Dawgs By Nature
The United Football League (UFL) has its place in the pro football universe. It is strictly a developmental league that enables players to remain in the game and get some experience. It is home to those who aren’t good enough for the NFL or Canadian Football League, and their practice squads.
And both leagues have many former UFL players on their current rosters. So, the league does allow these guys the opportunity to continue their dream.
However, the UFL is not a farm system. Pro baseball has six levels of teams that feed their parent clubs. Many players come straight out of high school to compete and hopefully elevate to the next level so that one day they can become a Major Leaguer.
The NFL has only one system in place to train young players. It is called college football.
The UFL has announced that they are relocating three of its member teams for 2026. Russ Brandon, President & CEO of the UFL, stated in an email:
“As part of this process, we conducted a thorough review of all markets and venues. After careful consideration, we’ve made the difficult decision to depart from the Memphis, Michigan, and San Antonio markets. Unfortunately, the stadium options currently available in these areas do not align with our new vision. As we look ahead to potential expansion in 2028, we remain hopeful that the right venues will become available in these markets so we can return and once again bring UFL football to these communities.”
The UFL came about as a merger between the XFL and the USFL in 2024. Both leagues were eight-team entities, and the new league kept four clubs from each association. Some teams play their home games in huge venues with huge leases, while others have found smaller stadiums like those built to house MLS clubs.
Since the 1940s, there have been several leagues that have sprouted up to compete with the NFL such as the All-America Football Conference (1946-1949), American Football League5 (1960-1969), World Football League (1974-1975), United States Football League (1983-1986), Regional Football League (1999), XFL (2001), United Football League2 (2009-2012), Alliance of American Football (2019), XFL2 (2020-2023), USFL2 (2022-2023), and numerous indoor leagues.
The majority of these outdoor leagues had individual owners with each club. However, some organizations were established with league-owned teams, such as the AAF, XFL, XFL2, and USFL2. This means that the league itself owns and controls all aspects of every team involved, including rosters.
This new UFL is set up the same way and plays a spring schedule. They own all of their member teams.
Since the merger, the teams have remained in the same cities: San Antonio, Texas; Birmingham, Alabama; Memphis, Tennessee; Houston, Texas; Detroit, Michigan; Washington, DC; Arlington/Dallas, Texas; and St. Louis, Missouri.
Half of the league is located in cities that have existing NFL clubs. The other half have had a pro football team at some point in the past with other leagues. St. Louis has had three former...
