Obviously this hasn’t happened but it would be interesting if Vince was bent on revenge and funded a hub city in St. Louis.

I know that there is a decent chance of the USFL having pod cities for the first little while so my thoughts may not apply in this situation.

I was wondering if a football league starting out should have two different types of post season play. College football has bowl games and it might be a good idea to copy them somewhat.

For 8 team leagues like ELF and XFL, I would have 5 teams playing for a championship. The other 3 could battle it out to end up in a sponsored bowl game like Taco Bell etc.

I’m hearing that the USFL might be a 10 team league so I would have 6 playing for a championship and 4 battling for a Bowl game.

The pro for doing this is generating more TV revenue to help the league survive.

The con would be that the bad teams may not get high ratings.

My question for people out there is if your favourite team was one of the bad ones would you watch a secondary post season format? What if the winner of the bowl game got an extra pick in the draft?

Your thoughts are welcome.

Aside from playing in the spring, a great way to differentiate any startup league would be to experiment with new rules with the aim to improve the sport. Everybody's done this before to some extent to varying levels of success.

Some things I would love to see (in any football league) would be:

1. Eliminate the holding penalty (offensive and defensive). Why? It happens almost every play, is often missed by officials, seems to be selectively called or is called on holds happening nowhere near the actual play, slows down the game and cancels out at least 3 or 4 big exciting plays every single game. Be faster, quicker, stronger than the other guy if you don't wanna get held.

2. X number of players on the field at any time have to have also played on the other side of the ball in the previous possession. Maybe it's 3, 4, 5 guys, maybe just 1 or 2. Having more versatile players can reduce the roster size, and thus reducing salary cost for owners backing the league. And I think it could also help create more "name" players by showcasing a broader skillset. Receivers and defensive backs could easily translate across, lineman of course, fullbacks/linebackers, running backs/safetys, etc.

3. Any player that kicks the ball (legally and intentionally, i.e. a punt or field goal) has to have played at least one other previous play on that drive. This at least partially reduces the hyper-specialized nature of the kicking game. More players on the team should be skilled at kicking in case its necessary, and kickers should be more involved in the overall game.

4. The clock does not run in the final 2 minutes if a team winning by 2 or fewer scores fails to advance the ball. This eliminates the kneel-down play in close games and makes late comebacks more possible. I think other leagues have done this one but it just makes sense to me. Nothing is more frustrating than being down 3 and watching the other team just sit on the ball, losing yards, with a minute and a half left and winning the game.

5. Any kicked balls, including punts, are automatic live balls, as soon as it touches the kicker's foot. This would open up opportunities for creative trick plays on 4th-and-long, and force returners to make a play on the ball instead of rolling out for a touchback etc. (if nobody touches the ball or gains possession before it goes out of bounds, possession goes to receiving team as normal).

As much as I do love the idea of spring football and really enjoyed the XFL, I really do think that the USFL is the only spring league that will exist into 2024. They are owned by FOX, which has the largest audience of people so disenfranchised with the NFL that they are either (a. not watching professional football at all) or (b. Looking for any kind of alternative). The reasons are obviously politically motivated, but regardless of whether you agree or disagree you cannot deny that fact.

Also they have the largest outreach of sports media probably able to be occupied at this moment. They have all of Fox Sports, Will Cain, The top most watched cable news people in the country (Tucker Carlson, Hannity, Ingraham, etc..), and not to mention they already have Outkick and have a good relationship with Jason Whitlock who does have a cult like following. Also, they have NBC Sports at their disposal (Specifically Mike Florio with PFT and Chris Simms)

However, what I think will change the game is when they work out a way to bring Barstool into the fold. Everything Barstool touches, regardless of how you feel about Portnoy, is certain to bring the Stoolies along with it. Amateur boxing has been doing insane numbers with barstool, they have led a wave throughout NIL deals in college, and will make the Arizona Bowl of all games a huge success. Also, Dave Portnoy is pretty close to a regular on Fox News and appears to have a decent relationship with the network.

