USFL is trying to make a comeback (sorta)….

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USFL 2022: Everything you need to know | FOX Sports

With USFL's inaugural season underway, here's everything you need to know about the league.
www.foxsports.com www.foxsports.com
The new United States Football League is launching in the spring of 2022.

The new USFL is an American football league, owned by FOX Sports, that will deliver high-quality, innovative professional football played in the spring and early summer.

Here's what you need to know about the new USFL:

How many teams will be in the league? How will the league be formatted?

There will be eight teams in the new USFL, split into two divisions –– North and South. Each team will play a 10-game schedule, with teams in the same division playing each other twice and teams in the other division once.

The top two teams in each division will play against each other in the semifinals followed a week later by the championship game.

Where will games be played?

In the inaugural season of the USFL, all eight teams will play in one location, which will be announced soon. In the future, the USFL expects teams to play in their own markets.

When will the season begin?

The 2022 USFL regular season will begin in mid-April and run through mid-June, followed by the playoffs.

On what days will games be played? How can fans watch?

Games will be played on both Saturday and Sunday, with special broadcasts on specific Fridays and Mondays.

FOX Sports is an official broadcast partner of the USFL and will air games on a weekly basis.

Who will oversee the new USFL?

Brian Woods –– the founder and CEO of The Spring League from 2017 to 2021 and a co-founder of the new USFL –– will serve as the league's President of Football Operations.

Three-time Super Bowl champion and former Dallas Cowboys fullback Daryl "Moose" Johnstonwill serve as Executive Vice President of Football Operations.

Joining the new USFL as Head of Officiating is former NFL Vice President of Officiating and FOX Sports' NFL and College Football Rules analyst Mike Pereira. And FOX Sports’ Edward Hartman will serve as Executive Vice President of Business Operations.

"We are extremely fortunate to have this extraordinary team of experienced executives to guide the new USFL's development as we move toward launch this spring," said FOX Sports CEO and Executive Producer Eric Shanks, who will serve as Chairman of the USFL's Board of Directors.

"I am confident Brian, Daryl, Mike and Edward have the passion, experience, and commitment we need to get the job done, so come April, we will offer a compelling, high-quality game of professional football that fans will embrace."

Plans are progressing quickly, and additional announcements will be made in the coming weeks. Stay tuned!
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Would be cool if they brought back teams/cities such as Orlando, Birmingham, Memphis, San Antonio, Portland, St. Louis, Oakland like the AAF kinda did.

We’ll see though. Looks like there’s a North/South setup so perhaps that’s not the case.
 
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Bored with no work to do.

North
New Jersey Generals
Philadelphia Stars
Chicago Blitz
St. Louis Gunners/Archers(?)

South
Orlando Renegades
Birmingham Stallions
San Antonio Gunslingers
Los Angeles Express

Though I’d love to see newer markets such as Portland, Salt Lake, Memphis, Oakland get another shot. This would probably make sense as far as ratings and attendance.
 
Just announced the teams on FS1.


North
Michigan Panthers
New Jersey Generals
Philadelphia Stars
Pittsburgh Maulers

South
Birmingham Stallions
Houston Gamblers
New Orleans Breakers
Tampa Bay Bandits
 
Michfan said:
I was thoroughly enjoying the XFL product
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In early 2020 I sometimes tuned in to XFL games after the Xfinity races were over and I actually liked what I saw.
One of the reasons why I can't get into Football is that it feels like a game takes forever. In XFL it felt like it was quite significantly faster.
 
FLRacingFan said:
Kinda weird they’re playing the inaugural season at one location, rumored to be Birmingham. I guess that’s a cost thing? Kinda hard to build fan bases if you’re not actually playing in the cities where the teams are based.
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I think they’re trying to get a season off the ground lol.

Wish they had St. Louis and/or San Antonio instead of Tampa Bay.

Michigan could work I guess, but it’s not a huge market? Maybe they realize the Lions fans are sad saps and need a winning team?
 
AuzGrams said:
I think they’re trying to get a season off the ground lol.

Wish they had St. Louis and/or San Antonio instead of Tampa Bay.

