Back in January, I did a bit of a flip-flop – all in the same column.
That’s when the United Football League announced that it would pay homage to the merger of the United States Football League and XFL by keeping their names alive in the form of UFL conferences.
While writing that I didn’t care for it and hoped to see the USFL and XFL abbreviations retired, I warmed to the idea as part of the fledgling circuit’s inaugural season.
Considering all the jawing between fans of the “old” leagues, I figured maybe they could get it out of their systems by the end of the 2024 campaign. A little infighting might be fun.
On Wednesday, I asked Birmingham Stallions tight end Jace Sternberger how long he thought the USFL vs. XFL rivalry might last. Birmingham – the two-time defending champion of the USFL – is coming off an impressive 27-14 victory over the 2023 XFL champion Arlington Renegades.
Thus, Skip Holtz’s team and the USFL earned braggin’ rights in the blended family feud.
Sternberger, however, doesn’t think the “us vs. them” dynamic will last.
“I think it’s gonna die … it’s gonna fizzle out,” he said. “I think right now it’s kinda fun to say, and I know on our team we’re more joking because we had to hear about it from a lot of guys who aren’t even in the league anymore, like older XFL guys, but that was more like poking fun.”
The Stallions’ former league finished 3-1 in opening week, with the Michigan Panthers topping the St. Louis Battlehawks, 18-16, and the Memphis Showboats nipping the Houston Roughnecks, 18-12 (the Roughnecks are the USFL Gamblers rebranded).
The only intraconference XFL game saw the San Antonio Brahmas defeat the DC Defenders, 27-12.
Obviously, Sternberger’s opinion is just one of many; with more than 400 players in the league, I’m sure you’ll find a few who’ll want to take the trash talk as far as it’ll go.
But it makes sense that as the season progresses, the teams will be more concerned with their current identities, not their former ones.
Defenders quarterback Jordan Ta’amu is one player who has already fully embraced the merger.
“I love how the USFL and XFL combined,” Ta’amu said. “I love the eight teams that they chose to keep. I expected this level of competition … I think this is the best level of competition that we’ve seen in spring league football because it’s kinda like all-star teams from the 16 teams we had last year.
“After they shrunk it down to eight, it’s the best competition we’ve seen in the spring in a long time.”
You had to realize with two professional spring leagues competing against each other, the only realistic options were the merging of two or the dissolution of one.
In a way, we got a bit of both.
Only half of the USFL and XFL came together, meaning eight of the 16 USFL and XFL teams didn’t make the cut.
That’s not to say that sides called the New Jersey Generals and Seattle Sea Dragons are gone forever, but if they do come back, they’ll have no ties to their old leagues other than repurposed nicknames.
And really, if the UFL survives and thrives, I’m hoping expansion teams won’t be confined to a USFL or XFL box.
In other words, if Los Angeles get a franchise, maybe give strong consideration to calling it something besides the Express (original USFL), Xtreme (original XFL) or Wildcats (XFL 2.0).
And once more cities are added, perhaps the USFL Conference and XFL Conference designations will have run their course. Personally, I like “Legacy Conference” and “Heritage Conference,” but In the grand scheme of things what you call a division or conference is a small matter. The key now is for all the teams in the UFL to grow strong together, regardless of where they came from.
“Week in week out, we’re really not thinking about that anymore,” Sternberger said. “It’s fun and it’ll get some clicks here and there, but at the end of the day, we’re all pushing toward the same goal and want to do the same thing.”