ARLINGTON – “Today is truly Day 1 of the The United Football League (UFL) officially,” said UFL CEO/president Russ Brandon.
Brandon, who along with Dani Garcia, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s ex-wife and his longtime business manager, and now his partner in the UFL, spoke in a meet-and=greet with the media prior to the first ever matchup between the Birmingham Stallions and the Arlington Renegades, the first-ever game of the UFL at Choctaw Stadium.
Johnson spoke with the media following the game’s opening ceremonies, including the National Anthem.
“For the athletes, coaches and just everyone involved, millions of steps in the process of taking 16 teams down to eight,” Garcia continued. “On boarding. We have work to do, but we’ve started and I feel great. The timing is right. We’re a league of innovation not gimmicks.”
The eight teams, four from the XFL and four from the USFL, are in the XFL and USFL conferences.
Saturday’s matchup between the Renegades and Stallions was between last season’s XFL champion Renegades and Stallions, the winner of the USFL the last two seasons.
Coaching on opposite sidelines were Birmingham’s Skip Holtz, the son of former Arkansas and Notre Dame coach Lou Holtz. Skip had a 21-3 record coaching in the USFL and a 152-121 NCAA record in 36 years of experience at Louisiana Tech, South Florida, East Carolina, Notre Dame, Colorado State and Florida State.
His opposite, Bob Stoops with an 8-9 XFL record and an NCAA record of 191-48 most well-known at Oklahoma, but also at Iowa, Kent State, Kansas State and Florida.
Other games on this week’s schedule the matchup between the St. Louis Battlehawks at the Michigan Panthers at Ford Field on FOX, followed on Easter Sunday with games between the D.C. Defenders at the San Antonio Brahmas at 11 a.m. (CT) on ESPN, and the Memphis Showboats playing the Houston Roughnecks at 2 p.m. at Rice Stadium in Houston.
A couple of Pro Football Hall of Famers were on the sidelines prior to the kickoff of Saturday’s UFL opener. Former Dallas Cowboys quarterback Troy Aikman and current Colorado football coach Deion Sanders, who was drafted by the Atlanta Falcons, played for the San Francisco 49ers in 1994 and for the Cowboys in 1995 where he won back-to-back Super Bowls.
Both teams’ rosters were filled with familiar names. Birmingham: QB Matt Corral (Ole Miss), TE Jace Sternberger (Texas A&M), QB Adrian Martinez (Kansas State) and DE Taco Charlton (Michigan), and a former draft choice of the Cowboys. Arlington: WR Javonta Payton (Tennessee), QB Luis Perz (Texas A&M-Commerce).
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See more coverage on the UFL’s opener, including a game story by Joe Hale and “What’s Causing All This?” by TFB editor Mitch Lucas, later today, and photo galleries from Alex Nabor and Jenna Lucas.
And see TFB the entire season as we follow the UFL, all the way to the championship game in St. Louis.
