UFL co-owner Mike Repole appeared on McElroy & Cubelic in the Morning on Jocks 94.5 to discuss the Birmingham Stallions’ future and his vision for the league. During the interview, Repole addressed fan concerns about the franchise’s stability, confirmed the team will play in Birmingham next spring, and explained his strategy for building sustainable attendance across the league.
Birmingham Stallions Guaranteed to Return in 2026
Repole directly addressed speculation about the Stallions’ future after his viral social media challenge to sell 5,000 season tickets created uncertainty among fans. When pressed by host Cole Cubelic about the team’s status, Repole provided definitive confirmation.
Cole, don’t tell anybody, but the Birmingham stallions will definitely be playing next year in Birmingham. But please keep that between us, all right?”
This statement ends weeks of speculation following Repole’s initial challenge that sparked concern among Birmingham fans who have witnessed multiple professional football franchises leave the city. The confirmation provides clarity for season ticket holders and fans planning for the 2026 spring season. Does this lock the Stallions or could we see a change in 2027 if they don’t hit ticketing goals.
Attendance Challenge Was Market Research, Not Ultimatum
The 5,000 season ticket challenge that created headlines last week served a different purpose than many assumed. Repole clarified his intentions behind the social media campaign that generated significant engagement from Birmingham fans.
“Really, the challenge, Cole and Greg, was I needed to know if there was a pulse in this league anywhere. I could have tried any market. I chose Birmingham strategically because I’m in my 50s now, and I remember the Birmingham stallions and the New Jersey Generals and the Houston gamblers.”
There were four teams on the rumored chopping block. Birmingham fans were the most vocal on Twitter. Houston and Memphis there was not a peep. Michigan there was some life online. Not sure I buy that this was some type of marketing strategy.
Plans for 20,000 Fans at Protective Stadium
Repole outlined specific attendance goals and venue modifications planned for Birmingham home games. The co-owner wants to create an intimate atmosphere at Protective Stadium while building toward sustainable attendance numbers.
“I want to cover up the top bowl, play in the lower bowl, make it 24,000. Let’s get 15, 20,000 fans out there. I saw pictures in the ’80s where you had 20,000 fans. Let’s get the fans out there.”
This approach represents a shift from trying to fill larger stadiums to creating packed environments in smaller configurations. Repole plans to attend the home opener himself and expects 19,999 other fans to join him for what he envisions as a celebration of spring football in Birmingham.
Players Will Spend More Time in Birmingham
Addressing fan concerns about community engagement, Repole committed to keeping players in Birmingham longer than just game days. This change responds to feedback about the need for stronger connections between the team and local community.
“The one thing we’re going to do is we’re going to bring the players down, not just in for the game and out. I’m going to bring them either a day before or a day or maybe both. They’re really seeing the local community, working with people down there.”
This initiative would be good for all teams thoughout the league, generating local press and fan integrations. However, will this be enough to drive season ticket sales.
Dynasty Status Should Drive Fan Support
Repole emphasized Birmingham’s championship success should translate to stronger attendance numbers. He pointed to the team’s dominant performance over the past four years as a reason for optimism about fan engagement.
“This is a market where the team has been… This is like a sports dynasty there. I mean, they’ve had the best record the last four years. They had three championships in a row with Skip Holtz.”
The co-owner acknowledged scheduling challenges, including Mother’s Day games and poor weather, but maintained that championship-caliber football should overcome these obstacles. He positioned the Stallions as the “Dallas Cowboys, Pittsburgh Steelers of spring football” and expects fan support to match that status.
Mike Repole’s interview provided Birmingham Stallions fans with concrete assurances about their team’s future while outlining an ambitious vision for spring football. The co-owner confirmed the team will play in Birmingham in 2026, set a target of 20,000 fans for home games, and committed to increasing player involvement in the community.
The full interview can be heard on McElroy & Cubelic in the Morning on Jocks 94.5 FM or through the Jocks FM app.
