Repole is looking to create a successful spring football league.
The United Football League business is now Mike Repole’s reclamation project. Repole is going to try and do something no one else has been able to do. Build a successful spring football business. Repole’s first order of business was to relocate three franchises and rename two others. His second order of business was to downsize and move as many teams as possible into smaller venues. The league now has outposts in Birmingham, Columbus, Ohio, Frisco, Texas, Houston, Louisville, Orlando, St. Louis, and Washington. It is his venture now although FOX and the Walt Disney Company and others have stakes in the league. Repole is not looking for players who want five to ten year UFL careers.
“If they have the drive and the passion and they want to make the NFL, and that’s their dream, then we want to help them. But if they’re looking for, ‘Hey, where’s my next check, or am I going to play next year?’ then this is probably not the league for you. And if you’re in this league four or five years, you probably shouldn’t be here. You should probably go into coaching or do something else.” Spring football has not worked. The United States Football League’ ended in 1986. Spring football returned in 2001 when wrestling promoter Vince McMahon’s XFL appeared. That league lasted a year. The 2019 Alliance of American Football didn’t last a full season and McMahon’s 2020 XFL was derailed by the COVID-19 pandemic. The XFL was scooped up in a bankruptcy and resumed play in 2023. A second USFL was formed and began play in 2022. The XFL and USFL merged after the 2023 season to form the United Football League. Repole is the latest entrepreneur who is attempting to buck a trend and create a successful spring football league.
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