2024 UFL season

The 2024 UFL season was the first season of the United Football League, which was created following the merger of the XFL and USFL, and the fifth season in the combined history of the two leagues, following the 2020 XFL season, 2022 USFL season, and separate 2023 seasons for both the USFL and XFL.
The regular season began on March 30, 2024, and ended on June 2, 2024. The season kicked off with a matchup between the 2023 XFL champion Arlington Renegades and the 2023 USFL champion Birmingham Stallions. The postseason started on June 8, 2024 and concluded on June 16, 2024 with the 2024 UFL Championship.
The Birmingham Stallions defeated the San Antonio Brahmas 25–0 in the 2024 UFL Championship Game, the only shutout of the entire season, to win their third consecutive spring football championship, adding to their back to back championships in the rebooted USFL.
On June 27, 2023, USFL President of Football Operations Daryl Johnston initially confirmed in an interview that the league would return for the 2024 season.
USFL average viewership in 2023 was down 16% from its debut season to 601,000 and 3% lower than the 2023 XFL season, despite having 28 over-the-air network games compared to eight for the XFL. The championship game also saw a significant decline in viewership from 2022 as the game averaged 1.2 million viewers across NBC, Peacock, and NBC Sports digital platforms. Johnston expressed disappointment and anger that the USFL was comparable to the XFL in ratings for the 2023 season, dismissing the XFL as "no competition" to the "far superior" USFL and questioning how "to be on par with our competition from a ratings standpoint in Year 2, I'm still trying to figure out: How did that happen? (...) they're not even close."
40 players who played in the 2023 USFL season signed contracts with NFL teams. Two players (LaBryan Ray and Brandon Aubrey) started the 2023 NFL season on active 53-man NFL rosters, 11 other players started the season on practice squads, and Isaiah Zuber was placed on injured reserve. 16 players finished the season on NFL rosters, with Aubrey selected to the Pro Bowl.
The XFL lost nearly $60 million during the season after spending approximately $140 million in expenses over the course of the 2023 season and earned $80 million in gross revenue, including roughly $20 million that came from its broadcast contract with ESPN. Executives with the league and ESPN indicated that they considered the season a success. After the season ended, the XFL made league wide cuts affecting up to 30 people, including two marketing executives, and shifted other employees to seasonal work. According to several reports, the XFL marketing budget was only $120,000 for the 2023 season.
More than 200 players who played in the 2023 XFL season earned invitations to workout for NFL teams, while 63 of them signed contracts. One player (Daniel Whelan) started the 2023 NFL season on an active 53-man NFL roster, while 17 other players started the season on practice squads. 23 players finished the season on NFL rosters.
During the 2023 season, XFL players filed a petition (through the United Steelworkers) for a representation election with Region 16 of the National Labor Relations Board, but decided against joining the union by vote of 124 to 73.
On September 19, 2023, Axios reported that USFL owner Fox Corporation and the Garcia/Johnson/RedBird Capital Partners consortium that owned the XFL were in advanced talks to create a "merger of equals" between the two leagues before the start of the 2024 season, with an agreement potentially announced by the end of the month. The USFL registered a trademark for "National Spring Football League," the name of the USFL's parent company but speculated to also be a name for the potential merged league, that was made public September 27. On September 28, 2023, the USFL and XFL announced their intent to merge with the specific details of the merger to be announced at a later date. The merger would also require regulatory approval. In October 2023 the XFL filed a trademark application for the name "United Football League". On November 30, 2023, XFL chairwoman Dany Garcia announced via her Instagram page that the leagues had completed the antitrust review process to approve their merger, and the leagues will "play a combined season" kicking off on March 30, 2024. XFL President Russ Brandon will serve in the same capacity for the combined league, with Johnston being assigned to director of football operations. The USFL informed its players association of the four teams in its league to survive the merger on December 19, with the other four teams to be contracted.
On December 27, 2023, during the broadcast of the 2023 Holiday Bowl, Fox aired a clip of Jeff Brohm's "let's play football" speech from the original incarnation of the XFL and announced that details on its involvement in the new merged league would follow "very soon." Three days later, the merger was formally announced on Fox NFL Sunday. The eight teams and head coaches were announced by Dwayne Johnson in a guest appearance on ESPN's College GameDay on January 1, 2024.
Overall, 120 players from both the USFL and XFL signed some form of contract with the NFL for the 2023 season and nine players were signed during the NFL 2024 free agency period; in turn, 12 practice squad players from the 2023 NFL season signed with the UFL for 2024, with the league actively recruiting others prior to the season.
