The plan is to expand by four teams by 2027.
The United Football League is looking to add four teams to the business with two starting in 2026 and two starting in 2027 assuming the league survives the 2025 season. The eight team UFL will begin the 2025 season on March 28th and the league owner Rupert Murdoch and his FOX network will showing the opening game on a Friday night and in an effort to capture more TV viewers. FOX will be showing a weekly Friday night game during the 10-week season. The UFL wants to expand but it is unclear whether league executives will go to city to city looking for owners or owners will just materialize. The UFL has stayed away from America’s biggest cities except for Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, Washington, D. C. and the St. Louis markets.
According to a league news release, “the UFL is accepting proposals from prospective markets looking to bring spring football to their communities and be a part of the growth of the sport.” Also part of the news release, the league used some interesting language in seeking new markets. “In its search to identify the strongest markets to support its ambitious growth goals, the UFL is looking at several core attributes when selecting its new cities, including fan interest and existing sports culture, geography and population and venue and infrastructure availability.” The United Football League owners claimed they were happy with the league’s TV ratings in 2024 but selling tickets was a big problem. Spring football is buried in the world of sports coverage. There are major events, the NFL Draft, The Masters, the Kentucky Derby, and the normal sports events, Major League Baseball season, the Major League Soccer season, the NBA and NHL playoffs, the NCAA basketball championships that take place in the spring. The UFL has an uphill climb.
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