The UFL has positioned itself as a viable alternative to the NFL for players to prove their talents and as a great value entertainment product for fans. However, recent structural changes, including the recent termination of all general managers, as the league shifts to a centralization of roster decisions, are a troubling pivot.
What was previously an aspiring standalone pro league is increasingly resembling a temp agency for the NFL, prioritizing short-term player churn over long-term stability, fan loyalty, and competitive integrity. This overhaul, spearheaded by new co-owner Mike Repole, risks alienating players and fans, turning the UFL into a pit stop rather than a destination worth investing in emotionally or financially. If it’s not a league that is worthwhile for long-term presences from professional players, why would it be a worthwhile product for long-term fan interest?
Centralized Control Stifles Competition and Innovation
At the heart of any professional sports league is the drive for competition on and off the field. The UFL’s decision to purge all 8 GMS and consolidate decisions under 1 office eliminates all aspects of competition among front offices and scouting.
In pro sports, a sharp scouting department can be a franchise’s edge to spot overlooked talent and build around a coach’s scheme. This drive to find a competitive edge through scouting and individually operated rosters drives every team to do better and is a factor in why the UFL as a whole has been doing such a great job in finding great players.
In the UFL’s new format, there is no longer an opportunity for clubs to gain an edge through scouting. If the centralized office scouting falters, every team suffers equally; there’s no incentive to excel or penalty for mediocrity. It opens the door to corner-cutting as there’s no competitive pressure to out-scout rivals.
Furthermore, the absence of GMS means no true player trades. This isn’t pro sports, it’s a controlled simulation where parity is enforced from above, potentially breeding bland, interchangeable rosters. Teams like the Michigan Panthers under Steve Kazor or the DC Defenders under Von Hutchins developed distinct personalities through tailored player acquisitions. Centralization risks erasing those nuances. Head coaches will have a say on certain roster decisions, but there’s no denying the impact this will have.
Territorial Protections are a Nice Idea, But Completely Fruitless
Repole’s push for territorial protections is a fun idea to draw in fan engagement, but it exacerbates imbalance and adds a needless layer of complication to roster construction. Players should be acquired to where they have the best fit based on team positional needs. This increases potential risks for one team to have a surplus in a position having quality talent on the bench when they may have been utilized elsewhere.
It’s a nice idea, but fans are not going to flock to see marginal college players. Fans want stars, rivalries, stability, and a league that feels authentic, not engineered.
The Michigan Panthers had Shea Patterson out of Michigan in 2021 when the USFL was hubbed out of Birmingham to try to draw in Michigan fans, and nobody cared. Fans don’t care where you come from, they will embrace anyone who represents the city admirably. Barry Sanders was an immediate fan favorite for the Lions because he was electric day 1 after a contract holdout. Fans didn’t care that he wasn’t from a nearby university.
At the UFL level, Michigan Panthers fans fell in love with Jake Bates out of Arkansas after he made a 64-yard game-winner in week 1 in 2024. This past season, Panther fans were adoring the play of Bryce Perkins out of Virginia because he was a missed tackle-forcing machine.
A locally sourced college system limits the overall product quality. Restricting access to the national talent pool could create rosters with mismatches, diluting the on-field product for the sake of a gimmicky regionalism initiative.
The NFL, and literally every league ever, exemplified that fans could not care less about a player’s origin. They care about performance and loyalty to the team. In the 1920s, just after World War 2, hockey fans embraced the play of Howie Morenz despite him being a player of German descent in a time of much negative German dissent. Later, in many leagues, we saw players break the color barrier and do something amazing, change the way people think about race, and accelerate our society moving forward in its thoughts relating to race.
Sports fans care more about where you are than where you come from.
Instability for Players Equals Detachment for Fans
Mike Repole’s candid remarks during his media tour underscore this temp agency-like mindset. He stated plainly that the UFL isn’t for players lingering four or five years. “And if you’re in this league four or five years, you probably shouldn’t be here. You should probably go into coaching or do something else.” This philosophy frames the league as a stepping stone, prioritizing NFL development over sustaining a high-quality product.