The merged league retained the XFL and USFL brands as individual conferences. Four teams came from the XFL, while three came from the USFL. The two leagues' Houston-based teams merged under the name and branding of the XFL's Roughnecks, but the merged team took the Gamblers' place in the USFL Conference and retained the Gamblers' player rights and coaching staff.
Eight of the 16 head coaches from both leagues' 2023 season returned, some with different teams, with all coaches being announced on January 1, 2024. All eight coaches led a team in one of the two leagues during the 2023 season and five are returning to the same squads as 2023. Former XFL coaches Reggie Barlow, Anthony Becht, and Bob Stoops agreed to a future pay cut to remain in the new league, while Hines Ward refused.
Rod Woodson had resigned his position with the Vegas Vipers before the team was contracted. The remaining five coaches—the Generals' Mike Riley, the Stars' Bart Andrus, the Maulers' Ray Horton, the Guardians' Terrell Buckley, and the Sea Dragons' Jim Haslett—saw their positions eliminated with the merger. Anthony Blevins, who had been named Woodson's successor. would join the Stallions staff as an assistant near the end of the 2024 season.
On February 21, 2024, the league announced the teams' full coaching staffs. In March the UFL announced an expanded partnership (in collaboration with Under Armour) with the National Coalition of Minority Football Coaches (NCMFC) for creating opportunities for minority football coaches. Starting March 7, the eight selected high school coaches will attend the UFL’s training camp in Arlington, assisting with team meetings, practices and address team needs, they will also join their team for five home games in their respective markets, assisting on the sidelines and working with staff on key projects. NCMFC coaches for the 2024 season will be: Nkere Reed (Renegades), Jason Winchell (Stallions), Eric Allie (Defenders), Yusef Johnson (Roughnecks), Rodney Saulsberry Sr. (Showboats), Marcus Green (Panthers), Matthew Bullock (Brahmas) and Kenneth Boyer (Battlehawks).
Players will report to training camp February 23, 2024. Each team carried 75-men rosters to training camp and trimmed them down to 58 by March 10, 2024. Final roster cuts took place on March 23, 2024, with regular season rosters set at 50 (45 active on game day). The minimum stay on injured reserve will be for five games, while a season-ending injured reserve designation guarantees player a camp invitation the following season.
While the UFL embraced more of a "developmental league" mentality, they're also targeting veteran backup-type players, with Johnston saying: "there are a lot of guys who are at peace that their NFL window has closed, but they love the camaraderie of the locker room. They love the day-to-day grind... That's been the really inspiring thing to me, is there is a number of guys in our league who just love the game and want to keep playing it as long as they can. Players that have three or four years in the NFL and want to kind of rewrite that narrative, the way that they’re being viewed by front office’s in the NFL, they want an opportunity to come into the UFL and change that narrative".
Before week three, after several NFL teams approached Panthers K Jake Bates, it was revealed that according to the leagues agreement NFL teams are allowed to contact UFL teams about their players, but cannot directly contact or sign players under contract with the UFL until after the UFL season ended.
Local 9004 of the United Steelworkers, which had served as the labor union for the USFL in 2023, will continue in that capacity for the UFL, operating as the United Football League Players Association (This is not to be confused with the United Football Players Association, which Local 9004 disowned during the 2023–24 offseason). The league will continue operating under the USFL's collective bargaining agreement.
Initial reports suggested that, contrary to the 2023 XFL season, quarterbacks would not be allowed to sign for salaries higher than the other positional players. However, the UFLPA later clarified that the agreement with the league is for minimum salary only, and any player could sign a personal contract above the minimum. As late as January 2024, the league had resisted "pushback" from some of the higher-paid XFL quarterbacks to increase quarterbacks' salary, with Johnston at the time refusing to deviate from the plan to pay all players equally while acknowledging "there's a good argument for both sides. How do we manage this situation(...)? It's hard to thread that needle."
Select XFL players, who had voted against joining the USW in 2023, expressed concern about the lack of winning bonuses (a key feature of the XFL's pay structure) and a requirement to pay union dues, while some players decided not to return to the league, citing the pay cut as a contributing factor. On an interview after the merger, former Battlehawks QB AJ McCarron revealed that XFL players were in advanced talks with the National Football League Players Association (NFLPA) for exclusive representation.
UFL players' minimum salaries will be $5,500 per week ($2,500 for inactive players) and $150 a week toward 401K contributions, with $400 a week house stipend and $55-a-day per diem stipend during travel days. All contracts will run from January 1 to August 24. During training camp, all players will receive $850 a week. Players on injured reserve will receive $2,500 a week (plus house stipend). UFL players will also be entitled for "players accolade bonuses" for Player of the week ($1,000), All UFL ($2,500), Player of the year ($5,000), and MVP ($7,500). The overall league player budget is $24 million.