Michigan could work I guess, but it’s not a huge market? Maybe they realize the Lions fans are sad saps and need a winning team?
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St. Louis could use it, I thought their XFL attendance last year was really strong. I don’t think Tampa Bay needs another sports team right now. Made sense in the 80’s but not so much right now.
 
FLRacingFan said:
St. Louis could use it, I thought their XFL attendance last year was really strong. I don’t think Tampa Bay needs another sports team right now. Made sense in the 80’s but not so much right now.
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XFL & USFL should just merge together into the USFL 2.0 in 2023. Bring the St. Louis BattleHawks into the USFL.

Maybe in the future expand to 10 with the LA Express, Oakland Invaders or San Antonio Gunslingers/Commanders.
 
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If the USFL can draw 150-200k on FS1 and 500k or so on big Fox I think it would be a success
 
USFL TV Schedule was recently announced.
The 2022 United States Football League seasonkicks off on Saturday, April 16 with a match-up between the New Jersey Generals and the Birmingham Stallions at 7:30 p.m. ET on NBC & Fox. There will be a total of 43 USFL games featuring four games a week during the 10-week regular season, followed by two playoff games, and a championship game. 20 of those games will take place on Sundays, 19 on Saturdays, and four will take place on Friday nights.

All regular-season games will be contested in the city of Birmingham, Alabama at two venues: Protective Stadium and Legion Field. Playoff and championship games will be held at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium in Canton, Ohio.

NBC Sports will air 22 USFL regular season games on NBC (9), USA Network (9), and Peacock (4) while Fox will air a total of 14 games. See below for the complete 2022 USFL TV schedule.
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www.nbcsports.com

USFL's new rules range from exciting to insane

The USFL announced a few different wrinkles to their rule book and some of them are… interesting. By Dan Roche
www.nbcsports.com www.nbcsports.com

The USFL, the new spring football league which opens play next month, unveiled a unique set of rules Wednesday, to set itself apart from the NFL and college football.

They range from progressive... to downright nutty.

Probably the most outlandish of the league’s departures from normal is a third option for a conversion after a touchdown. You can try a 33-yard kick for one point, run a play from the 2-yard line for two, or try a scrimmage play from the 10-yard line for three points.

I love this. It opens up so many different permutations for late-game situations, extending the equations of the “two-score” game to 18 points.

The overtime format is also way different from the NFL. It’s actually closest to the NHL. Each team will alternate plays from the 2-yard line. A successful try is worth two points, and each team will get three attempts. If the game is still tied, it continues until there’s a winner.

Not bad, but not great either. I’m not sure that any football overtime format will please everyone, but they took a shot.

How about this: the USFL will make it legal to throw two forward passes behind the line of scrimmage. This is wild, but it’s also hard to get your head around how this could actually work. I fell like Chip Kelly came up with this rule somehow.

The league also offers a second option to onside kicks: the kicking team can run a 4th-and-12 play from its own 33-yard line. If they convert, they keep the ball. If not, the defense gets the ball.

The NFL has kicked this wrinkle around in recent years, and I’m a big fan. The onside kick is nearly impossible to recover, at least within today’s NFL rules. This option has a far higher success rate.

The new league will borrow (kind of) from college football for late-half situations. They will stop the clock for first downs within the lasts two minutes of each half.

Some other notable rules:

• All kickoffs from the 25-yard line. No kicking team member can line up further back than one yard. Receiving team must have eight players between the 35 and 45-yard lines. If the kick travels 20 yards, the first touch must be by the receiving team. If there’s an untouched dead ball, the receiving team gets the ball at that spot.

• Each team gets one replay challenge per game.

• In cases of defensive pass interference, college rules apply: within 15 yards of the line of scrimmage, it’s a spot foul. Beyond 15 yards, the penalty is 15 yards.

• However, if the pass doesn’t cross the line of scrimmage, there are no PI penalties, or ineligible player downfield penalties.

The USFL certainly set itself apart with these new rules. Does it make it more watchable? That remains to be seen.
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USFL just announced their rules, which is pretty much XFL 2020 rules. Will watch some of this most likely since NASCAR/NBA won’t always be on. NASCAR & NBA still a bigger priority, but this looks to be about the same quality as the AAF/XFL with some different financial decisions being made.
 
The 2020 XFL showed potential in the ratings and attendance if I recall.

