Over the past two weeks a lot of front office people from the United Football League have been let go. The speculation was that it was due to seasonal employment or maybe turn over due to performance metrics not being met. UFL News Hub has learned for sources there is more to the story than that. The UFL is getting a locations facelift.
We are hearing that the reason for the layoffs is that four UFL franchises are moving locations. We are hearing that Michigan, Houston, Memphis and Birmingham are out. That is the entire USFL Conference finding new homes. Expect a league wide announcement within the next two weeks if not sooner.
The United Football League had put out RFP process for new cities before the 2025 season began. We are hearing the new locations are Columbus Ohio, Florida, Boise Idaho, and Kentucky.
Columbus has been a strong contender for a long time as well as Kentucky. We don’t know whether the UFL will keep the current IP or use new names. Looking at the latest trademark data there has not been much movement since we last reported it.
Aside from Florida, none of these cities have a major NFL team.
Columbus Ohio
20,000-seat Crew Stadium could serve as a venue for a UFL team. The former MLS stadium has no full-time tenant now, making it affordable. Audi Field, an MLS stadium, is the second best venue in the UFL. Adding another MLS stadium, where the team wont have to complete for field time would be great. Columbus is the 14th-biggest market in the US and can share the fan bases of the Cincinnati Bengals and Cleveland Browns.
Florida
We still have been unable to lock down the location in Florida. We are hearing either Tampa Bay or Orlando. We have reported exclusively about Tamp Bay Bandits and its possible connection to NFL great Tom Brady. We will have to wait and see on this. But Camping World stadium in Orlando would see spring football return or Raymond James Stadium in Tampa. Tampa Bay (Tampa–St. Petersburg–Sarasota) is the 11th and Orlando (Orlando–Kissimmee–Sanford) is 15th.
Boise Idaho
Boise may be a smaller market but has a rabid football fan base. No NFL, NBA, or MLB nearby. A UFL franchise here would face none of the saturation or sports burnout issues of bigger cities. It could also draw interest from neighboring states (fans in eastern Washington, Idaho, Montana, etc., who have no home pro team). Plus the Smurf turf is iconic. Boise could be what we thought Birmingham would have been. A smaller city is ranked 98th but with a rabid fan base. How does the Boise Showboats sound?
Kentucky
L&N Federal Credit Union Stadium, University of Louisville’s football stadium or Lynn Family Stadium could be possible locations in Louisville. Louisville City FC draws among the largest crowds in minor-league soccer. The UFL would fit right in. This market ranks 49th in the US.
UFL Teams Leaving
We have reported at length on the issues with UFL locations in Houston, Memphis and Birmingham. Low interest and low ticket sales and questionable venues.
We are not sure if Memphis was already on the move before or after the death of Fed-Ex founder Fred Smith but to put it bluntly. Memphis is a terrible sports town despite renovations to the stadium.
Houston had life with the XFL in 2020 but never got back to that level. Plus with the league already having two other Texas franchises in San Antonio and Arlington. Might as well move the weakest one to a new location to build excitement for the UFL.
The Stallions with four straight Championship appearances and a three peat. If that can’t gets fans in the stands in Birmingham, nothing will. The brand new Protective Stadium, home of the Stallions, was always topic of complaint from UFL insiders. The venue was not that good, weather would force fans to leave the stadium as there was no cover from rain, the seating, club amenities, you name it. It was a problem.
Michigan was the only franchise to have an uptick in attendance and interest for the 2025 UFL season. The biggest issue for the team was not the play, the ticket sales team or the fans. It was Ford Field. It cost too much per game to play there and the UFL couldn’t find another suitable home.
2026 UFL Season
The United Football League needed to shake things up for its survival. Going into the 2026 season with the same set up or 8 locations were sure to fail and get worse. This big move really moves the needle and should create quite the buzz going into the 2026 season.
Leave a comment with your reaction. Does it get you excited for the 2026 season?
12 Comments
by 4th&long
A little surprised leaving Mich and a bit less so surprised they are leaving Houston. But both are LARGE TV markets, leaving them esp Mich can be
Memphis is a poor, small market that isn’t supporting the team and barely the M-Tigers in NCAA. Birmingham is right behind but I could have seen them surviving. It wasn’t that bad. Having Sunday games at church time and in heavy rain season wasn’t smart but at least they had 8-10k a game in a small market.
Going to these markets and moving to big Philly or NJ or TB I can see. But what is BOISE bringing to the table? Columbus is ok. But Louisville is Memphis/Birm all over again.
Likely they have Gov partnerships or something like that.
