UFL eyes expansion

The United Football League will return for its second season in March of 2025, marking modern professional spring football’s fourth consecutive year of operation. And earlier this week, it announced plans to grow.

On Monday, the UFL began accepting proposals from cities interested in being part of the league, which was born of a merger of the USFL and XFL. The organization currently has eight clubs – the Arlington Renegades, Birmingham Stallions, D.C. Defenders, Houston Roughnecks, Memphis Showboats, Michigan Panthers, San Antonio Brahmas and St. Louis Battlehawks.

They’ll all live and train in Arlington again next spring while playing games in their respective markets.

“As the UFL lays the groundwork for future growth, we’re excited to begin exploring new markets for expansion, where spring football can not only live, but thrive,” UFL President and CEO Russ Brandon said in a statement. “These expansion efforts validate our vision and early success, demonstrating how spring football resonates with fans and reinforcing our commitment to broadening its reach.

“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.”

According to the release, the UFL is “looking at several core attributes when selecting its new cities, including fan interest and existing sports culture, geography and population and venue and infrastructure availability.”

The UFL had solid television ratings in 2024, exceeding those of the 2023 USFL and XFL by more than 30 percent. And the quality of play was good enough to see 60 percent of its players get NFL workouts, 78 earn training camp invites and 21 make the 53-man roster on opening day.

As an unofficial farm system of the NFL, the UFL is making its mark.

However, attendance issues are hindering its goal to be a sustainable “major” minor league.

The Battlehawks were far and away the box office champions of the UFL’s inaugural season, drawing 171,825 fans over five games for a 34,365 per game average. After that, however, there was a steep drop-off.

DC was second best with 14,143 fans per game, followed by San Antonio (11,888), Birmingham (10,255), Arlington (9,887), Michigan (8,134), Houston (7,056) and Memphis (6,893).

So even without expansion, the league has some work to do when it comes putting butts in the seats.

And that begs the question … what is a “good” average crowd for this kind of league? When considering that, it’s best to take St. Louis out of the conversation. This is an NFL town without an NFL team, and fans there are making sure the next owner with wandering eyes looks toward the “Gateway to the West.”

But if you go strictly by average, the UFL stacks up pretty well compared to other second-tier leagues.

In AAA baseball in 2024, the top draw was the Lehigh Valley IronPigs (8,866 per game), while 5,687 fans, on average, showed up for games in the International and Pacific Coast leagues.

In the American Hockey League, the Cleveland Monsters led the way with 10,264 patrons per contest (5,920 was the league average).

The NBA G League welcomed 1,640 customers per night in 2023-24, and the Iowa Wolves boasted the highest average attendance at 4,148.

And United Soccer League Championship contests drew 5,324 per match this season, with Sacramento Republic FC topping all clubs with a 10,101 average.

Still, football is a different animal, and each UFL team has only five regular season home dates (San Antonio will host just four in 2025 due to scheduling conflicts at the Alamodome). Minor league baseball (75), basketball (25), hockey (27) and soccer (17) have many more home dates than the UFL, and reasonable ticket prices would suggest that each team averaging at least 15,000 per game seems reasonable.

So, where to next?

One beef I have with the UFL in its present form is the fact that three of its eight teams are in Texas. When almost half your clubs are in located one state, that gives the entire organization a regional feel.

If the UFL wants to continue to dip into the branding history of the XFL/USFL, Oakland would be a logical expansion choice. Fans in the Bay Area are burned by the loss of the Raiders, so a new  version of the Invaders could be a hit.

And it’s never a bad idea to have the top market in the country – New York – in your league. The New York/New Jersey Hitmen of the original XFL (2001) was second in the league in attendance with 28,309 per game.

Plus, they had a cool logo and blue, black and silver color scheme.

Alt-football insider Mike Mitchell – who has been ahead of the curve on spring football news since the USFL started play in 2022 – reported this week that the plan is to add two teams in 2026 (one for both the XFL and USFL conferences) and two more for 2027.

If that’s the case and I got to pick, I’d add the Hitmen to the XFL Division in 2026 and put the Invaders on the USFL side.

And although San Diego never had a team in any iteration of those leagues, the fact that it lost its NFL franchise would make it highly desirable going forward.

Ultimately – and maybe most importantly – I think the UFL needs to cut the cord on its hybrid-hub model if it ever wants any market to truly embrace it.

I understand the cost-cutting aspect, but teams need to work as well as play in a town if they really want to be considered part of that town.

At any rate, the 2025 UFL season kicks off on March 28, 2025, with a 10-week regular season schedule. That slate will be followed by two conference title games and the UFL Championship Game on June 14.

Here’s hoping the TV ratings continue to be good and more paying customers squeeze through the turnstiles. The United Football League is worth keeping around.