A day after revealing on New 12 months’s Eve on Fox that the newly fashioned United Soccer League will kick off in June, co-owners Dwayne Johnson and Dany Garcia took to ESPN to unveil the cities and coaches for the inaugural season.
The UFL, the professional spring league created through the merger of the USFL and XFL, will comprise two four-team conferences, Johnson and Garcia mentioned in the present day throughout an look on ESPN School GameDay.
ESPN and Fox are co-owners of the brand new league.
Within the new UFL, the USFL Convention will maintain the Birmingham Stallions, Houston Roughnecks, Memphis Showboats and Michigan Panthers. The XFL Convention will maintain the Arlington Renegades, D.C. Defenders, San Antonio Brahmas and St. Louis Battlehawks.
Houston had franchises in each the USFL and XFL in 2023; these had been mixed to create the Roughnecks.
Out of the combination are former XFL groups in Orlando, Seattle and Las Vegas, and former USFL groups in Philadelphia, New Jersey, Pittsburgh and New Orleans, which means no groups on the West Coast or within the main L.A.-New York space markets for the UFL’s inaugural yr.
This’s yr’s UFL coaches are Skip Holtz (Birmingham), Bob Stoops (Arlington), Curtis Johnson (Houston), Reggie Barlow (D.C.), John DeFilippo (Memphis), Wade Phillips (San Antonio), Mike Nolan (Michigan) and Anthony Brecht (St. Louis).
Gamers within the new UFL will report back to coaching camp February 24 in Arlington. Earlier league champions Birmingham (USFL) and Arlington (XFL) will meet within the opener of the 10-game season March 10. Video games will air on ABC, ESPN, Fox and FS1.
Johnson and Garcia’s beforehand co-owned the XFL with RedBird Capital Companions’ Gerry Cardinale. They co-own the UFL together with Fox Sports activities (led by CEO Erik Shanks) and ESPN (led by chairman Jimmy Pitaro).
The pair have been making the rounds to get the phrase out in regards to the league, with Johnson and Garcia unveiling first particulars throughout an look yesterday on Fox’s NFL on Fox pregame present. Right this moment, they joined the GameDay crew on the Rose Bowl forward of the CFP semifinal sport between Michigan and Alabama.
The XFL and USFL introduced plans to merge final September, after Johnson, Garcia and RedBird acquired the XFL for $15 million and launched a brand new season earlier within the yr on ESPN. That season overlapped with the USFL, which had a broadcast cope with Fox Sports activities and NBC and counted Fox as a minority proprietor.
The 2 leagues are attempting to unify to showcase the U.S.’ most-watched sport in the course of the NFL offseason.