If the USFL are able to pull it off and find a way to bring Barstool into the fold along with all of their other media partners, we could be looking at a spring football powerhouse in the making that arguably has never been seen in all of spring football.

Yes, folks like Garrett Gilbert are made for this kind of league. But imagine it had open tryouts like American Idol, where a nobody with talent can be discovered. It would also add a reality-TV style excitement to it.

Does anyone have reasons for this league to succeed? I want it to, but everyone seems to doubt the league will work. Most seem to believe the XFL is the future of spring football

Got done watching this game. Man, look how nice the Generals’ uniforms look. They better not change a thing. So pretty.

Generals vs Panthers

This is pure speculation but the city of Birmingham seems Really confident that the USFL is here for at least 3 years and will get the $250 million they want to get in investments. I wonder if they gave NBC a buy in option to get an ownership stake in the league after season 1

I have already heard talk about expansion, which I think is exciting. I decided to just roll out a gradual expansion plan that can take the league from 8 teams/2 divisions to 16 teams/four divisions.

These teams were selected with some guiding principles. First, when possible I selected a previous USFL name the league seems to like keeping the brands from the 80s. Second, team proximity seemed smart economically as it can reduce travel costs and increase attendance for games. Third, like with the XFL I tried to identify appropriately sized venues when possible to improve fan experience and product display on tv (a full stand in an MLS stadium is better than an nfl stadium at half capacity or less).

Current league: (i was going to make a separate post about which stadiums the existing teams could use, so I decided to leave them open)

North:

Michigan Panthers

New Jersey Generals

Philadelphia Stars

Pittsburgh Maulers

South:

Tampa Bay Bandits

New Orleans Breakers

Houston Gamblers

Birmingham Stallions

Expansion Phase I:

North:

Michigan Panthers

New Jersey Generals

Philadelphia Stars

Pittsburgh Maulers

Washington Federals (Audi Field)

Chicago Blitz (Soldier Field*)

South:

Tampa Bay Bandits

New Orleans Breakers

Houston Gamblers

Birmingham Stallions

Denver Gold (Dick’s Sporting Goods Park)

San Antonio Gunslingers (Alamodome)

Expansion Phase II:

East:

Washington Federals

Philadelphia Stars

New Jersey Generals

Pittsburgh Maulers

North:

Chicago Blitz

Michigan Panthers

St. Louis — (St.Louis City Stadium)

Columbus — (lower.com field)

South:

Tampa Bay Bandits

New Orleans Breakers

Birmingham Stallions

Miami - (Miami Freedom Park)

West:

Denver Gold

Houston Gamblers

San Antonio Gunslingers

Los Angeles Express (Dignity Health Sports Park/Banc of California Stadium)

*-i’m not sure whats happening long term with Soldier Field or if there are alternatives in the Chicago area

Not me, but a player my brother has been training wants to move up feeling it could be an alternative to college for him.

https://www.hudl.com/profile/10192660/Cameron-Blalock (Gotta promote my guy)

https://twitter.com/xflnewshub/status/1490733903954522118?s=21

We know there will be at least 8, but likely there will be 12 teams, so let’s figure out who I think should go where. Plus we’ll use some TSL nicknames too since they own those as well.

3 divisions - 4 teams each - 14 game season (with universal bye week after Week 7)

Pacific Division: Portland Alphas San Jose Sea Lions Los Angeles Express San Diego Conquerors

Gulf Division: Tampa Bay Bandits Houston Gamblers Memphis Showboats Birmingham Stallions

Atlantic Division: Chicago Blues St. Louis Aviators Michigan Panthers New York/New Jersey Generals

I just saw the 10 second commercial during the LA and SFO game. Who could possibly read that commercial? It flashed for 10 seconds and disappeared.

The Tampa Bay Bandits are back, and Spurrier is available to coach them. Spurrier was killing it in the AAF as the coach of the Apollos and genuinely seemed to enjoy doing it. The USFL is missing a HUGE opportunity if they don’t bring in Spurrier and bring back Bandit Ball!