United States Football League (2022–2023)
Professional American football league / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The United States Football League (USFL) was a professional American football minor league[4][5] that began play on April 16, 2022. It is now one of the two-component conferences of the United Football League (UFL), along with the XFL.
Most recent season or competition: 2023 USFL season | |
Classification | Spring football league |
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Sport | American football |
Founded | April 16, 2022 |
Founder | Brian Woods[1] |
First season | 2022 |
Ceased | December 31, 2023 (Merged into UFL) |
Owner(s) | National Spring Football League Enterprises Co, LLC[2] |
President | Daryl Johnston[3] |
No. of teams | 8 |
Country | United States |
Headquarters | Birmingham, Alabama U.S. |
Most recent champion(s) | Birmingham Stallions (2nd title) |
Most titles | Birmingham Stallions (2 titles) |
TV partner(s) |
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Related competitions | Direct: XFL, UFL, TSL Other: NFL, CFL, AAF, FXFL |
Official website | USFL.com |
The USFL was founded as a standalone league in 2022. In its two seasons of operation it operated eight teams; all with the brands of teams from a previous incarnation of the United States Football League that operated from 1983 to 1985. A majority of its teams did not play in the metropolitan areas of the cities after which they were named, with the entire league playing in Birmingham, Alabama during the inaugural 2022 season and each of the league's four host cities, mostly mid-sized markets and all east of the Mississippi River, sharing two teams in 2023.
The league was owned by National Spring Football League Enterprises Co, LLC, initially a joint venture between Fox Corporation's sports unit, Fox Sports in the United States and Brian Woods, with Fox Sports as a minority owner; Fox Corporation took over sole ownership in 2023.[6] Although the league owned the trademarks of the old USFL, which operated for three seasons during the mid-1980s, the new USFL was not officially associated with that entity.[7]
On September 28, 2023, the USFL announced its intention to merge with the XFL.[8] On November 30, 2023, the leagues issued a statement that they "have completed the antitrust review process in connection with the proposed merger of the XFL and USFL and intend to play a combined season this spring kicking off on Saturday, March 30. We are now finalizing terms of the definitive agreement".[9] On December 31, the name of the combined league was confirmed as the United Football League; a day later, the merged league announced that each component league would survive as a conference within the UFL.[10] With the merger, all of the USFL's four surviving teams will play in their home markets, with one—the Houston Gamblers—moving into the city and assuming the identity of their XFL counterpart, the Houston Roughnecks.