1 Comment
by Ken Granito
I am happy the Birmingham Stallions are back. I started to wonder where Mike Repole was going with this whole thing, but I must say the smartest investors are the ones who aren’t afraid to kick the tires a bit and apologize or change when they see where they are going is wrong. The funny thing about Birmingham is that they are a great fanbase. Maybe, not great for ownership. Birmingham’s walk up gate is likely a little more than 1/2 what the attendance. You can see that as the UFL reported attendance of 6,000 or 8,000 in other stadiums when there were clearly 1,000 fans in specific stadiums. On Mother’s Day when 1/2 Birmingham stayed home the attendance was announced as 5,000, because 1/2 their gate is walkup. For ownership that is an issue, because how do you get the Stallions fans to get seasons tickets so they pay for every game, even if they don’t come. First of all, have you looked at a Stallions game? Their fans are young adults, maybe even teens. You want a young fanbase. Afterall, I am following this league because I was a USFL fan in the 80s, so I started young. The older fans like myself can buy season tickets in the seats for $40 or $50 per ticket, not $125 per ticket. That is unreasonable and every fan pretty much knows it. It shows how the UFL is not understanding the value of a dollar and the common man. Mike even you said you remember the league back from those days. So let those young fans become Stallions fans. There are some things you have to live up to. The Stallions are the UFL that is most bet on. I would lie to say I know how it all works, but I strongly feel this led to referees making calls that were anti-Stallions. When I watch games I know what I am seeing. I played football in high school, but I have been watching it for 45 years. To me this led to a feeling of being singled out by the league and a feeling from very good fans to hate the UFL. As you grow stronger teams and more teams will come about will allow you to occasionally affect a game, but that only happens with concentrating on good football, now. I know you said some rules will be loosened. Hey, you want to make more fun, feel free to do so, but let’s do the math. You have 1 million fans while trying to emulate the XFL plan. The traditional USFL plan follows real football the kind played in the NFL that has 56.9 million additional fans than. I think you get back to football and stop with the sensationalism. Yes, every time Joe Tessitore gets excited for a two yard gain, it really ruins that broadcast for me. I knocked Jordan Rodgers a couple of times last year, but I have to admit he got better by the end of season and realized he needed to know his product before he could report on it. The UFL stopped interviewing people on the field while they are going in the huddle and they have to truly STOP asking what is about to be run here. EJ Perry will forever be my hero telling the reporter on 4th and 1 that we are going for a bomb here. The league may actually tell EJ Perry he may not be able to play this year as it told Quentin Dormady and AJ McCarron it could not play last year. I tell you though, if I were running a league I would be happy to have a guy who understands this is football and not the WWE. I guarantee you that is dad is proud of his son. These gimmicks actually advertise that there is so little of importance in the actual play, basically that the game means nothing. Last year Jonathan Adams who was having a monster game for the Showboats was out injured and the crew for ABC/ESPN had absolutely no clue.
The game was on the line and they missed the whole story that the all-time leading receiving yardage in legacy UFL history wasn’t on the field, but were instead saying ok what are we going to run here? #1 most important rule is that way the game is played (and officiated) and the outcome of the game are the most important things for the league to be successful. You can easily go from 1 million fans to 2 million fans just making that change. You cannot have preferential treatment for a team because you want the playoff game to be at a specific location. You can’t make rules in the replay booth and change them because you want a certain outcome.
You now of a few good locations. DC is excellent. I have been there twice. St. Louis has shown every opportunity to be a good location, but I will explain below what you need to do to help bring it back up to its heyday. Columbus and Birmingham are good as are the Brahmas. Hey we are locked into the Renegades, right? Let’s see what we can do with the other 3 franchises, though I hope Michigan does come back.
1. The league is owned by an ownership group. No team owners to voice their displeasure with the way the league is run. In your next expansion, there should be two teams that are owned by an outside entity. You say there are no people around who would want to do that. There has never been a time where the haves and have nots have been farther apart. You put out a product people will want to buy, they will buy it.
