This is the UFL! (XFL/USFL Merger)

[Skycast]

1 hour ago, GDAWG said:

So out of the inactive USFL teams to return, the most likely is the Breakers in New Orleans.  

 

For sure, solid take. Part of me is hoping they bring back Seattle given the strong fan base they had there and perhaps move the Breakers to Portland since there's a precedence for that (or heck even Sacramento) to pair with them on the west coast. Keep in mind I have no clue about stadium availability or real viability about either of those cities, just looking geographically.

 

Edit to add that I think ultimately 12 teams would be great, 16 would be perfect but probably a long term pipe dream at best. That being said, a west coast division with some semblance of the following would be spectacular (in no particular order)...Seattle, Portland, Las Vegas, Denver, San Diego, Phoenix or Salt Lake City.

 

With 12 teams I'd hope for East, Central and West divisions with the top 2 from each team making the playoffs and the top two seeds getting a first round bye.

[gosioux76]

51 minutes ago, Skycast said:

I think ultimately 12 teams would be great, 16 would be perfect but probably a long term pipe dream at best. That being said, a west coast division with some semblance of the following would be spectacular (in no particular order)...Seattle, Portland, Las Vegas, Denver, San Diego, Phoenix or Salt Lake City.

 

With 12 teams I'd hope for East, Central and West divisions with the top 2 from each team making the playoffs and the top two seeds getting a first round bye.

 

It might be a pipe dream, but I think this is one of those examples where expansion would help make the league more interesting. 

[GDAWG]

3 hours ago, Skycast said:

 

For sure, solid take. Part of me is hoping they bring back Seattle given the strong fan base they had there and perhaps move the Breakers to Portland since there's a precedence for that (or heck even Sacramento) to pair with them on the west coast. Keep in mind I have no clue about stadium availability or real viability about either of those cities, just looking geographically.

 

Edit to add that I think ultimately 12 teams would be great, 16 would be perfect but probably a long term pipe dream at best. That being said, a west coast division with some semblance of the following would be spectacular (in no particular order)...Seattle, Portland, Las Vegas, Denver, San Diego, Phoenix or Salt Lake City.

 

With 12 teams I'd hope for East, Central and West divisions with the top 2 from each team making the playoffs and the top two seeds getting a first round bye.

 

Seattle , Phoenix, San Diego and Salt Lake City would be a bit more realistic among those markets.  Seattle has proven that they can host spring football and do it well.  Now Phoenix and Salt Lake City didn't do well attendance-wise in the AAF, but the XFL did consider a move of the Vipers to Phoenix before the merger.  If the UFL is able to secure 5 home dates at a very busy Snapdragon Stadium, then they should consider it.  

 

With Las Vegas, the UFL would have to do things a lot differently than the XFL, because that was a disaster.  Denver and Portland would be good options, assuming that the MLS teams that occupy the stadiums want the UFL to mess with their fields as DC United has.  

[MJWalker45]

IFA preparing to announce San Antonio tomorrow for the June 2025 season. They'd be playing at UIW Tom Benson Stadium if they take the field. I don't think they realize how few people they'll get  to the games when it's over 100 and 30% humidity. 

 

[GDAWG]

24 minutes ago, MJWalker45 said:

IFA preparing to announce San Antonio tomorrow for the June 2025 season. They'd be playing at UIW Tom Benson Stadium if they take the field. I don't think they realize how few people they'll get  to the games when it's over 100 and 30% humidity. 

 

 

So this league has been a mess.  First they announced a 6 team league for 2024 including a team in El Paso but pushed it back to 2025, without the El Paso team but with teams in Tampa, Portland, Huntsville (Alabama) and the Gulf Coast Region of Louisiana.  However, Portland and Gulf Coast were removed and added a team in Las Vegas and now San Antonio.  

[MJWalker45]

17 minutes ago, GDAWG said:

 

So this league has been a mess.  First they announced a 6 team league for 2024 including a team in El Paso but pushed it back to 2025, without the El Paso team but with teams in Tampa, Portland, Huntsville (Alabama) and the Gulf Coast Region of Louisiana.  However, Portland and Gulf Coast were removed and added a team in Las Vegas and now San Antonio.  

