The XFL and USFL announced Sunday they're merging to form the United Football League.
Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson broke the news Sunday on Fox, confirming the new league will kick off March 30, and expressed his hope the joint venture will mean stability for the long-term future of a spring football competition.
Front Office Sports' Eric Fisher reported in December the USFL was folding four of its franchises, with the Birmingham Stallions, Houston Gamblers, Memphis Showboats and Michigan Panthers expected to survive. It was unclear at the time which of the XFL's eight teams would be culled.
The first game of the 2024 season will pit each league's champion against one another. The Arlington Renegades (XFL) will take on the Birmingham Stallions (USFL).
The XFL and USFL first announced in September they intended to merge pending regulatory approval.
Johnson's comments allude to the longstanding difficulty in making spring football part of the sports calendar.
The XFL and USFL are both reboots of failed attempts, with the latter coming the closest in creating a spring foil to the NFL but lasted only three seasons.
The XFL's return with Johnson at the helm drove home the financial realities of launching such a project. Forbes' Jabari Young reported in June the league "lost an estimated $60 million in 2023."
Pooling together the resources of the XFL and USFL could be the path to sustainability, but plenty of fans will remain skeptical.
Spring football in the United States is set to be under one umbrella.
The XFL and USFL announced their intention to merge in a statement Thursday, combining the two spring leagues into a yet-to-be-named entity.
The arrangement will allow the two struggling leagues to continue operations for at least the foreseeable future. The XFL made major cuts in operations in May after losing $60 million during the 2023 season. The USFL's total revenue has been reported at just $7.5 million per season.
While the XFL has been a more expensive endeavor than the lower-key USFL, the XFL carries the cache of being owned by Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson after he purchased the company from WWE's Vince McMahon.
It seems likely the two sides would choose to move forward with the XFL branding as it carries more brand equity than the USFL among younger fans. The USFL's relaunch came 36 years after the initial league's dissolution; the original XFL was launched in 2001 and still provides memories to younger fans.
Attempts at making spring football work are nothing new, but they've been racked with funding issues and lagging ratings. The quality of football has simply not been high enough to garner much of a consistent audience. Ratings for the XFL's relaunch were initially strong before falling off a cliff.
Other leagues, like the Alliance of American Football, started off with considerable hype only to fall flat as viewers turned away from the low-quality football.
The leagues have also not done nearly enough to differentiate themselves from the NFL product, which has only furthered the unfavorable comparisons.
It's unclear whether the merger will work, but it will at least keep the lights on for the time being.
Two competing spring football leagues could soon become one, as the XFL and USFL are reportedly having discussions about a potential merger.
According to Axios.com's Tim Baysinger, Dan Primack and Sara Fischer, the two leagues are "in advanced talks to merge," and an agreement could be announced as soon as they week.
The XFL and USFL are reportedly hoping to complete the merger before their 2024 seasons are scheduled to start after the Super Bowl.
The original XFL, which was owned by longtime WWE chairman Vince McMahon, ran for only one season in 2001 before folding. McMahon relaunched it in 2020, but the season was cut short by the COVID-19 pandemic.
McMahon later sold the league to WWE legend Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, Dany Garcia and RedBird Capital Partners, and it played a full schedule this year from February through April.
The original USFL was the staunchest competitor the NFL ever faced since the NFL-AFL merger, as the league had some deep-pocketed owners and poached some elite-level talent, such as Steve Young, Jim Kelly, Reggie White, Herschel Walker and Doug Flutie.
While the USFL eventually folded in 1986 after running from 1983 through 1985, a new USFL launched in 2022 under the ownership of Fox Corp.
The league got a leg up on the XFL by starting one year earlier, and it has made it through two seasons in its entirety.
Although the USFL and XFL schedules didn't intersect for long since the USFL ran from April through July, they were both trying to cement themselves as the dominant spring football league.
According to Baysinger, Primack and Fischer, the XFL and USFL want to have a "merger of equals," and broadcasting of the games would likely be split between Fox networks and Disney networks, the latter of which have a deal with the XFL.
By merging, the XFL and USFL could form one strong and united league that is both more viable financially and features almost all of the top non-NFL professional players.
Neither the XFL nor the USFL is a threat to the NFL separately or apart, but they likely have a better chance at long-term viability as a spring alternative if they can figure out a way to pool all of their resources together.
It's the beginning of a USFL dynasty for the Birmingham Stallions, who are back at the top of the mountain.
The Stallions defended their league title Saturday night with a 28-12 win over the Pittsburgh Maulers at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium in Canton, Ohio, finishing off a campaign in which they were the best team in the league wire to wire.
After a slow start to the night offensively thanks to the Maulers' league-best defense, Birmingham finally began to flex its muscles in the second quarter, riding the elite combination of quarterback Alex McGough and receiver Deon Cain.
The two put on a show all night long, connecting for three touchdowns, including the biggest play of the night, a 40-yard bomb with under seven minutes to go to put the game to bed and earn the franchise its second-consecutive title.
Cain finished the game with 171 all-purpose yards in a dominant performance, earning himself championship game MVP.
As for McGough, he finished his league MVP season strong with 207 passing yards and four touchdowns. He overcame what could have been a disastrous fumble in the second half that luckily didn't end up hurting his team after an ensuing Maulers' touchdown was overturned.
Not bad for a guy that entered the season as a backup.
Twitter rained down praise on the the Stallions' star duo for their elite performance.