2. Promote game play. The players need to be stars. I was at Bryce Perkins very first game in DC. I came with a friend of mine and I was sitting right next to this fan who just bought his ticket for $7 second hand. I told him I wanted to see Bryce Perkins because I remembered his primetime game against the Chiefs, where although I wanted the newly signed Case Cookus to play for the Rams, Sean McVay played Bryce Perkins who played within the game plan. Although he looked uneasy in the pocket at times, he kept the Rams in the game. The thing I was most intrigued with was the way he played in the team setting, instead of trying to show what he could do. How happy was I to watch him the other day, getting comfortable with the speed of the NFL game. yes they were 4th stringers in there, but he had just gotten the playbook a couple days before. Whether he makes it back to the NFL is yet to be seen, but I think he has a real chance. I said earlier in the year, I would rather have him, than Tim Boyle. Tim Boyle is now gone, but Bryce Perkins is on a NFL roster. This shows how the players are a real thing and how they play is most important. Luis Perez, Jordan Ta’amu, Sal Cannella, Jacob Saylors and Breeland Speaks are real UFL stars. I think each teach should get a $100,000 roster spot. This might cause problems for teams. Would this become a sore spot for the Renegades if they gave that to a running back or edge players over Luis Perez or if a team was able to sign AJ McCarron and give me the $100,000 roster spot. I mean how much better would a team like St. Louis be with AJ McCarron, Ben DiNucci, Blaine Gabbert or McLeod Bethel-Thompson. You would have to say whether this makes sense for you, but if this helped getting known and high quality players to play for the league, this would go a long way to making sure the UFL has its own stars. For instance, if Bryce Perkins does not make the NFL, he may feel that was his last chance and he should get started with his life, but if he was going to make 100k, he might figure it is worth donning the Panthers helmet yet again. Remember the Stallions did put seats in the stands, but they did have Cliff Stoudt, Joe Cribbs and Jim Smith as the Generals had Hershel Walker and a cast of stars.
3. A real easy one. Each team should bring 4 QBs to camp. Pretty much you bring 3 QBs to camp, these are likely your 3 QBs, but having a 4th you can take a risk on a vet that you aren’t sure still has it, plus if the 3rd string isn’t quite sure of himself, he could feel the pressure, where if he had to earn the 3rd string job, he might win the 1st string job.
4. Rebuild the St. Louis Battlehawks. As I have stated before Anthony Becht was name HC of the Battlehawks after 8 games as a tight ends coach in the AAF. He was given this job as the Rock wanted all NFL Head Coaches so that the XFL would gain attention. Anthony Becht is the last of that group. The problem is that Anthony Becht is in the league’s best market. I know he thinks highly of himself, but he was passed over for the West Virginia job. The Battlehawks performed quite well with AJ McCarron at the helm. The UFL’s need to film and listen to every conversation had at times caught AJ McCarron throwing Anthony Becht and his offense underneath the bus with their questionable offensive tactics. That is surely a problem as McCarron should not be doing that stuff, especially within earshot of the TV crew. So the UFL started this issue, between the higher of an inexperienced coach and then giving the audience quite an all-access review to the audience. With McCarron the team had over 40k in attendance, but pretty much always having 30k or higher. If they weren’t the best team, they were the most fun to watch, even signing former Giants player the highly respected Wayne Gallman to the team. As Ben DiNucci has been quoted as saying he would never want to play for a team where the stands were empty, coaching this team is a GREAT opportunity and privilege for Becht. Did Becht take advantage of this opportunity? He did not. Afraid of having a similar situation with the next QB, he signed 3 QBs that, whereby none had actually thrown a pass in a meaningful NFL game. I understand wanting to get a player who is young and I understand that teamwork is very important to a team. What I don’t understand is having the expectations of having the top market in the UFL and you name 3 quarterbacks the same day whereby none of them is of star caliber. Was there even any work involved? He signed Manny Wilkins who now has 2 TDs and 6 Ints in his career. He will be 30 in November and has not thrown a pass for anyone not name Becht since college. Max Duggan and Chevan Cordeiro has not thrown one pass at all at the pro level. I appreciate Duggan’s gamesmanship. He has clearly never seen a hit he was afraid of. However, his passing skills left quite a bit to be desired. Chevan Cordeiro was invited to a mini camp by the Seahawks, not summer camp. Surely a sign he was not quite ready to QB a bigtime market. After the team started 2-2, I strongly feel, the