I just want to know how much cheaper it is to play at UIW instead of Alamo Stadium? 

[GDAWG]

2 minutes ago, MJWalker45 said:

I just want to know how much cheaper it is to play at UIW instead of Alamo Stadium? 

 

Very cheap.  So the head coaches announced so far are Hal Mumme (inventor of the Air Raid Offense) in San Antonio, Art Briles with the Dallas Pioneers (moved from Queretaro, Mexico) and Mike Tice is coaching Las Vegas.  

 

The Pioneers and the three Mexican teams came from FAM (Futbol Americano de Mexico), a rival league of the LFA that lasted from 2019 to 2022.  

[JH42XCC]

 

On 6/12/2024 at 12:34 PM, GDAWG said:

 

It wouldn't necessarily need to be in the same cities though right?  Because it will be really hard to bring the Maulers back to Pittsburgh at this point.  With the Stars and Generals, there are options in Philly and New Jersey, but whether or not any of those options actually happen remains to be seen.

 

The one thing I have noticed among UFL fans on Reddit is whenever an expansion thread comes up, they always pick MLS stadiums without realizing that MLS stadiums are harder to get than they think.  While I do think MLS stadiums are the right size, not every MLS team will be open to allowing the UFL in their stadiums as DC United has been, otherwise Philly and New Jersey would have remained in the league.  

 

On 6/12/2024 at 12:40 PM, GDAWG said:

 

There's always a chance that DC United is an outlier in allowing the UFL to play at their place, because I can't see The New York Red Bulls, Philly Union, Colorado Rapids, Nashville SC or the Portland Timbers being open to it.  It could be that DC United is the only one, although if the UFL wants to go to Columbus, I can see the Columbus Crew saying to the UFL "You can't play at our current place, Lower.Com Field but you can set up shop at our old place Historic Crew Stadium."

 

On 6/12/2024 at 12:57 PM, GDAWG said:

I think if the Maulers and Gamblers do return, they will not be in the cities that they were designed for in the event that the USFL ever moved out of the hubs.  The Stars and Generals might be in the places they were assigned to, but it all depends on stadium availability in Philly and New Jersey.  So out of the inactive USFL teams to return, the most likely is the Breakers in New Orleans.  

 

I could see the NJ Generals playing at Rutgers University's SHI Stadium or Princeton University's Powers Field in case the New York Red Bulls aren't willing to share Red Bull Arena with them.

 

Same case with the Philadelphia Stars and Subaru Park, as the Philadelphia Union might show the same reluctance to letting them play at their stadium. To that end, I could see the Stars playing at UPenn's Franklin Field, though they might run into some scheduling conflicts with the Ivy League school hosting the Penn Relays and whatnot They could even try Villanova Stadium or the University of Delaware's football stadium, even though neither option would be ideal.

 

As for the Colorado Gold -- which would be the name of UFL's Colorado team should the league place an expansion team there -- they have some good options for a home venue: University of Colorado's Folsom Field in Boulder, Colorado State's Canvas Stadium in Fort Collins, and Falcon Stadium at the U.S. Air Force Academy near Colorado Springs. So if the Colorado Rapids are not willing to share DSG Park with the Colorado UFL team, any of the three aforementioned venues would be a good fit.

 

It might be too early to tell whether or not Nashville SC would let the Nashville Tuners (a possible UFL expansion team) play at Geodis Park, but if that's a no-go, the Nashville area has a couple of good venue options  for the Tuners: Vanderbilt's FirstBank Stadium and Middle Tennessee's Johnny "Red" Floyd Stadium in nearby Murfreesboro.

 

Providence Park might be a hard sell for a Portland UFL team, since the owners of the Portland Timbers would be reluctant to having a football team play at the venue. In fact, the forced Portland State's football program to play in nearby Hillsboro Stadium. Speaking of Hillsboro Stadium, it only has only 7,600 permanent seats, which would be way too small for a UFL team anyway. The closest stadium to Portland with an ideal capacity for a UFL team would be Oregon State's Reser Stadium in Corvallis. But honestly, would anyone in Portland be willing to go to Corvallis to see their team on the field? Then again, if OKC gets a UFL team, do you really think anyone in OKC would travel to Stillwater to see their team play at Oklahoma State's Boone Pickens Stadium?

