The dawn of a new professional sports league becomes a reality on Saturday, when the United Football League – the result of the merger of the XFL and the United States Football League – makes its debut with four games between its eight teams.
The UFL, with the backing of big-time media partners in FOX Sports and ESPN, hopes to do what past spring leagues haven’t: become a viable football league in spring.
Saturday’s schedule has two-time defending USFL champion Birmingham at Arlington, last year’s XFL champion, at 1 p.m. ET / noon Central, which can be seen on FOX. Saturday night, there’s the St. Louis Battlehawks at the Michigan Panthers, to be played at Ford Field with a 4 p.m. ET / 3 Central kickoff – that game is also on FOX.
On Sunday, ESPN has a doubleheader: the D.C. Defenders playing at the San Antonio Brahmas at 11 a.m., then the Memphis Showboats playing at the Houston Roughnecks at 3 p.m. ET / 2 Central.
Games can also be seen on the FOX and ESPN+ streaming availability, and heard on FOX Sports on SiriusXM (channel 83) and on ESPN’s Sirius channel (81).
According to ESPN Bet on Thursday night, the Birmingham Stallions are the favorite at +300 to win the UFL Championship, which, by the way, will be in St. Louis on June 16 regardless of who’s playing in it. D.C. and St. Louis are tied with the second-best odds (+380).
Teams will play in two divisions: Birmingham, Houston, Memphis and Michigan are in the USFL Division; Arlington, D.C., San Antonio and St. Louis will be in the XFL Division.
Next weekend, Memphis hosts San Antonio on Saturday, and Arlington plays at St. Louis Saturday night. The Sunday schedule on April 7 has Birmingham at Michigan, and Houston at D.C.
For the complete UFL schedule, here you go: The UFL | Schedule. And even better than that: our general look at the UFL, rules and everything, right here: UFL debuts this weekend | The Football Beat.
Several former NFL players are in the league, and many names from some of the best programs in college football are there, as well. The talent level seems to be up from most spring leagues in the past.
Dwayne Johnson, the actor and part-time pro wrestler also known as The Rock, is heavily involved with the UFL as part owner. Johnson is also a former University of Miami football player.
Another name that fans will recognize is former Dallas Cowboys fullback Darryl Johnston, a broadcaster in recent years who, after observing the last few leagues that have tried a spring season, said the talent difference between this league and those recent ones is astounding (2024 UFL season: What to know about lineups, rules, more).
“Every single head coach and general manager has talked about how challenging the cut-downs were,” Johnston said. “I feel very, very comfortable about the depth we have. That’s an area where we’ve improved. … We used to be on the phone saying to players, ‘Let us help change the way the NFL views you. Let’s put 10 games of film on tape.’ We don’t have to make as many of those calls.”
Here are some of the players fans will see on Saturday and Sunday.
- Arlington quarterback Luis Perez, a former Texas A&M-Commerce standout who led the Lions to an NCAA Division III championship and then led the Renegades to the XFL Championship a season ago.
In his career, with the Alliance of American Football (AAF), the XFL, and the USFL (not counting a brief stint with the Los Angeles Rams), Perez is 14-8, and has completed 445-of-715 passes for 4,709 yards, 26 touchdowns and 15 interceptions. And he’s ran for 145 yards and a score on 53 carries.
- A.J. McCarron is the starting quarterback for the Battlehawks. McCarron, the much-decorated leader of two Alabama national title teams, has spent quite a bit of time in the NFL after being drafted by the Cincinnati Bengals, then bouncing between Oakland, Houston, Buffalo and Atlanta. But McCarron was actually drafted by St. Louis in an XFL draft in 2022.
In one season with the team (2023), McCarron started all nine games, compiled a 6-3 record, and went 203-of-295 for 2,150 yards, 24 touchdowns and six interceptions, and ran for 100 yards and a touchdown on 29 carries. All in all, impressive passing numbers.
- Former Ole Miss quarterback Jordan Ta’amu, a Hawai’i native, is likely set as the starter for D.C.; Case Cookus, from North Arizona, is the starter in Memphis; and former Tennessee and Washington State quarterback Jarrett Guarantano looks to be starting in Houston.
The league rules are available in PDF format right here: UFL Rules 2024.
And The Football Beat will be on hand with a large crew at the very first game, the Birmingham-Arlington game. In fact, we’ve got reporters and photographers ready to cover the UFL in its entirety this spring.
We’ll have Birmingham-Arlington coverage Saturday, then Saturday night, a wrap-up of both games, and again on Sunday.
UFL, the stage is yours.