Fox Sports owning the USFL is a good thing in this situation & starting in April instead of one week after the Super Bowl in the cold winter is a good change. Also the retro stuff is cool.
 
Everyone excited for the XFL debut #? this weekend? Thought so. I think it's destined for failure. It'll have decent first week ratings followed by waning interest week to week. Eventually following the path of all attempts as before. Betters will bet but people won't watch. They tune in to watch the best of the best. I can't see that trend changing.
 
I’ll watch some games but they are not in home markets yet. XFL was not doing too bad for ratings. AAF had many issues. The AAF & XFL 2020 had some decent games. USFL is owned by Fox Sports I think.

Spring football leagues should only do 10 games per team max.
 
dpkimmel2001 said:
Everyone excited for the XFL debut #? this weekend? Thought so. I think it's destined for failure. It'll have decent first week ratings followed by waning interest week to week. Eventually following the path of all attempts as before. Betters will bet but people won't watch. They tune in to watch the best of the best. I can't see that trend changing.
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The XFL isn't playing this year. They will play in 2023
 
dpkimmel2001 said:
Everyone excited for the XFL debut #? this weekend? Thought so. I think it's destined for failure. It'll have decent first week ratings followed by waning interest week to week. Eventually following the path of all attempts as before. Betters will bet but people won't watch. They tune in to watch the best of the best. I can't see that trend changing.
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Sigh. Last time it was doing pretty good… then COVID happened, or do we just like to forget that as it doesn’t fit a narrative? No COVID and I think XFL would not have stopped and would’ve been still going, with a season already started or about to start a new season.
 
Blaze said:
Sigh. Last time it was doing pretty good… then COVID happened, or do we just like to forget that as it doesn’t fit a narrative? No COVID and I think XFL would not have stopped and would’ve been still going, with a season already started or about to start a new season.
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These attempts always seem to do well the first week. There's the initial curiosity. That's normally followed by a decline in ratings followed by the demise of the sport. If it survives, it'll be a miracle. Online gambling would probably be it's only saving grace and could possibly keep it going.

I'm an avid football fan as is my wife. We get our fill of football through the NFL and NCAA. I simply don't find myself wanting more.
 
dpkimmel2001 said:
These attempts always seem to do well the first week. There's the initial curiosity. That's normally followed by a decline in ratings followed by the demise of the sport. If it survives, it'll be a miracle. Online gambling would probably be it's only saving grace and could possibly keep it going.

I'm an avid football fan as is my wife. We get our fill of football through the NFL and NCAA. I simply don't find myself wanting more.
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But… again… it was doing good every week, then covid happened…. That’s what ruined it last time. Nothing more nothing less.
 
dpkimmel2001 said:
These attempts always seem to do well the first week. There's the initial curiosity. That's normally followed by a decline in ratings followed by the demise of the sport. If it survives, it'll be a miracle. Online gambling would probably be it's only saving grace and could possibly keep it going.

I'm an avid football fan as is my wife. We get our fill of football through the NFL and NCAA. I simply don't find myself wanting more.
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The XFL was doing well for multiple weeks.
 
AndyMarquisLive said:
17 fans are enjoying the games.
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I saw some of a game a couple weeks ago before the next program was on (think it was X at Talladega, actually). Paid .0005 ounces of attention but thought the stadium was closed for some weird covid thing.... then I saw 10 people in an occupied section. Yikes.
 
Speedbowl14 said:
I saw some of a game a couple weeks ago before the next program was on (think it was X at Talladega, actually). Paid .0005 ounces of attention but thought the stadium was closed for some weird covid thing.... then I saw 10 people in an occupied section. Yikes.
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Selling tickets is hard. And nobody really cares about any spring football league.
 
You guys do realize they aren’t concerned about selling tickets for any team except Birmingham?
 
Pittsburgh has a team. I'm guessing that all of you care just as much as we do in the Pittsburgh market. There's pretty much Zero interest here for these games. I listen to our local sports radio talk stations all day and most evenings. I've not heard a single caller comment on this league. If my local market, that actually has a team, is any indication, this league will dissolve as all other failed ventures have before it. The only thing that could possibly save it would be Sports betting. Other than that, its days are numbered.
 
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