 

As far as the Michigan Panthers' stadium situation is concerned, I'm surprised they didn't even consider Eastern Michigan's Rynearson Stadium or Central Michigan's Kelly/Shorts Stadium, as both have the ideal capacity for a UFL venue. Plus, I think the UFL should bring back the Maulers, and relocate them from Pittsburgh to Canton, OH, thus becoming the Ohio Maulers.

[McCall]

52 minutes ago, JH42XCC said:

As for the Colorado Gold -- which would be the name of UFL's Colorado team should the league place an expansion team there -- they have some good options for a home venue: University of Colorado's Folsom Field in Boulder, Colorado State's Canvas Stadium in Fort Collins, and Falcon Stadium at the U.S. Air Force Academy near Colorado Springs. So if the Colorado Rapids are not willing to share DSG Park with the Colorado UFL team, any of the three aforementioned venues would be a good fit.

 

It might be too early to tell whether or not Nashville SC would let the Nashville Tuners (a possible UFL expansion team) play at Geodis Park, but if that's a no-go, the Nashville area has a couple of good venue options  for the Tuners: Vanderbilt's FirstBank Stadium and Middle Tennessee's Johnny "Red" Floyd Stadium in nearby Murfreesboro.

 

Providence Park might be a hard sell for a Portland UFL team, since the owners of the Portland Timbers would be reluctant to having a football team play at the venue. In fact, the forced Portland State's football program to play in nearby Hillsboro Stadium. Speaking of Hillsboro Stadium, it only has only 7,600 permanent seats, which would be way too small for a UFL team anyway. The closest stadium to Portland with an ideal capacity for a UFL team would be Oregon State's Reser Stadium in Corvallis. But honestly, would anyone in Portland be willing to go to Corvallis to see their team on the field? Then again, if OKC gets a UFL team, do you really think anyone in OKC would travel to Stillwater to see their team play at Oklahoma State's Boone Pickens Stadium?

 

As far as the Michigan Panthers' stadium situation is concerned, I'm surprised they didn't even consider Eastern Michigan's Rynearson Stadium or Central Michigan's Kelly/Shorts Stadium, as both have the ideal capacity for a UFL venue. Plus, I think the UFL should bring back the Maulers, and relocate them from Pittsburgh to Canton, OH, thus becoming the Ohio Maulers.

There is so much nonsense in this entire post.

1. Where has it been stated at all that "Colorado Gold" WOULD be THE name of a potential team there?

2. Why would they play anywhere outside of the immediate Denver area? Just because there's a stadium somewhere doesn't make that a viable market. Then you later you asked, "would anyone travel to Corvallis/Stillwater?" Same would apply to all those other Colorado markets.

3. #2 also applies to any Michigan market outside of the Detroit metro area, so no, Central (or Western) Michigan would in no way be considered.

[MJWalker45]

1 hour ago, JH42XCC said:

 

 

 

 

I could see the NJ Generals playing at Rutgers University's SHI Stadium or Princeton University's Powers Field in case the New York Red Bulls aren't willing to share Red Bull Arena with them.

 

Same case with the Philadelphia Stars and Subaru Park, as the Philadelphia Union might show the same reluctance to letting them play at their stadium. To that end, I could see the Stars playing at UPenn's Franklin Field, though they might run into some scheduling conflicts with the Ivy League school hosting the Penn Relays and whatnot They could even try Villanova Stadium or the University of Delaware's football stadium, even though neither option would be ideal.

 

As for the Colorado Gold -- which would be the name of UFL's Colorado team should the league place an expansion team there -- they have some good options for a home venue: University of Colorado's Folsom Field in Boulder, Colorado State's Canvas Stadium in Fort Collins, and Falcon Stadium at the U.S. Air Force Academy near Colorado Springs. So if the Colorado Rapids are not willing to share DSG Park with the Colorado UFL team, any of the three aforementioned venues would be a good fit.

 

It might be too early to tell whether or not Nashville SC would let the Nashville Tuners (a possible UFL expansion team) play at Geodis Park, but if that's a no-go, the Nashville area has a couple of good venue options  for the Tuners: Vanderbilt's FirstBank Stadium and Middle Tennessee's Johnny "Red" Floyd Stadium in nearby Murfreesboro.