On February 21, 2023, the USFL held a draft where 2023 draft-eligible players could be selected by USFL teams. In the announcement, USFL Executive Vice President of Football Operations Daryl Johnston stated, "We are building the USFL for long-term success and our first-ever College Draft demonstrates our clear focus on building winning teams for Season Two, Season Three and beyond." 80 players were selected across 10 rounds. Due to this draft occurring two months prior to the 2023 NFL draft, many of the players selected would go on to be drafted by or sign as an undrafted free agent with an NFL team.
In an interview after the 2023 XFL season, the league's Senior Vice President of Player Personnel Doug Whaley disclosed that the league plans a "rookie" draft and intended to conduct "multiple drafts" in the fall of 2023. The XFL Rookie Draft took place on June 16, 2023, with 80 players being selected.
On July 28, the XFL held a "rights claim" draft, which had not been announced to the public, and the picks were later released through the official XFL transaction page. The players' rights were assigned to the selected teams, but they were not under contract with the teams (similar to the "negotiation lists" in the CFL). The players selected included: Tavon Austin, Darrynton Evans, Chris Odom, Dru Samia, Josh Jackson, Darrell Henderson, Harrison Hand, Quinton Bell, and Anthony Gordon.
On December 19, 2023, the USFL initially informed the USFL Players Association that four teams would be contracted as part of the USFL–XFL merger. The transition will involve a three-phase player allocation process, with a similar system to be used for XFL players. Phase 1 and 2 is set for January 5, and an open dispersal draft for remaining USFL/XFL players (phase 3) is scheduled for January 15, 2024:
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Free agency started on January 16, 2024, for players who weren't selected in the Dispersal draft or did not play in the USFL or XFL in 2023.
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Mike Pereira and Dean Blandino will be in charge of the UFL's officiating and rules.
The league rulebook was released February 13, 2024. Though most of the UFL's unique rules were common to both the USFL and XFL (such as allowing a second forward pass if the first does not cross the line of scrimmage, and the treatment of a fumble through the end zone the same as other forward fumbles in that it is brought back to the spot of the fumble), a limited number required compromise or were changed entirely from both leagues' rules:
The UFL will continue the XFL agreement with Arlington, Texas, to serve as the league's centralized hub. The league training camps started on February 24, 2024.
For the 2024 season each team trained at a different stadium in Arlington and share it with another team throughout the season as follows:
The league plan to hold an untelevised "informal scrimmages" (or "half-games") on March 9, for the league's TV partners (Battlehawks vs Stallions; Defenders vs Panthers; Brahmas vs Roughnecks and Renegades vs Showboats), in order to conduct trial runs for their broadcasts. Teams also held joint practices during the preseason.
The league is divided into two conferences, the USFL Conference and the XFL Conference, each a continuation of its respective league. Each team will play a ten-game schedule with no bye weeks, playing two games against each conference rival (one home and one away) and one game against each team in the other conference, like the XFL, all eight teams playing in their home markets. The regular season kicked off on March 30, 2024, with a game between the USFL and XFL champions, the Birmingham Stallions and the Arlington Renegades. The league schedule was released February 5, 2024.
The postseason will have four teams. After controversy in the 2023 XFL season in which the St. Louis Battlehawks lost out on a playoff bid on a string of tiebreakers while the Arlington Renegades, three games behind St. Louis in overall standings, advanced to the playoffs, Battlehawks head coach Anthony Becht stated in an interview that the UFL would rework the playoff system so that the winners of each conference will host the league semifinals as before, while the two remaining playoff seeds will be wild-card bids going to the best remaining overall records, regardless of conference. A statement in the schedule press release indicated otherwise, that the XFL and USFL would continue to have self-contained championship games with the first and second team in each conference facing each other. In either event, the winners of the two semifinal games will advance to the 2024 UFL Championship Game.
On March 14, 2024, the UFL announced that The Dome at America's Center, home of the Battlehawks, would host the championship, beating out an aggressive bid from Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium in Canton, Ohio, which had hosted both USFL championships. League executives noted that, unlike the USFL which had initially chosen Canton as a neutral site, the UFL would choose future championship sites solely from existing markets like the XFL did as a reward for strong fan support.
All games stream on ESPN+ or Fox Sports app unless otherwise noted.
The playoffs commenced on June 8 and 9 and ended with the championship game on June 16.
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Announced attendance figures for each home game. In the weekly columns, dashes (—) indicate away games, while bold font indicates the highest attendance of the week.