league which really wanted a playoff game in St. Louis needed to step in. In the 5 games they won to go from 2-2 to 7-2, they were outgained in yardage. The game against the Renegades was so poorly officiated even calling back a Renegades touchdown after they threw a flag and calling the penalty on the player who held the wrong guy AND after the play was for all intents and purposes done. This is the kind of play the league should love. It was a beautiful bomb, but because the Battlehawks weren’t able to have any beautiful bombs they had to call it back. In the game against the Michigan Panthers the Panthers outgained them by over 100 yards, which included not one, but two questional offensive interference penalties on Hakeem Butler they, of course, went uncalled. Please note the most penalties the Panthers had up to that point was 5, but had double digits against the Battlehawks. Interestingly there were 3 games without which the Battlehawks would not have outright hosted the playoff game, which would be millions of dollars to their pockets. In 3 games against the Stallions, Renegades and Panthers where the Battlehawks would have lost or were in question they were called for 14, while their opponents were called for 30. As the final score across ALL 3 games were 12 points total, meaning an average of 4 points per game and were outgained by 238 yards in total and were outgained in each of the games. Whenever the Battlehawks needs a penalty they got one. I saw 3 times whereby the Battlehawks ran up to the defensive players and started something and than feel down with barely a push where they drew the penalty. Finally, that didn’t work. Between the Renegades game 4 win whereby their could have been a call against the Renegades as they were trying to call and I believe it was Jordan Rodgers was like, I really think Anthony Becht should challenge the play, (wink) (wink). I have seen this done before, but not like that, than when they turnover the ball on the last play they try to challenge even though they don’t even know what they are challenging. Mike Perreira would have none of it. We already gave you your gifts. If you only have 8 games going on there cannot be hanky panky going on with the refereeing. If you want to have a good league and get AT LEAST that extra million for the 2026, it needs to start being real. So that means either Anthony Becht has to go or he has to get a proven quarterback, maybe even using an outside consultant to scout them for him. He says that he follows Sean McVay’s coaching. Well Sean McVay trade multiple top level draft picks to get a veteran gamer, who plays day in day out, controls the game and puts the ball exactly where it needs to be. He had this with McCarron, but did not last year. It is clear to me that if he will not go out and get this done, but should step down, if not be fired.
Mike, I truly wish you the best with it. To be part owner of a football league, is there a better dream in the world. As they said in Spider-Man, with that great power comes great responsibility. The reason you are down to a million fans is that they don’t see it as football. The league is looked at as a joke by 56 million football fans. I love the WNBA, but are you really comparing the WNBA to football? Bring football back! Please make it that there are at least 5 names in the league that NFL fans remember. I have the list at AJ McCarron, Kalen Ballage, Corey Coleman, Reuben Foster, Greedy Williams, Amari Rodgers, Tae Crowder, Malik Turner, Kevin Hogan, Denzel Mims, Wayne Gallman, Brad Wing, Rodrigo Blankenship, Corn Elder, Kyle Phillips, DeAndre Baker, Taco Charlton, Breeland Speaks, Chris Odom and Donald Payne have all played in the UFL. Depending on what teams you are NFL fans of you likely heard of a handful of these guys, but really let’s put a great product on the field, get those seats in the seats and get some players from this crop like the WR Kyle Phillips, either Tanner Mordecai or Carter Bradley, whichever doesn’t sign back with the NFL when practice squads come down. Andrew Raym, Nate Brooks, DTR, Royce Freeman, Clayton Tune, Austin Reed, Hendon Hooker, John Wohlford, Bailey Zappe, Marquez Callaway, Kyle McCord, Terrace Marshall, Tyler Huntley are all examples of players that might be signed to NFL practice squads or might even hold out from signing with the UFL, but this year you should make the league about football. If you build it they will come. There is GREAT opportunity here. I believe the UFL has it 50% correct, however the places they are missing is making the league lose its market share. PS. If you research what I wrote about, meaning watch the games you will see that I pay attention and I largely remember most of it. Maybe you bite bullet with Michigan this year, but move it to the new stadium next. For this to be a possibility I think you should reach out and find out how it would work with the new stadium. You never know, if you do great maybe Ford Field will give you a deal like you have in St. Louis. PS Another reason to put the best product in St. Louis.