 

Providence Park might be a hard sell for a Portland UFL team, since the owners of the Portland Timbers would be reluctant to having a football team play at the venue. In fact, the forced Portland State's football program to play in nearby Hillsboro Stadium. Speaking of Hillsboro Stadium, it only has only 7,600 permanent seats, which would be way too small for a UFL team anyway. The closest stadium to Portland with an ideal capacity for a UFL team would be Oregon State's Reser Stadium in Corvallis. But honestly, would anyone in Portland be willing to go to Corvallis to see their team on the field? Then again, if OKC gets a UFL team, do you really think anyone in OKC would travel to Stillwater to see their team play at Oklahoma State's Boone Pickens Stadium?

 

As far as the Michigan Panthers' stadium situation is concerned, I'm surprised they didn't even consider Eastern Michigan's Rynearson Stadium or Central Michigan's Kelly/Shorts Stadium, as both have the ideal capacity for a UFL venue. Plus, I think the UFL should bring back the Maulers, and relocate them from Pittsburgh to Canton, OH, thus becoming the Ohio Maulers.

 

36 minutes ago, McCall said:

There is so much nonsense in this entire post.

1. Where has it been stated at all that "Colorado Gold" WOULD be THE name of a potential team there?

2. Why would they play anywhere outside of the immediate Denver area? Just because there's a stadium somewhere doesn't make that a viable market. Then you later you asked, "would anyone travel to Corvallis/Stillwater?" Same would apply to all those other Colorado markets.

3. #2 also applies to any Michigan market outside of the Detroit metro area, so no, Central (or Western) Michigan would in no way be considered.

Portland - I think PSU wasn't willing to pay the fees needed to stay at Providence Park. I don't think that would be an issue for the UFL. Seeing as the Breakers played there in a previous life, I could see the league preferring to put a Portland team there instead of anywhere else in Oregon. 

 

Colorado/Denver - Dick's Sporting Goods Park is probably in play as well as Boulder. 

 

Nashville - Vanderbilt is updating the stadium, so Geodis or Nissan Stadium are the likely options.

 

Columbus/Canton - Maulers should not be the name for the team. That's why they coming up with Bulldogs. 

 

Panthers - I think figuring out how to get more fans into Ford Field is their best move going forward. 

 

[GDAWG]

45 minutes ago, MJWalker45 said:

 

Portland - I think PSU wasn't willing to pay the fees needed to stay at Providence Park. I don't think that would be an issue for the UFL. Seeing as the Breakers played there in a previous life, I could see the league preferring to put a Portland team there instead of anywhere else in Oregon. 

 

Colorado/Denver - Dick's Sporting Goods Park is probably in play as well as Boulder. 

 

Nashville - Vanderbilt is updating the stadium, so Geodis or Nissan Stadium are the likely options.

 

Columbus/Canton - Maulers should not be the name for the team. That's why they coming up with Bulldogs. 

 

Panthers - I think figuring out how to get more fans into Ford Field is their best move going forward. 

 

 

Saving the Maulers for Pittsburgh though isn't a good idea, at least right now.  I know that the Riverhounds plan on tripling the size of their soccer stadium to 15,000 but who knows when that will start and when that will be completed.  Duquense (who I discovered had a football team a few years ago) has a 2,000 seat stadium, leaving the only option left being........Acrisure Stadium.  

 

Bringing the Maulers to Pittsburgh right now would be a huge mistake for the UFL.  

[Sykotyk]

4 hours ago, GDAWG said:

 

Saving the Maulers for Pittsburgh though isn't a good idea, at least right now.  I know that the Riverhounds plan on tripling the size of their soccer stadium to 15,000 but who knows when that will start and when that will be completed.  Duquense (who I discovered had a football team a few years ago) has a 2,000 seat stadium, leaving the only option left being........Acrisure Stadium.  

 

Bringing the Maulers to Pittsburgh right now would be a huge mistake for the UFL.  

