The UFL’s offseason of chaos took another sharp turn on Thursday with the revelation that team rosters will be “blown up”. Just over a month after the UFL Communications Department released a statement explicitly stating that “all team rosters will remain unchanged” during its football operations reorganization, it has been revealed that the rosters are going to be subject to a major overhaul period.
This news contradicts the statement from the league on November that assured fans that this was not going to happen. However, for the 2nd time in 3 seasons, the UFL has a redraft on the horizon.
Betrayed Trust: Roster Overhaul Despite Promises
The news that the rosters will be blown up initially came straight from Birmingham Stallions quarterback J’Mar Smith, who has been a fan favorite for 4 seasons and a key figure in the back-to-back-to-back championship run. Smith confirmed he will not be retained by the Stallions as the UFL manufactures this new era.
In a series of posts on X, Smith broke the news: “Every team is getting blown up. Coaches have an option to protect certain players within guidelines”. He later elaborated on his understanding of the guidelines: “Something about 200 miles radius from the team… Pretty sure it’s 10.” suggesting coaches can only protect up to 10 players, and those protections are limited by geographical proximity.
This information was later verified by newly hired Birmingham Stallions head coach AJ. McCarron through United Football Media, with rosters being redrafted on January 13 and 14. It is believed the league will have a draft for players under contract, and then a separate draft for new players entering the league, per James Larsen.
This shift further shatters the little remaining continuity in the UFL, further aligning the league to feel more similar to a temp agency than a professional sports league. You can read about some of the previous changes in the UFL’s philosophies I highlighted in early November: UFL’s Shift From Pro League to NFL Temp Agency is Recipe for Fan Disengagement.
Birmingham Bait and Switch
J’Mar Smith’s situation is the epitome of a perceived betrayal felt by some UFL fans. He signed with Birmingham for a fifth straight season this past August in a move that coincided with the announcement that the Stallions would not be among the teams relocating. The relocation decision came on the heels of a plea from Mike Repole, co-owner of the UFL calling for fans to buy season tickets: “The Birmingham Stallions are one of the league’s most historic franchises, but they’ve seen a massive drop in attendance… If you want the team, kindly show up. Our goal next year is 15k fans per game. Let’s get to 5k season ticket deposits this week.” The #SaveTheStallions campaign surged with fans purchasing tickets out of desperation to save the team.
Despite this fan-driven lifeline, the league now appears to be heading toward dismantling everything familiar with the Stallions. Not only is Smith, a key figure in the Stallions’ dynasty, being let go, but the sudden departure of head coach Skip Holtz was announced just on Tuesday. Holtz’s exit is believed to be heavily influenced by new ownership dynamics under Repole. The sudden change in identity leaves many fans questioning the value in their efforts to save the team, which suddenly is subject to losing the roster of players fan grew to love.
Some Stallions fans even want to cancel their season tickets over the perceived betrayal, but have been denied a refund.
Coaching Carousel: Name Recognition Over Experience
The hiring of new coaches, such as AJ McCarron to replace Holtz in Birmingham, raises concerns of prioritizing short-term publicity over long term performance. McCarron, a former NFL and St Louis Battlehawks quarterback with Alabama ties, brings name recognition but lacks coaching experience. This continues the trend of prioritizing name recognition over coaching experience, such as the recent hiring of Ted Gin Jr. to be the Head Coach of the Columbus Aviators, despite also not having any coaching experience at the collegiate or professional levels. Ginn Jr., while lacking in coaching experience, brings playing experience and name recognition from his time at Ohio State and over a decade in the NFL.
This new approach contrasts with the success of names like Holtz and Mike Nolan. Nolan, despite his coach of the year honors and appearance in the last UFL Championship, was let go as part of the new restructure and start fresh philosophy. This week also saw Dallas Renegades Head Coach Bob Stoops retire on Monday.
A League at a Crossroads
With less than 100 days until the March 28 kickoff, the UFL faces a pivotal moment. With drafts being held in mid January and training camps in February, there is little time to rebuild rosters and restore trust. The roster overhaul, geographic restrictions, inexperienced hires, and a league based on centralized control that celebrates player churn, driving players like Bryce Perkins and others to the CFL for stability.
Repole’s vision dismisses veterans, enforces turnover, and favors name recognition over experience. This offseason is turning the UFL into a temp agency. Fans crave stars, instead they are presented with a league relocating 3 of its 8 teams. This redraft is just 2 years after a roster redraft that followed the formation of the UFL with the merger of the XFL and USFL. The merger also saw the total number of teams slashed from 16 to 8 when the USL and XFL merged to create the UFL.
One of the most frequently asked for things from fans this offseason has been for more stability. Fans asked for their teams, like the San Antonio Brahmas and Michigan Panthers, not to relocate, but to no avail. When the UFL announced that “all team rosters will remain unchanged,” the news was received extremely positively by fans, with many celebrating the news. Now that the UFL is breaking that promise in its pursuit of roster churn. It’s not too late for the UFL to alter its course and champion some semblance of stability for its fanbase.
10 Comments
by 4th&long
He’s making changes that shake up the league and alllow the new coaches to get an even head start. I like Skip but is it good for the UFL to have the same teams every year at top. They are looking for parity to make the games more exciting. And regional players to get local interest.
There are no rules on how a roster is formed – the league is all teams 1 owner, why not treat it that way.? Leverage it. It does not have to be NFL jr. If its cheaper to operate and works on the field why not. And we don’t know what 2027 will be, it could be more similar to 2025.
The approach looks similar to the Merger year. The fan reaction online is overtime drama.