Developing talent for the NFL is a byproduct of a good league, regardless, and we have seen this happening already. Players chasing NFL dreams is not something that requires further engineering. Trying to artificially increase constant roster turnover in a league so desperate for stability hinders fan attachment. How can supporters rally behind a team when loved stars like Luis Perez and Jordan Ta’amu are being pushed out by the league itself?
Repole’s vision dismisses veterans who provide continuity and mentorship, the kind that builds locker room culture. The guys who generate season-over-season fan engagement. Instead, it only worships opportunity at the expense of competition. This will lead to proven performers getting benched to give playing time to younger, untested rookies just to serve the agendas of roster churn.
This is already a league heavily watched by scouts and football operations. However, the league is starting to take a path where it will only be watched by scouts and football operations.
Marketing Mismatch: Local Ties vs. Constant Turnover
Repole emphasizes building local connections through territorial rights, but the focus on rapid player cycling directly undermines this. Fans crave heroes who become part of the team’s history, whose identities become synonymous with the community they represent, creating lasting bonds and storylines. With a model that encourages quick exits to the NFL or “Go do something else!”, how can lasting heroes emerge?
Constant turnover means players are here today, gone tomorrow, preventing deep-rooted ties that drive ticket sales and merchandise. You can’t market local pride when rosters are revolving doors. The instability demonstrated by the UFL in its short existence is already driving a player exodus. Players are eyeing the Canadian Football League as a more stable alternative for their careers. UFL All-Star defensive tackle Joe Wallace is with the Toronto Argonauts. Last season’s leading receiver, Saiosi Mariner, is with the Saskatchewan Roughriders now. The BC Lions have 2 defensive linemen on their roster who were great players in the UFL in Levi Bell and Bradlee Anae.
Mike Repole is greatly underestimating the effect that fans won’t care to stick around if the players don’t care to stick around.
Hidden Motives: Cost-Cutting and Favoritism Risks
While this is presented as not being about finances, the move conveniently slashes costs, ditching GM salaries. Moving toward making head coaches a full-time position is a step in the right direction. But what other reason would there be to make a centralized system that does not pursue competition as well, if not to streamline expenses?
Centralization also invites accusations of favoritism. With one office dictating rosters, fans may question why certain teams may have players emerge with premium talent while others underperform. Fans are not going to believe the league is being run authentically if its strongest market has its strongest roster with this format.
A Path Forward: Reclaim the Pro League Identity
The UFL must reverse course and recommit teams to being standalone operations. Restore team autonomy by having teams have either a GM or a player personnel director. Embrace veterans as assets, not liabilities, as their presence fosters fan loyalties and team identity. Ditch territorial gimmicks for genuine marketing, leverage full-time coaches for community outreach as Repole advocates, but without meddling in football operations.
Teams need to have someone in charge of the team’s roster who is not managing other teams’ rosters, whether the coach takes on that role or an individual as player personnel director. Even if a low-paid position and there would still be individuals who know this league and know ball who could put together a solid team with minimal financial demands. Heck, I’d do it for less than minimum wage, and I took notes on notes for every game this past season.
I hope that this article finds the eyes of UFL co-owner Mike Repole, consider it an open letter. I implore you to change the direction of the organization, for I do fear this will lead to its demise if unaltered.
6 Comments
by Johnny the Angry Fuzzball
Well written, Jonathan.
The other issue with Repole’s approach is simply depth. Are there enough players who fit that mold to stock eight teams with them? And will there continue to be enough to replace who Repole forces out? Ohio State only graduates about 20 players a year, and a good portion will end up on NFL practice squads and active rosters.
The fact is, Repole NEEDS these vets to fill out the roster.