Duquesne and Carnegie Mellon both have very tiny stadiums. Highmark is too small. In the vicinity you have PNC Park and a handful of high school stadiums. PNC didn't even like high school BASEBALL teams playing games there, they're not letting a football field be constructed over their precious ballfield. The only high school venues with the best capacity would be the Wolvarena in Turtle Creek, Neumann Stadium at North Allegheny in Wexford and maybe Upper St. Clair or Bethel Park (who had hosted the Pittsburgh Passion team and the Riverhounds years ago). Cupples Stadium on the south side has a decent capacity but had about 20 dedicated parking spots. It's an abysmal location. 

 

Further out the small colleges and universities you have Slippery Rock with about 14k seats. While Indiana, California, W&J, are much smaller. 

 

Sadly Pittsburgh just doesn't have a decently sized secondary football stadium anywhere near the city. 

[McCall]

8 hours ago, GDAWG said:

 

Saving the Maulers for Pittsburgh though isn't a good idea, at least right now.  I know that the Riverhounds plan on tripling the size of their soccer stadium to 15,000 but who knows when that will start and when that will be completed.  Duquense (who I discovered had a football team a few years ago) has a 2,000 seat stadium, leaving the only option left being........Acrisure Stadium.  

 

Bringing the Maulers to Pittsburgh right now would be a huge mistake for the UFL.  

I didn't realize Highmark was planning on expanding up to 15k. Ideally, that'd be too small. But at the moment, with some of these attendance figures, it would work. But like you said, when will expansion even begin much less be ready to play in. 15k, though, is a good size to start. Maybe Acrisure would potentially be available if they ever outgrew an expanded Highmark.

[MJWalker45]

https://www.instagram.com/stories/xflanalyst/3391772083057038242?utm_source=ig_story_item_share&igsh=MWpld3p4eGozMGxveQ==

Brady calling the second quarter today for his first test run. We'll see how it goes.

[GDAWG]

The UFL getting the trademarks to "Canton Bulldogs" and "Ohio Bulldogs" is interesting.  Since the NFL has allowed the European League of Football to use a bunch of NFL Europe Trademarks, the same could be said here with the Canton Bulldogs, or it could also be that the NFL no longer has it trademarked.  

[MJWalker45]

2 hours ago, GDAWG said:

The UFL getting the trademarks to "Canton Bulldogs" and "Ohio Bulldogs" is interesting.  Since the NFL has allowed the European League of Football to use a bunch of NFL Europe Trademarks, the same could be said here with the Canton Bulldogs, or it could also be that the NFL no longer has it trademarked.  

I could see it being the former more than the latter. No one would expect Canton to really ever come back unless the Browns or Bengals did a one off uniform. The Hall of Fame probably doesn't carry much stuff from defunct teams either.

[Sykotyk]

4 hours ago, GDAWG said:

The UFL getting the trademarks to "Canton Bulldogs" and "Ohio Bulldogs" is interesting.  Since the NFL has allowed the European League of Football to use a bunch of NFL Europe Trademarks, the same could be said here with the Canton Bulldogs, or it could also be that the NFL no longer has it trademarked.  

NFL Properties still maintains those old marks. 

 

Trademark law in the EU is different. They might not have been able to hold them without actually using them. In the US all they need to do is maybe once a decade issue a hat with the name/logo on it and still claim ownership.

 

Also, McKinley High School in Canton, the only public school in Canton, are also the Bulldogs and have been long before the NFL team used the name. Nobody in Canton would want to see the name reused. And unlike a hundred plus years ago, the school would probably balk at the attempt to use their nickname as well. 

[GDAWG]

39 minutes ago, Sykotyk said:

NFL Properties still maintains those old marks. 

 

Trademark law in the EU is different. They might not have been able to hold them without actually using them. In the US all they need to do is maybe once a decade issue a hat with the name/logo on it and still claim ownership.

 

Also, McKinley High School in Canton, the only public school in Canton, are also the Bulldogs and have been long before the NFL team used the name. Nobody in Canton would want to see the name reused. And unlike a hundred plus years ago, the school would probably balk at the attempt to use their nickname as well. 

 

probably why I think that the Maulers will permanently be in Canton if they are brought back.  

[GDAWG]

 

[ManillaToad]

Threepeat!