A day after revealing on New Year’s Eve on Fox that the newly formed United Football 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 pro spring league created via the merger of the USFL and XFL, will comprise two four-team conferences, Johnson and Garcia said today during an appearance on ESPN College GameDay.
ESPN and Fox are co-owners of the new league.
In the new UFL, the USFL Conference will hold the Birmingham Stallions, Houston Roughnecks, Memphis Showboats and Michigan Panthers. The XFL Conference will hold the Arlington Renegades, D.C. Defenders, San Antonio Brahmas and St. Louis Battlehawks.
Houston had franchises in both the USFL and XFL in 2023; those were combined to create the Roughnecks.
Out of the mix are former XFL teams in Orlando, Seattle and Las Vegas, and former USFL teams in Philadelphia, New Jersey, Pittsburgh and New Orleans, meaning no teams on the West Coast or in the major L.A.-New York area markets for the UFL’s inaugural year.
This’s year’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).
Players in the new UFL will report to training camp February 24 in Arlington. Previous league champions Birmingham (USFL) and Arlington (XFL) will meet in the opener of the 10-game season March 10. Games will air on ABC, ESPN, Fox and FS1.
Johnson and Garcia’s previously co-owned the XFL with RedBird Capital Partners’ Gerry Cardinale. They co-own the UFL along with Fox Sports (led by CEO Erik Shanks) and ESPN (led by chairman Jimmy Pitaro).
The pair have been making the rounds to get the word out about the league, with Johnson and Garcia unveiling first details during an appearance yesterday on Fox’s NFL on Fox pregame show. Today, they joined the GameDay crew at the Rose Bowl ahead of the CFP semifinal game between Michigan and Alabama.
The XFL and USFL announced plans to merge last September, after Johnson, Garcia and RedBird acquired the XFL for $15 million and launched a new season earlier in the year on ESPN. That season overlapped with the USFL, which had a broadcast deal with Fox Sports and NBC and counted Fox as a minority owner.
The two leagues are trying to unify to showcase the U.S.’ most-watched sport during the NFL offseason.