The worst case scenario is what the NHL did in the mid-20th century, ending up stacking a handful of its teams with all the talent and propping up the rest mainly as tomato cans to fill arena dates and score easy wins. If people thought the favoritism toward St. Louis was bad the last few years, this will make it all the easier to stack the deck in the Battlehawks’ favor (or whoever ends up being the darling of the league; Louisville might end up being the golden child this year).
by Gary Winter
I’m a Battlehawk’s fan. I’m pretty sure if we were the darlings of the league, our reign is over. The only mention of Season Tickets or even just a mention of the Battlehawk’s that I’ve seen since the Championship Game was on this or other streaming channels. Nothing on any local TV or news outlets that I’ve seen. I believe we’ve reached the point of being taken for granted. That won’t work here, we’re already pretty sensitive about football teams losing interest in us. Is anyone else from the older teams experiencing the same?
by Johnny the Angry Fuzzball
That seems like exactly the situation that’s been happening in Birmingham. Pulling further and further away, and then Repole has the audacity to demand more ticket sales than Louisville, DC and Columbus even have seats or the team gets relocated.
by 4th&long
The Sky is not falling.
They are restructuring. If it doesn’t go well, MR will chg direction unlike DG and Brandon.
They save money on GM’s for full yr HC contracts and more sales/marketing/promotion.
Having a few college hero’s play in local markets can’t hurt.
The centralized scouting IS a cost cutting measure and should help back stop having 1-9 and 2-10 teams which is sorely needed.
The emphasis will be on coaching on field and player selection. Coaches still say who they want and are now on annual contracts. They are likely paid more for full yr contracts too. Some coaches may not like it even, but they likely had them involved in some of this decision making.
As far as a temp league, its always been a temp league… IF a player could jump to the NFL or in some cases CFL even. I do agree that they don’t need to label it a dev league as that is not what it is anyway.
I don’t see the issue here and MR is making sorely needed changes, he should be more flexible in seeing what works and what doesn’t for 2027.
by Brian
Having read this article, it seems there was a reason behind Repole asking fans what their ideal high scoring game should look like.
by Ken Granito
We don’t fully know the plan here even with the information we have been given. I tell you, Jonathan, that if the dots you are connecting are the dots, the outlook is pretty bleak. I hope Gary’s thoughts come a little more to light and TBH I love the way you chose to not jump in a lifeboat and decide instead to highlight other possibilities. I am not sure who pays attention to the other commenters, but if you do maybe you noticed that I have commented a good deal less, only taking the time to do so when I hope UFL management is paying attention as I hope to help the league help itself.
I am sure I have written this before, but as a youth I had Generals seasons tickets in 1984 & 1985. They were my birthday gift from my stepfather two years in a row. We had such a great time! Even one day in my adult world I had a conference call with linebacker John Joyce as I was helping his company onboard as a client. When I explained I was a fan of his as a kid, he was pretty amazed anyone knew who he was. To Gary’s point I hope all goes well. I hope the coaches are responsible for the signings and have dual roles and that the scouting committee is only to catalog outside talent. I still feel the #1 issue with the league is that one entity owns all the teams. This allows for trades like Luis Perez for Ryan Mueller who was cut following the trade. AJ McCarron to not only be released by the Battlehawks, but the league and EJ Perry sign with the CFL after the UFL asked him to tell all the viewers what the play on 4th and 1 was going to be and he said we’re going bomb. I don’t think the league was happy for the misdirection, but it’s a shame a player needs to tell everyone in front of their audience to get the press off the field before the play. Funny how they were never on their again. Mike Repole has said he grew up with the original USFL and if he did he probably remembers the territorial picks did little outside the players that happened to be in the regions where the teams had the money to go sign those NFL players in those regions. That will not happen in this case, with this league. Jonathan, I think you put together a great article and mentioned many of the things I fear may come to fruition. I am no longer really paying attention to prospects or league player signings. I think other than bringing Ted Cottrell to the attention of the league and Daryl Johnston whereby Cottrell became the only player to coach with the Generals in both USFLs. I love that story and would have loved it more should we have gotten a place to play in Jersey, but instead we got disbanded. Just another of the many, many disappointments the UFL has brought. With that I plan to watch the game in the Spring and see if I can recognize the league at all.
As far as you go Gary, I hope you are right and it could go that way. The way you have hope, you still seem young in some ways. If you are a teen like I was in the 1980s, I hope the league does for you what the USFL did for me. I just hope it doesn’t break your heart like the USFL did mine when it tried to go to the Fall and failed. I say that full heartedly. The one thing I will miss as I pull back a bit. The UFL community is pretty damn good. Best of luck to you all. I will check in.