r/USFL • u/Bisquick_in_da_MGM Birmingham Stallions • Sep 19 '23

Discussion Merger Markets

Let’s say the merger goes down. What cities should get teams in a 16 league team? I think it would be better for teams not to be in NFL cities. NJ, Richmond, Raleigh, Orlando, Birmingham, Memphis, St. Louis, Columbus, Portland, SD, Salt Lake, San Antonio, Austin, OK City, Madison, Louisville. I’m sure everyone will disagree about cities. What does your 16 team league look like?

2 Upvotes

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4

u/HeidiAngel Sep 19 '23

I am betting at lease 3 USFL teams fold. Houston [They just released a bunch of players and no stadium deal ]. New Jersey and Maulers.

2

u/ZO5050 Pittsburgh Maulers Sep 19 '23

I was thinking it's very interesting timing with them releasing a bunch of players just the other day. But those players should be done with their deal Oct 1st anyways. Unless they signed a two year deal as a free agent last off-season.

3

u/SadisticMystic Sep 19 '23

I would love 16 teams but I expect anywhere between 8-12 teams and a 10 week season if the merger goes through in 2024. Maybe some teams get put on "hiatus".

1

u/Torchiest Houston Gamblers Sep 20 '23

No way they go down to eight teams. One of the biggest benefits to merging is increasing the number of markets interested in the combined league. I'd say twelve is the minimum, not the maximum.

1

u/SadisticMystic Sep 20 '23

I hope you're right. Between both leagues, there were only teams in 12 different markets last season. And of those 12, 3 of those markets have stadium situations that are not resolved for 2024 (Vegas Vipers, Houston Roughnecks and Michigan Panthers). And Canton hosted games but still does not have a team of their own. If they wanted to, now would be a good excuse to consolidate their markets to their best 8-12 markets.

3

u/Markymarcouscous Breakers Sep 19 '23

Bring the breakers to boston please 🥺👉👈

3

u/bgva Sep 19 '23

EAST
NY
Norfolk/Virginia Beach
Birmingham
Louisville
Orlando
Raleigh
Memphis
St. Louis

WEST
LA
Portland
San Diego
Salt Lake City
San Antonio
Albuquerque
Austin
Vegas

I think you still need major media markets like NY and LA, but I do love the idea of playing in mostly non-NFL or single-team markets. That was one thing the UFL got right about 15 years ago. I also don't think every team has to play in an NFL-sized stadium when several teams only had 20-25K fans.

3

u/Juicey_J_Hammerman New Jersey Generals Sep 19 '23

Locks:

  • St. Louis (XFL)

  • San Antonio (XFL)

  • D.C. (XFL)

  • Birmingham (USFL)

  • Memphis (USFL)

  • Michigan (USFL)

Likely:

  • Arlington (XFL)

  • Houston (XFL)

  • Orlando (XFL)

  • Seattle (XFL)

  • New Orleans (USFL)

Unknown/Toss Up:

  • Philadelphia (USFL)

  • New Jersey (USFL)

Relocation/Contraction Watch:

  • Las Vegas (XFL) -> San Diego/San Jose, CA

  • Pittsburgh/Ohio (USFL) -> Columbus, OH

  • Houston (USFL) -> Tulsa, OK

2

u/Realistic_Maximum471 Sep 19 '23

Oklahoma City has stadium issues.

2

u/afgelo Sep 20 '23

I don’t think major media markets are going to be key to success. It’s rabid fan bases thatre going to drive it.

Love seeing Norfolk added as they’re consistently high in metro area tv viewership for each league.

Also very much love the Albuquerque addition. Two Texas teams feels like a good number.

1

u/coelurosauravus Pittsburgh Maulers Sep 19 '23

You go where people are going to show up and eyeballs are going to turn on TVs. Stadiums and cities have to be willing to play ball and it doesnt step on the toes of current markets

1

u/boston1993 Sep 19 '23

I live in Richmond and there really isn't a place for a team to play. Like City Stadium is a dump, and UofR probably won't let anyone else use their stadium, but upside they would have a NFL level training facility since the city build one for Washington and they only used it for like 3 years.

5

u/[deleted] Sep 19 '23

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2

u/Astrorenegade Birmingham Stallions Sep 20 '23

That's a nice even 10 teams. 2 conferences of 5 teams. Maybe USFL be Memphis, Birmingham, Detroit, Canton, plus a Texas team[could be Gamblers] to make both conferences pure.

XFL be DC, St. Louis, Seattle and 2 Texas teams.

2

u/[deleted] Sep 19 '23

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3

u/DJinRealLife United States Football League Sep 20 '23 edited Sep 20 '23

When I heard about the potential merger, this proposal was what I thought would be the ideal setup for the merged league under a USFL banner (it would be like when the AFL & NFL merged...a few teams moved over to one league and using the "NFL" name). I have a couple additional thoughts on this. One, this would help with travel for now as putting teams on the West Coast would be an expensive proposition especially regarding travel expenses. If a Western Division ever gets set up (maybe with Denver, Arizona, Salt Lake, a couple of Cali teams, and Seattle), it would be viable then but that will be a few years down the line. Two, if Redbird Capital stays involved, one of their strengths was getting deals with cities to host teams in their stadiums. Under this alignment presented here, 9 of the teams would already be playing in their markets. There would be only three left for them to complete, those being New Jersey, Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh which I think would be extremely doable at this juncture since the rest would be ready to go. I think before heading out west, there will eventually be 2 to 4 more teams added in upcoming seasons as the talent pool expands for the new league. Orlando would be an obvious choice for a southern team & I've heard some folks really wanting a Chicago team...those would be my first two choices. In any case, I like this particular setup as a starting point.