But I’m not happy losing the USFL brand teams. They were cool. I hope they keep some.
Having said all this, – Good for the UFL. Shake it up. Make changes and go for the jugular – make something HAPPEN. Get attention.
by 4th&long
https://wreg.com/news/showboats-done-in-memphis-again-report/
“The league office is in the planning stages for next season and beyond. At this point, we have nothing to report on any unauthorized speculation,” a league spokesman told WREG in a statement.
NOT OFFICIAL Yet and guess what – UFL in the news all over. Maybe a little Shake (it up) and Bake pays off.
by Jasper
Based on my vast marketing experience (i.e., none), UFL teams in MLS stadiums would be a huuuge boon for TV viewership. Change up team colors to make it the home team’s house, stands packed with rabid fans thanks to a smaller venue, emphasis on the league’s grass playing surface instead of turf…I am ready! When does the 2026 season kick off?
by Gary Winter
I’m glad to see something happening in the news making department. This is a bit bigger than I had imagined though. Michigan leaving is just unfortunate due to stadium costs, Memphis is obvious especially since Fred Smith passed, Houston wasn’t a great supporter and having 3 teams in Texas probably was never a great idea and Birmingham was simply a mystery. They had a few very staunch fans, just not nearly enough of them winning 3 Championships and seemingly nobody cared.
On the positive side, this is news and the UFL certainly needs to be in more conversations and this will likely create some talk around the water cooler.
As for the new locations working? That remains to be seen. They wouldn’t have been my choice, any of them. My tendency would have been to go to larger areas where the TV and physical attendance would have had a greater chance to be larger.
by Johnny the Angry Fuzzball
As far as Michigan goes… I’d hate to see the team leave after the progress being made there, plus it is a larger market. I’m surprised they didn’t consider Rynearson, which did host the Panthers practices in ’23. Or, I don’t know what outdoor venues are on the western side of the state, but Grand Rapids and Muskegon have a history at the arena level that’s been solid. If they’re going to get rid of Michigan, all of a sudden Ohio doesn’t feel like it makes as much sense. Fortunately, some of the reported locations are already saying it’s not true, so we could see some stay.
It does make a man wonder why they built that brand new stadium in Birmingham if it wasn’t going to be an improvement over ancient Legion Field. The stadium issues were pretty obviously why they went back to St. Louis for the championship this past year.
Houston and Memphis, nothing more needs to be said. There is a degree of “addition by subtraction” when it comes to Birmingham and Memphis, and repeatedly going back to those cities was not a good look for the league. Memphis probably will never get a team again.
The announced cities don’t thrill me. Orlando’s another one of those cities that always gets a spring team. Just don’t name it the Guardians. That whole situation was botched and spoiled an otherwise excellent market. Columbus has been speculated for months now. Kentucky? Meh, OK. Worth a shot. Boise is a total head-scratcher. Way out of the way, small market, only thing it would be good for is dumping inventory off in late night slots at a price cheaper than Seattle (what’s up with that retainer deal anyway?) or California.
by Johnny the Angry Fuzzball
Also, a completely silly, and implausible, idea just came to me. Boise has Albertsons Stadium. Michigan has Rynearson. St. Louis is within driving distance of Lindenwood.
Three stadiums with unnatural colored turf.
Now that would make for interesting TV.
by King Bomp
Why not move one to Canada?
Vancouver has BC Place, a domed stadium with 27,000 capacity in the lower bowl.
The US dollar has 25% more value in Canada. That would be advantageous for the UFL to keep expenditures low.
by Adam Simon
If we are having wishlists why can’t Iowa have its own UFL franchise?? We already support several arena teams and are starved for a pro team. We could bring to the UFL what Green Bay has done to the NFL.
by Greg Jones
I hope the powers that be are fully aware that if they make these moves, they have signed the league’s death certificate. The REAL reason for the low attendance in Birmingham is the fact that we’ve been down this road several times already. We’re skeptical from the very beginning. Every league you can think of including the CFL came to Birmingham only to fold a year or two later because the league folded or in the case of the CFL, no interest in Canadian football. We’re tired of being used and played. Prove to us that you’re in Birmingham for the long haul and the duration and we’ll pack the stadium. I PROMISE you that.
by shimmy
Totally agree with you, Birmingham, Orlando, San Antonio Memphis, Sacramento etc. Days of the continental football league, WFL, WLAF, AAF, USFL ,UFL XFL seen it all, cities probably gun shy
by Phillip
I love that a team is going to Boise, I am so pumped. I have been saying that Boise needs a team for 2 years now. How does the name Boise Blizzard sound?