The home openers for Arlington and Michigan were both up compared to their counterparts in 2023 (12,047 for Arlington, an estimated 7,500 for Michigan), while San Antonio's was down from its opener (but still in line with other home games in 2023), in part due to church service attendance Easter Sunday morning. Houston and Memphis also saw substantial declines compared to 2023, with Johnston admitting concern about the Showboats' crowd turnout and noting that it was part of a downward trend for the team dating back to its 2023 home opener; he had hoped for improvement for the 2025 season with more favorable time slots. On average, the attendance number dipped from the XFL’s 2023 season average of 14,703 to 13,512. While the Battlehawks averaged 34,365 fans per game, the other seven teams averaged only 9,751, and the Defenders Audi Field was the only other venue who drew more than 50% full on average.
In an interview after the season Head of Football Operations Daryl Johnston said: "With our home markets, we’ve got to build that trust there — that we’re not going to leave or [that] the league isn’t going to fold. We’ve got a couple cities that historically have been a part of spring football, they’ve committed to a team and that team has left. … We’ve still got some trust to build in our home markets. We are going to be able to dial into the details. We’re going to have a traditional offseason calendar where we can be ahead of the curve instead of being in a position where we have to chase it a little bit".
In the 2020 XFL season, the league awarded a weekly award called "The Star of the Week". In the 2022 and 2023 USFL seasons, the league awarded Offensive, Defensive, and Special Teams Players of the Week awards. During the 2024 season, the UFL has not posted official player of the week awards. However, similar to the 2023 XFL season, some independent media companies recognized offensive, defensive, and special teams players each week.
After not awarding "Players of the Week" awards in the first two weeks, The UFLPA filed a grievance challenging the UFL’s decision, claiming its a violation of the league's collective bargaining agreement.
The league was created as a "merger of equals", with the respective leagues' owners assuming 50% ownership of the newly formed UFL. RedBird Capital Partners owner Gerry Cardinale called it "a tremendous opportunity to achieve something unique. A legitimate shot at becoming one of the top professional leagues in the country after the big four leagues".
In March, Under Armour announced they extended the multi-year agreement signed in 2023 with the XFL. Later that month, Michael Strahan's MSX brand was announced as the "Official Off-Field Apparel Partner". Other UFL's sponsors include: Westgate Resorts, Progressive Insurance, PepsiCo (Gatorade), The Coca-Cola Company (Simply Spiked), CBD Kratom, and Molson Coors. Johnson and Garcia also use the league to promote their own brands, Teremana Tequila and ZOA Energy Drink. On April 6, 2024, the league announced a partnership with the United States Army, who paid an estimated $10-11 million for jersey patch sponsorship and other promotional considerations. It was later reported that the Army was looking to recoup $6 million from the deal, after the partnership allegedly caused a decline in recruitment; the Army stated in January 2025 that such reports misrepresented the nature of the contract (in which the payment did not take place until after the season ended, and thus the Army, through its advertising agent DDB Worldwide. instead reduced its sponsorship payout after Johnson failed to deliver on personal social media posts as part of the agreement). The Army also stated that claims of the sponsorship causing a decline in recruitment were completely false.
In April Upper Deck announced they'll release "2024 UFL Game Dated Moments Cards". Beginning with the conference championships, the league signed a partnership with Underdog Fantasy Sports to be the league's official fantasy partner, replacing a previous deal that the XFL had held with DraftKings during McMahon's ownership.
St. Louis Battlehawks signed a sponsorship agreement with Budweiser. The sponsorship returns Anheuser-Busch to the league, after it had sponsored the XFL in 2020 to promote Bud Light Seltzer. In March, Flux announced a multi-year sponsorship with the D.C. Defenders and St. Louis Battlehawks.
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In the United States, the television rights for the UFL is held by Fox and ESPN (which is under its second season of a five-year deal), which held the rights to the USFL and XFL, respectively. NBC Sports, which had shared broadcast rights to the USFL with Fox Sports in 2022 and 2023, will not carry UFL games due to an increase in schedule conflicts, stemming from the proposed start date being slightly earlier than 2022 and 2023. There had been one year remaining on NBC's contract.
Fox Sports' regular season coverage includes pairs of regional games in Weeks 4, 5, and 9 on Fox, (with out of market games available to watch on the Fox Sports App), 13 national games on Fox, and FS1 carrying one live game and same-week encore presentations of previous Fox telecasts throughout the season. The ESPN networks' regular season coverage includes 9 games on ABC, 10 games on ESPN, and one game on ESPN2. 63% of all UFL games will air on broadcast television (ABC or Fox) and 25% of the remaining games will air on the ESPN flagship network. ABC and Fox will also each air a semifinal game. The 2024 UFL Championship Game will be on Fox. In addition, games on the ESPN networks will be streamed live on ESPN+. ESPN will also air a weekly multi-platform post-game show. Eight of Fox's games will be simulcast on its Spanish language outlet Fox Deportes, Along with select ESPN games on ESPN Deportes.
