🏈 The United Football League (UFL) 2024 Thread 🏈

[nutildah]

OK well let's do this. I was hesitant at first but since the start of the NFL season is still 6 months away, I need a new sports-related hobby and I'm willing to be open-minded enough to give the United Football League a chance since this is the inaugural season of a secondary-type of American Football league.

I wanted to open a new thread about it so as to not dilute DireWolf's esteemed, NFL-centric American Football thread with what is likely to be an inferior version of America's most-watched pastime, Hand Egg.

Let's dive right into how the UFL works, which is a newly-formed leagued that merges XFL and USFL teams. It is still "American Football" as the rules are somewhat similar to NFL and all the teams are based in the US.

Here's some basic information about the United Football League:

 - There's 8 teams that will play a 10-game season.
 - The season starts on March 30, with a contest between thee 2023 XFL champions (Arlington Renegades) and the 2023 USFL champions (Birmingham Stallions).
 - The season culminates in a "Super Bowl"-like match on June 16.
 - It is considered to be a "football minor league", which IMO is needed as the NFL doesn't really have that (it just has college football instead).

Here is the structure of the league (4 teams in each conference):

XFL Conference
 - Birmingham Stallions (Birmingham, Alabama)
 - Houston Roughnecks (Houston, Texas)
 - Memphis Showboats (Memphis, Tennessee)
 - Michigan Panthers (Detroit, Michigan)

USFL Conference
 - Arlington Renegades (Arlington, Texas)
 - DC Defenders (Washington D.C.)
 - San Antonio Brahmas (San Antonio, Texas)
 - St. Louis Battlehawks (St. Louis, Missouri)

So if you live in the Midwest or West Coast you're S.O.L., apparently. I'm still gonna find a team to root for.

What are the rules and how are they different from NFL rules?

Hell if I know. Apparently they want it to be a more fast-paced version of the NFL. I will go more into detail about it it in the next post, after I find out... Really not much out there on it at the moment; maybe they haven't nailed everything down yet.

Anyway, gonna try my darndest to make this fun, find a favorite team & perhaps it will even be bet-worthy.

Feel free to chime in if you have some hidden knowledge about the whole thing!

Also keep in mind this is a self-moderated thread and if your posts suck I will probably delete them. Thanks for your understanding.

Resources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Football_League_(2024)
https://www.espn.com/xfl/story/_/id/39610041/ufl-2024-season-logos-coaches-stadiums-quarterbacks-players-watch
https://www.espn.com/xfl/story/_/id/39578185/ufl-2024-information-xfl-usfl-merger-spring-football-league
https://www.foxsports.com/usfl/teams

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[nutildah]

Reserved, for some reason

[DireWolfM14]

When I heard that the USFL and XFL were merging I assumed each league would bring 8 teams, for a total of 16.  It's interesting that they chose to reduce to a total of 8.  I guess they weren't sure how much interest they would generate, and decided to keep the expenses manageable at first.

I would love for a secondary league to challenge the NFL and break their monopoly on professional football, but in the past I've found it difficult to get excited about any of the teams or players.  Maybe it's because they often shun the Western US, but that's probably also due to dollars and cents so I get it.  It's also not the best time of year for me to want to sit in front of the TV.  Spring is for mountain biking, hiking, backpacking, and turkey hunting.  Not to mention the EPL starts to get exciting around that time also, and yeah, I'm one of the 12 American EPL fans that exist.

[South Park]

The decision to start the season so late is interesting, last year the XFL started right away after the SB, I suppose the thinking behind it is that not only the organizers want to give some time to the fans to calm down and crave more football action, but also they want fans to forget a little bit about what they watched on the SB and the playoffs as a way to avoid a stark contrast between the NFL and UFL, a comparison the NFL would win for sure.

[bbc.reporter]

The decision to start the season so late is interesting, last year the XFL started right away after the SB, I suppose the thinking behind it is that not only the organizers want to give some time to the fans to calm down and crave more football action, but also they want fans to forget a little bit about what they watched on the SB and the playoffs as a way to avoid a stark contrast between the NFL and UFL, a comparison the NFL would win for sure.

It might also be because of the season. February is still cold in some of these locations in America and this might not be encouraging for fans to get out of their houses to watch a smaller football league. It will also be spring time by the end of March and it is also an Easter weekend! I reckon everyone might want to get together and watch something on tv with the family. It will be the UFL heheehehe.

[nutildah]

So here's a few rule differences I noticed between NFL and UFL -- there are others but these are some of the big ones.

