor of the plaintiff wouldn’t halt the season, but it would significantly alter team and league branding, at least temporarily.

USFL 2022 REGULAR-SEASON MATCHUPS

WEEK 1 (April 16-17 at Protective Stadium)

New Jersey Generals at Birmingham Stallions (Saturday 4/16 at 6:30 PM CT)

Houston Gamblers at Michigan Panthers (Sunday 4/17 at 11:00 AM CT)

Philadelphia Stars vs. New Orleans Breakers (Sunday 4/17 at 3:00 PM CT)

Tampa Bay Bandits at Pittsburgh Maulers (Sunday 4/17 at 7:00 PM CT)

WEEK 2 (April 22-24 at Protective Stadium)

Michigan Panthers at New Jersey Generals (Friday 4/22 at 7:00 PM CT)

Pittsburgh Maulers at Philadelphia Stars (Saturday 4/23 at 11:00 AM CT)

Birmingham Stallions at Houston Gamblers (Saturday 4/23 at 6:00 PM CT)

New Orleans Breakers at Tampa Bay Bandits (Sunday 4/24 at 2:00 PM CT)

WEEK 3 (April 30-May 1)

Birmingham Stallions at New Orleans Breakers

New Jersey Generals at Philadelphia Stars

Pittsburgh Maulers at Michigan Panthers

Tampa Bay Bandits at Houston Gamblers

WEEK 4 (May 6-8)

New Jersey Generals at Pittsburgh Maulers

Houston Gamblers at New Orleans Breakers

Philadelphia Stars at Michigan Panthers

Tampa Bay Bandits at Birmingham Stallions

WEEK 5 (May 13-15)

Birmingham Stallions at Philadelphia Stars

Michigan Panthers at Tampa Bay Bandits

New Orleans Breakers at New Jersey Generals

Pittsburgh Maulers at Houston Gamblers

WEEK 6 (May 21-22)

Houston Gamblers at New Jersey Generals

Michigan Panthers at Birmingham Stallions

Pittsburgh Maulers at New Orleans Breakers

Tampa Bay Bandits at Philadelphia Stars

WEEK 7 (May 28-29)

Birmingham Stallions at Pittsburgh Maulers

New Jersey Generals at Tampa Bay Bandits

New Orleans Breakers at Michigan Panthers

Philadelphia Stars at Houston Gamblers

WEEK 8 (June 3-5)

Houston Gamblers at Tampa Bay Bandits

Michigan Panthers at Philadelphia Stars

New Orleans Breakers at Birmingham Stallions

Pittsburgh Maulers at New Jersey Generals

WEEK 9 (June 11-12)

Houston Gamblers at Birmingham Stallions

New Jersey Generals at Michigan Panthers

Philadelphia Stars at Pittsburgh Maulers

Tampa Bay Bandits at New Orleans Breakers

WEEK 10 (June 18-19)

Birmingham Stallions at Tampa Bay Bandits

Michigan Panthers at Pittsburgh Maulers

New Orleans Breakers at Houston Gamblers

Philadelphia Stars at New Jersey Generals

USFL 2022 TV SLATE

Bob Kap helped usher in an era of association football players playing American football. But did you know he also tried to bring American football to the land of association football?

Probably not, so I’m gonna tell you the story of a man who was a global gridiron trailblazer.

Just days after Gary Davidson announced that the World Football League would begin play in the summer of 1974, Kap unveiled the European Intercontinental Football League. Kap said the venture would be in operation by May, 1974.

“We’re definitely not in competition with the National Football League and, as a matter of fact, we expect help from the NFL,” Kap told the Associated Press for an October 26, 1973, story. “We’re announcing that we’re inviting American coaches and players to apply for the league. We will not tamper with NFL players.”

Kap was a former scout who introduced soccer style kickers to the United States, including Toni Fritsch of the Dallas Cowboys. He was credited with steering nine Europeans to NFL kicking jobs and also previously managed the Dallas Tornado of the North American Soccer League as well as a soccer club in Bulgaria.

Inaugural EIFL teams were to be placed in Munich, Istanbul, Paris, Copenhagen, Barcelona, West Berlin, Rome, Rotterdam, London, Athens, and Madrid, with a short season taking place in May and June. And Kap expected to find myriad field goal kickers through the European soccer ranks.

“We’ve got plenty of kicking talent in Europe,” he said.

But instead of beating the WFL to market, Kap and company were still in the planning stages by the summer of 1974. And his time it looked like the NFL might be on board.

During the owners meetings in June, 1974, commissioner Pete Rozelle said the NFL was interested in a European league that could begin play in the spring of 1975. Kap presented a plan in which six franchises would be stocked with NFL players who could work on their games overseas and then rejoin their NFL teams in the fall. The New York Times published a story indicating the inaugural franchises would be the Istanbul Conquerors, Rome Gladiators, Munich Lions, Berlin Bears, Vienna Lipizzaners and Barcelona Almovogeres, with Kap adding that future teams would include the Paris Lafayettes, Copenhagen Vikings, Rotterdam Flying Dutchmen and Milan Centurions.

But that proposal stalled, so Kap revisited his original idea.

“We will start in the summer of 1975,” Kap told United Press International. “All essential preparations have been completed. We will have plenty of players to start with. Some will come from NFL clubs during the offseason, others will be selected from the 40,000 youngsters coming out of American colleges every year.”

The EIFL did not, in fact, hit the field in 1975. No worries though – Kap said by 1976 it would be ready for action. In fact, during the spring of that year two NAIA teams toured West Germany, Austria and France to play exhibition games showcasing American football. The crowds were decent, and Kap was convinced this was a sure sign his league could work.

“People in Europe are getting tired of soccer,” Kap said to AP. “The sport of the future in Europe is American football. The fans were very receptive to the game. We had 12,000 people in West Berlin despite a rainstorm, 20,000 in Paris, and 25,000 in Vienna.”

As you might’ve figured out by now, the European league Kap worked so desperately to create never materialized under his watch.

When “major” pro football did make its way to Europe it was through the NFL’s World League of American Football in 1991.

The WLAF became NFL Europe, then NFL Europa, then the NFL started playing exhibition and regular season games in London. Now American football is a regular feature of the European sports landscape, with future contests set for Munich and Frankfurt.

Aside from the presence of the game’s most prestigious league, there are several professional circuits across Eurasia. The newest is the European League of Football, which began play last year and has already expanded from eight to 12 teams.

The EIFL never fully formed, but its founder was definitely onto something. Turns out Kap might’ve been wrong about Europeans tiring of soccer, but right about them getting their kicks from another style of football.