I like Luke Miller but if he was in Louisville, Columbus or Orlando – he’d be loving this. Lighten up.
by Johnny the Angry Fuzzball
This does NOT look like the merger year. The merger year, the surviving teams got to keep most of their rosters and there were no territorial restrictions. This looks more like 2023 XFL, the one where they started over and ended up causing major damage.
Russ Brandon is a reasonable and experienced football man. I have to assume that he will try to keep as many quarterbacks with their respective teams as he can. But “he can” only do as much as Repole allows, and it appears RedBird and Fox have decided to sit back and let Repole do whatever he wants.
by 4th&long
You’re correct its not quite like the merger year, but in spirit its similar but true larger in extent.
Protect players were a bigger group and no regional… but its got protected players and the rest are available albeit with rationalization.
Ultimately – so what. W/O full time GM’s this looks the way to reset with multiple teams coachloads and to regionalize.
CFB players are moving around more than ever, NFL has Free Agency, no one owns team players. In fact UFL free agency was coming without MR.
I guess “I get” what they are looking to accomplish and I don’t see it as a negative. Ultimately what I was expecting all along (TSL like) leveraging a one owner league.
I believe the push back reaction is OTT.
In the end I think we all want good spring FB and more evenly matched teams.
by Power Alignments
Just love how you ignore Birmingham being screwed regarding REFUNDS!!!
by Ken Granito
It is clear that 4th & Long should change its name to 1st & 5 if he feels good about these changes. Mike Repole may be right. He may get exactly what he wants. The league may be just what the casual fan (football dumb) is looking for. The other thing is that we don’t know for sure exactly what is being reported is accurate. Already James Larsen reported that the USFL in 2022 had it’s quarterbacks assigned in this fashion, much the way the XFL and UFL is planning to do, but the USFL in 2022 did draft their QBs with Shea Patterson being taken with the #1 pick. If the press can incorrectly report something that happened 4 years ago, how can we be 100% percent sure that this will indeed happen this way. I, personally, am looking for a new Spring league to start in 2027 to compete with the Unfootball League. After the holidays I hope to write something that will explain exactly why the UFL may work with the less sophisticated football fans, but real football enthusiasts will feel the UFL is a joke if what is reported here comes into existence.
by Johnny the Angry Fuzzball
There will be other options, arena football is still there (IFL, AF1), we have a promising third-tier league in the Continental Football League coming in the summer.
To address the author, he should face it: spring football is, was, and always will be a losing proposition in terms of finances. It will succeed only as long as its backers are willing to fund it, and we’ve been lucky to get what amounts to seven straight years of it so far. No amount of refreshing, no amount of new ideas, none of it is going to change that. The networks are footing a good chunk of the bill trying to strike a balance between the cost of production and the amount of viewers who will watch it, and remember, this is a national league. People outside the home markets watch these games, they have rooting interests from former NFL backups who’ve found their way into the UFL, from local college boys who’ve made good. Oliver Luck understood that and it’s no surprise it was under his watch that spring football has had its highest viewership in the modern era. Daryl Johnston, to an extent, understood that, though the hub model played against the USFL badly and looked incredibly phony.
by 4th&long
UFL ratings are solid and will likely look better in 2026 (more like 2024 or better) as Neilsen has changed their ratings system.
The original USFL proved spring FB could work, but they decided to go for broke. Or
The new spring FB was going well, until covid. Then the rebirth was going one direction first (USFL). – focused on TV and then XFL3.0 showed up, that was a mistake IMO. The merger was the right move though.
Now they have a business man running the league with lower costs (right sizing) in some areas and better promo mkting and he is unafraid to bring attention to the league (THANKFULLY!). DG looks finally kicked to curb and we can focus on FB, fun and positive PR.
by Power Alignments
No, he should be called “Donald Trump: New Jersey Generals owner” with the ‘comments’ he leaves!
by Gary Winter
I’m not the most knowledgeable person when it comes to football. I watch it and I enjoy it, but I don’t live it. I have season tickets to the Battlehawk’s and have only missed one game due to my nieces wedding (Yes, she heard about it.).
I do however know that the UFL and others before it have struggled to survive due to poor decisions, many times brought on by lack of funds. I’ve spoken about this in the past but why does someone with no football background buy into and then change everything as fast as possible, issue statements about only the negatives such as moving teams out of their original homes, getting rid of good solid coaches and hiring inexperienced instead? The league rarely has any good news to share. The good news or positive PR always seems to be “coming later”. There is absolutely no advertising for season tickets or anybody visiting the local sports stations to talk up the league. At least not in St. Louis. Sure we (St. Louis) have bigger crowds than most, for now. I can assure you there are folks here that still don’t realize we have a football team. Why wouldn’t you try to sell season tickets right before Christmas? Seems like a gimme to me. Merch? Who can afford this stuff? Apparently, MR doesn’t wear hats or he’d have a few on the website so people could buy for folks at Christmas. Duh! Of course they’d probably all cost $50+, right?
I’m not a big fan of blowing up rosters or getting rid of good coaches for inexperienced and then listening to someone try to convince me that this is a developmental league. Obviously, an experienced coach would have more to teach than a retired QB who was essentially pushed out because he wasn’t wanted by his coaches or some teammates. (Us fans loved him.)
Do something positive Mike! At least show us the new uni’s. How long does it take to design 8/16 uniforms? You’ve got the colors, layout some stripes and numbers. Give us fans something, anything to look forward to. Please.
by Power Alignments
Mike Reploe is going to kill the UFL with the scumbag moves he’s making!
Not refunding those in Birmingham after BREAKING a promise NOT to disband the roster is grounds for a lawsuit!