 - Kickoffs will take place at the kicking team's 20-yard line as opposed to the 50-yard line like usual -- this is because apparently less than 21% of kicks are actually returned in the NFL
 - There is no extra point option after a TD, instead there are multiple PAT running options: you can go for 1 point at the 2-yard line, 2 points at the 5-yard line, and 3 points at the 10-yard line.
 - Instead of having an onside kick, a team can elect to take a 4th-and-12 from their 28-yard-line.

I would like to know more about field and roster size, will have to look that up later.

https://www.si.com/fannation/ufl/news/ufl-reveals-rules-2024-season-xfl-usfl-kickoff-points-after-challenges
https://www.foxsports.com/stories/ufl/dean-blandino-on-what-fans-should-watch-for-with-new-ufl-rules

[suchmoon]

Is there a way to watch this without a $200 cable package?

[nutildah]

Is there a way to watch this without a $200 cable package?

I rooted around in my usual sources and couldn't find anything. There's got to be a way to make it happen. BRB

[jeremypwr]

Was curious if there were odds for this League and lo and behold, Sportsbet has them

UFL Championship 2024 - Winner

Birmingham Stallions +364
DC Defenders +407
St. Louis Battlehawks +428
Arlington Renegades +535
Houston Roughnecks +696
Memphis Showboats +856
Michigan Panthers +1498
San Antonio Brahmas +1498

Code:

https://sportsbet.io/sports/american-football/usa/ufl/outrights

[nutildah]

Full team rosters in case you want to look for names you might recognize:

Birmingham Stallions
Houston Roughnecks
Memphis Showboats
Michigan Panthers

St. Louis Battlehawks
Arlington Renegades
San Antonio Brahmas
DC Defenders

A few names looked recognizable, nobody really stood out (like, "hey there's Johnny Manziel!".. thats cuz he's already playing in a Canadian league). There's a significant number of players in their late 20s. I didn't really do much player research yet.

Just based on the odds provided by jeremypwr above, right now I'm leaning on a moneyline bet on the Stallions for the season opener. Gonna look into a bit more first, see what's out there, what's being offered.

[ChiBitCTy]

Dig the idea of having made this thread instead of mixing it in with the NFL.  So if you guys and gals haven't seen the Larry David guest spot of the Rich Eisen show, I think that aired originally yesterday, you're in for a real treat.  Larry's agent literally had The Rock call him to discuss his displeasure for kickers and goal posts, and he gave him his feelings about how he should start the trend in the UFL of getting rid of it, this whole show appearance is like an episode of Curb lol..enjoy - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwyoZ50o0vk&t=1786s

[nutildah]

So I looked into it a bit and it appears there are several cable and streaming options available for watching UFL games. The only problem for me is that they start mostly at the worst times possible.. Only "early" games, no "late" games.

https://uk.movies.yahoo.com/movies/ufl-schedule-teams-watch-everything-155053804.html

How to watch the UFL

The UFL is going to be readily available for anyone who wants to watch it, as all games are going to air on ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, Fox or FS1.

All of the networks are pretty readily available through traditional pay-TV subscriptions and live TV streaming services; Fubo, Hulu with Live TV, Sling TV and YouTube TV all carry both Fox and ESPN as part of their channel lineups.

I have no idea what YouTube TV is, but guess I'll take a look at it & attempt to determine if its a total ripoff or not. I know there's also the sketchy free streaming service links but have no idea what URL they go by these days.

[ChiBitCTy]

So I looked into it a bit and it appears there are several cable and streaming options available for watching UFL games. The only problem for me is that they start mostly at the worst times possible.. Only "early" games, no "late" games.

https://uk.movies.yahoo.com/movies/ufl-schedule-teams-watch-everything-155053804.html

How to watch the UFL

The UFL is going to be readily available for anyone who wants to watch it, as all games are going to air on ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, Fox or FS1.

All of the networks are pretty readily available through traditional pay-TV subscriptions and live TV streaming services; Fubo, Hulu with Live TV, Sling TV and YouTube TV all carry both Fox and ESPN as part of their channel lineups.

I have no idea what YouTube TV is, but guess I'll take a look at it & attempt to determine if its a total ripoff or not. I know there's also the sketchy free streaming service links but have no idea what URL they go by these days.

Television as we knew it just a few years ago, and for many of us, our entire lives growing up is quickly fading in to the history books.  Cable providers like Xfinity (really their name is Comcast but they are so hated they rebranded a few years back), DirectTV, a satelite provider who was once great until the criminals at AT&T bought it and ruined it, and Dish Network are fading out as they are too expensive and steaming is the new norm.  Now some of them will likely become steaming platforms, and hell may be already, but YouTube TV and Sling, pure streaming services where you get no boxes, satelite dishes, remote controls or anything are becoming the go to for many.  It was okay at first but they are both already getting way too expensive , limited channels, bs pricing for stuff like 4K (which isn't even legit 4k yet, and wont be for years), and then like my YT TV bill which isl ike 80 USD a month includes nothing like HBO, Netflix etc.  I thought a la cart TV would be awesome...just the opposite..course.