On demand access to games on ESPN networks will be available for a limited time on ESPN+, along with Fox broadcast network games on Tubi.
Curt Menefee and Joel Klatt, who served as Fox's lead broadcast team for the XFL and USFL since 2020, continued in that capacity in 2024. ESPN leading crew featured Mike Monaco or Drew Carter (alternating throughout the season), Sam Acho, Stormy Buonantony and Cole Cubelic.
Through the first eight weeks of the season, the UFL's broadcast partners had sold $3.7 million in in-game commercial inventory at an average of $6,750 per advertisement; in addition to the UFL's league sponsors, regular television sponsors included Jersey Mike's, T-Mobile, IBM, Liberty Mutual and Subway, among numerous pharmaceuticals. Most of the advertising was purchased as part of bulk agreements with Fox Sports and ESPN Inc. as the league was not believed to be popular enough to warrant separate advertising purchases, an arrangement that will continue in 2025.
Brahmas kicker Donald De La Haye features the league in his Web series Project NFL, which is featured on his YouTube channel, Deestroying.
The inaugural season of the UFL averaged 832,000 viewers per game this season, a 34% increase from the average of 619,000 viewers the USFL and XFL attracted last year. The championship game on Fox drew the highest viewership with 1.596 million viewers. While the UFL games were drawing more viewers than the NHL, Fox Sports CEO Eric Shanks said: "Ratings are strong, especially considering where this is carving out its space, but the ratings aren’t big enough yet where this is its own individual upfront [commercial packages] buy".
In millions of viewers
* One decimal place is shown in table but two decimal places are used in all calculations.* Viewership figures for games streaming on ESPN+ were not released.
Both ESPN and Fox will carry audio simulcasts of their coverage on their Sirius XM Radio feeds, ESPN Xtra and Fox Sports Radio, respectively. Among local affiliates, Memphis Showboats games will air on Memphis radio station WKIM (FM 98.9).
The UFL announcement was the number one story the week after its merger in St. Louis.
Writing for ProFootballTalk, Mike Florio was skeptical of the league's long-term odds given the history of spring football and attendance figures he saw as mediocre, while acknowledging "The U.F.L. (New York Times-style) can be F.U.N." citing a fake field goal in which punter/holder Brad Wing threw a touchdown pass to Alex Mollette, the team's center who was lined up as a tackle eligible. Later in the season, Florio noted that improved television ratings and league stability had shown that the UFL was "laying the foundation to survive longer than most alternate pro football leagues." Jeff Kerr of CBS Sports lamented the lack of offensive output in Week 1 (noting a lack of effective running back play), while praising exciting special teams play, mentioning the Wing-to-Mollette touchdown and Jake Bates's 64-yard game-winning field goal; Kerr surmised that the league would need to improve its offensive line play. USA Today writer Jim Reineking noted that the former USFL squads, in general, seemed to have the upper hand in the opening week contests, while criticizing the league's decision to use the USFL rules on kickoffs (while acknowledging that the more conventional USFL formation did provide ample opportunity for returns) and starting the season around the crowded Easter holiday, arguing that the league would have been better served launching in the post-Super Bowl window as the XFL traditionally did. Barstool Sports declared "The UFL is risen!" with writer Clem crediting the Wing-to-Mollette play and Bates's field goal for reigniting his interest in spring football. SB Nation wrote of the Wing-to-Mollette play: "This is why we come to the UFL. For moments like this, plays like this. This is what makes football great."
On April 12, 2024, the Pro Football Hall of Fame started displaying the official game ball that was used by Michigan Panthers kicker Jake Bates, who converted a go-ahead 64-yard field goal with three seconds left, leading Michigan to a 18-16 victory over the St. Louis Battlehawks. The PFHOF was later also honored the Birmingham Stallions, after winning the league championship.
NFL teams were permitted to request tryouts of UFL players beginning the day following a players’ club's last game of the season, including playoffs. NFL teams could also negotiate with the players, but were unable to sign the player until June 18, two days after the conclusion of the UFL Championship Game.
77 UFL players signed with the NFL for their 2024 preseason; of those, only two—Jake Bates and Jalen Redmond—survived roster cuts to make an NFL Week 1 roster.