The Stallions' defense showed up big as well, holding Pittsburgh to just four field goals and forcing a turnover late in the game that squashed any hopes of a comeback.
Now, the season of spring football has officially come to an end and the attention will begin to fade back to the NFL's upcoming season. But some of these players won't be forgotten anytime soon.
Outstanding performers like Cain and McGough could have NFL training camp invites waiting for them over the next couple of days.
And that's the beauty of this league, giving guys a chance at the biggest stage. So far, nobody has done that better than the two-time champs.
The USFL Championship is officially on, and the two competitors just happen to be the respective regular-season division winners.
The North Division champion Pittsburgh Maulers (5-6) earned the first spot in the league championship with a 31-27 overtime victory over the Michigan Panthers. The second challenger was determined in the Sunday night matchup, and it wasn't nearly as close.
The South Division champion Birmingham Stallions (9-2) cruised to a 47-22 victory over the New Orleans Breakers. This is the second consecutive championship appearance for Birmingham, and they will look to defend their 2022 title against the Maulers, who are making their first championship appearance and had an impressive turnaround from a 1-9 2022 campaign.
The two teams met May 7, with the Stallions earning a 24-20 victory. The game was sandwiched between the only two Birmingham losses, and now the Stallions enter the rematch on a six-game winning streak. Pittsburgh is also on a hot streak, winning their last three games.
The Maulers are led on offense by quarterback Troy Williams, who has thrown for 1,414 yards and six touchdowns with three interceptions. He also leads the team in rushing, dashing for 341 yards and three touchdowns on the ground.
Madre London is the top tailback, earning 254 yards on 66 carries and adding a touchdown. Isiah Hennie is the team's leading receiver with 474 yards and three touchdowns. Pittsburgh leads the league in forced turnovers with eight.
Birmingham is the leagues top offense, earning 332.6 yards per game and having a 51 percent success rate on third down. They are led on offense by quarterback Alex McGough, who led the league with 20 passing touchdowns to go along with his 2,105 passing yards. He also added 403 yards and five touchdowns on the ground.
CJ Marable is the team's leading rusher, earning 524 yards on 118 attempts and scoring three touchdowns. They have a dynamic duo at receiver, with Davion Davis getting 574 yards and scoring four touchdowns and Jace Sternberger bringing in 517 yards and seven touchdowns.
The Stallions were the best team in the USFL this season and have more playoff experience. McGough is coming off of a masterful performance in the semi-final victory where he went 21/31 for 310 yards and five total touchdowns and earned a quarterback rating of 139.8. Birmingham looks like a well-oiled machine and it will take a miracle for Pittsburgh to dethrone them.
Statistical Prediction:
Alex McGough: 300-plus total yards, 3-plus total touchdowns
Troy Williams: 200-plus total yards, 1 touchdown
Score Prediction: Birmingham 31, Pittsburgh 10
Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson defended the XFL after an apparent shot at the movie star in a promo for the USFL last month.
The commercial said the USFL "isn't some Hollywood knockoff," seemingly a reference to Johnson, who is a part-owner of the XFL.
"We're all in entertainment and all connected to Hollywood, so I thought that ad—we got a big laugh out of that ad," Johnson said in response to the promo, per Tom Schad of USA Today. "Also, it's much easier to talk trash when you're hiding behind the corporate walls and a computer. We're very forward facing. We're not hard to find."
Both the XFL and USFL are trying to prove themselves as a viable alternative to the NFL during the offseason.
The XFL is in its first season after the change in ownership from Vince McMahon to Johnson, Dany Garcia and RedBird Capital. The 2023 season began in February with its championship set for May 13.
The 2023 USFL season is set to begin on April 15, marking the first time the two leagues will compete at the same time. It could create some animosity between the sides as they battle for fans and viewership in the coming months.
The Birmingham Stallions are the inaugural USFL champions after defeating the Philadelphia Stars 33-30 in an entertaining, roller-coaster final on Saturday.
Stallions linebacker Scooby Wright III's 46-yard pick-six of backup quarterback KJ Costello with 3:03 remaining proved to be the game-winning touchdown.
Costello rebounded with a late 12-yard touchdown to Chris Rowland, and Philadelphia got the ball back with under a minute left, but the Stallions' defense held firm down the stretch to preserve the win.
The USFL Championship MVP trophy went to Victor Bolden Jr., who caught six passes for 64 yards and a touchdown with 3:16 remaining to give Birmingham a 26-23 edge.
Bolden caught that pass from backup quarterback Alex McGough, who replaced injured starter J'Mar Smith (leg injury).
Other Stallions stars included running back Bo Scarbrough, who amassed 135 rushing yards and a touchdown on 13 carries. Marlon Williams led the team in receiving with seven catches for 105 yards and a score.
Birmingham led 20-9 at halftime, but Philadelphia starter Case Cookus, who tossed three touchdowns while completing 17-of-29 passes for 222 yards, led the Stars on a 14-0 run to take the lead. Two of his passing scores went to Suell, and the other was courtesy of Devin Gray. Unfortunately, Cookus was carted off the field with an injury in the fourth quarter and did not return.
In the end, the USFL's best regular-season team finished off their year with the championship. Twitter heaped praise on numerous Stallions, including Wright, Scarbrough, Bolden and Williams.
Birmingham went 9-1 in the regular season before beating the New Orleans Breakers in the semifinals and Philadelphia in the finals for an 11-1 mark. The Stars, who end their year at 7-5, took down the 9-1 New Jersey Generals before meeting the Stallions.