[nutildah]

Here you go, some highlights of Sunday's UFL games. Winners are bolded. (it looks exactly like NFL, just mostly players we've never heard of, the uniforms are a bit more bold in their color/fashion schemas, and the talent level certainly more resembles farm leagues, but thats to be expected):

Arlington Renegades vs. D.C. Defenders: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvdJOi2mpYw
Memphis Showboats vs. Houston Roughnecks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8pTVkY5nKE
St. Louis Battlehawks vs. Michigan Panthers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6pK_qUoPi8

Also they have entire games on their YouTube channel as well.

I was impressed by the amount of scoring: 61 pts, 30 pts, and 34 pts.. There's a few more ways to score because of the whole additional PAT rules, and I think the refs are committed to keeping the game rolling and not dragging it out with too many penalties, reviews, etc.

Far more interesting and well-put together than I was expecting. Will probably be following it weekly going forward.

[Hueristic]

Far more interesting and well-put together than I was expecting. Will probably be following it weekly going forward.

Games were on ESPN today, had them playing while doing other shit.

[South Park]

Finally got around to watch one of the games, last week I tried by all means possible and I could not find a way to watch them, but I could watch one this week, and while obviously the quality of play is lower and the speed of the game seems a little slow, this is helping with my NFL withdrawal symptoms, one interesting fact is that during the Renegades and Battlehawks game there was a 40k attendance on the stadium, which compared to the attendance over the rest of the games is huge, and this could be a signal for the NFL to consider sending a NFL franchise over to St. Louis as some point on the future.

[nutildah]

Finally got around to watch one of the games, last week I tried by all means possible and I could not find a way to watch them, but I could watch one this week, and while obviously the quality of play is lower and the speed of the game seems a little slow, this is helping with my NFL withdrawal symptoms, one interesting fact is that during the Renegades and Battlehawks game there was a 40k attendance on the stadium, which compared to the attendance over the rest of the games is huge, and this could be a signal for the NFL to consider sending a NFL franchise over to St. Louis as some point on the future.

Yeah for me because of time zone and lack of cable TV options, I've just been watching the recaps on YouTube. This is their official channel BTW:

https://www.youtube.com/@theUFL/featured

I like how the highlights of the games are summarized in 15 mins, but its hard to really get to know the players in such a short amount of time. The stadium at the Stallions/Panthers game looked half empty, but the crowd that was there did seem to be enjoying themselves. Gonna be watching as much of it as possible as it seems to be a bit higher quality of play than college level (if I should be so bold to make such a claim).

Game highlight reels for your easy reference (winning team bolded):

Birmingham Stallions vs. Michigan Panthers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vx24IqNLFXE
Houston Roughnecks vs. D.C. Defenders: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwpaEBN_288
Arlington Renegades vs. St. Louis Battlehawks (potentially best game): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrW0S3zgTYo
San Antonio Brahmas vs Memphis Showboats: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SqhTBx0WKw

Right now, the Stallions seem to be the dominant team out of the 8. They are 2-0 so far and were the winners of the USFL championships in 2022 and 2023, after all.

[ChiBitCTy]

I was on The Rocks instagram page one of these days recently and he was talking about the kick off to the UFL league.  Did any of you guys watch that Larry David interview on the Rich Eisen show that I posted above? If you're a Curb Your Enthusiasm fan, I can't recommend that interview enough.  It's absolutely hilarious.  Again he talks to The Rock about removing the goal posts, and set a precedent for the NFL.  Just typical hilarious LD

[nutildah]

Here's a breakdown of the current league standings:

USFL Conference

• Birmingham Stallions   3–0
• Michigan Panthers   2–1
• Memphis Showboats   1–2   
• Houston Roughnecks   0–3   

XFL Conference

• St. Louis Battlehawks   2–1   
• San Antonio Brahmas   2–1   
• DC Defenders   2–1
• Arlington Renegades   0–3

Still 5 more weeks of play. TBH I've been too busy to really follow it, but part of me really wants to get into it, to somehow make the playoffs exciting, and the final game exciting. That would be a sign of success in my book. Then only a few more months after that before NFL can start again...

[Hueristic]

• Houston Roughnecks   0–3   

Anyone else's brain always make this team the Rednecks?