Your predictions for the debut UFL season?

[Coffeeeyes]

I mean I said it’s a big ask and I accept that but honestly, I think we are understating how well this league can do TV wise. The marketing has been pretty consistent and I’m seeing it everywhere from Fox broadcasts, to ESPN+, to just watching the news. I think everything is in place for a good debut UFL season and a strong 2mil+ will silence a lot of doubters. 

On another note though, even tho I said opening day should touch 2 mil to be successful (yes I believe that…), a 750k-800k regular season shouldn’t be too bad. This is effectively spring football season 6

[Dome Dome Dome]

It all boils down to tv ratings.

If it does well the NFL will get themselves involved and see three more months worth of profitable content in an otherwise barren part of the year for them. If it does poorly then like all other spring/secondary leagues before it, it'll continue to live in an uncertain year to year situation. As people have said, it has been pushed very heavily in tv commercials which is no bad thing.

[BenSy]

I mean I said it’s a big ask and I accept that but honestly, I think we are understating how well this league can do TV wise. The marketing has been pretty consistent and I’m seeing it everywhere from Fox broadcasts, to ESPN+, to just watching the news. I think everything is in place for a good debut UFL season and a strong 2mil+ will silence a lot of doubters. 

On another note though, even tho I said opening day should touch 2 mil to be successful (yes I believe that…), a 750k-800k regular season shouldn’t be too bad. This is effectively spring football season 6

2 million is a good number to expect. I think it will be more.

Hello everyone, this is my first post.

[slammer66]

I've been surprised at the lack of camp coverage.  The marketing is out there so that's probably just annoying to football nerds like me.  I am expecting the game play to take a significant step forward with the combining of the two leagues.  I think it will be most noticable from the QB play.  In the USFL there were several teams I remember thinking that if they had an even half way decent QB they would have beaten us (Stallions).  so I think this year we might find ourselves in a battle more often.     Additionally many players are entering their 3rd year of pro football or possibly more if they were part of the pre-covid league.   There is a cumulative effect as players get experience.  

[4th&long]

I've been surprised at the lack of camp coverage.  The marketing is out there so that's probably just annoying to football nerds like me.  I am expecting the game play to take a significant step forward with the combining of the two leagues.  I think it will be most noticable from the QB play.  In the USFL there were several teams I remember thinking that if they had an even half way decent QB they would have beaten us (Stallions).  so I think this year we might find ourselves in a battle more often.     Additionally many players are entering their 3rd year of pro football or possibly more if they were part of the pre-covid league.   There is a cumulative effect as players get experience.  

 

Recall that USFL 2022 had Perez, Ja'mar, Ta'amu Cookus, Sloter, its more of a reset to a one league spring than a combination, along with the addition you mention of more experience and the perception among players that spring FB is more of a viable option than ever and proven quantity.  That in itself attracts more players.

[johnnyangryfuzzball]

I mean, inasmuch as there's a "perceived failure" somebody has pulled off spring football six years in a row now (assuming, probably safely at this point, that the UFL doesn't pull a MLFB/AAFL/UNGL/etc. and suddenly close up shop before the first game). Only the names have changed... and at this point, the teams have been around long enough to start building up fan bases. Plus the XFL has completed a full season and the USFL two full seasons, so we're starting to see more stability, especially now that they've joined forces.

True, but as we all know, perception and reality can be two different things (especially from fans in those cities of teams that were contracted this year). 

I think the perception is that the UFL has to be better explained as a continuation of the XFL and USFL.  Meaning that both leagues live on thru the UFL.  ie its not a new league ites a rebranding of two merged leagues.

And keeping the XFL and USFL conferences goes a LONG way in establishing that. The owners are the same. The networks are the same (for the most part). The teams were all here last year.

The long-term future of spring football is arguably brighter than it has ever been. That's not saying much considering how many catastrophic failures there have been in the past 40 years, but there's actual, realistic hope this might be something sustainable this time around.

[Coffeeeyes]

I've been surprised at the lack of camp coverage.  The marketing is out there so that's probably just annoying to football nerds like me.  I am expecting the game play to take a significant step forward with the combining of the two leagues.  I think it will be most noticable from the QB play.  In the USFL there were several teams I remember thinking that if they had an even half way decent QB they would have beaten us (Stallions).  so I think this year we might find ourselves in a battle more often.     Additionally many players are entering their 3rd year of pro football or possibly more if they were part of the pre-covid league.   There is a cumulative effect as players get experience.  

I feel you on the QB part. That’s the edge I believe the XFL had over the USFL. The QBs in the XFL had a lot more spring football name notoriety or experience, McCarron, Ta’amu, Perez, DiNucci,  Silvers/McDonald. It just allowed a different perception to the league imo. The teams that struggled were the ones without that QB play too, Brahmas with Coan and Guardians with Lynch, but even Coan was notable as a big school QB and Lynch a former first round QB.

I was a Gamblers fan in the USFL and I can tell you that no one was tuning in for Bahar. You can tell where the talent shortfalls at QB for both leagues were if you look at the cuts and didn’t make the merger. Drew Plitt I believed was genuinely not capable of playing at that level yet, and he proved it in the XFL regular season. Josh Love is an example for the Panthers too.

Spring football is meant to be the second tier of football in the world (for American football, so not counting CFL). You can see that when even big school QBs are getting picked off three times a game and struggling. We can finally rejoice knowing legitimate NFL PS or even some cases NFL backup talent is throwing in this league without the split due to separate leagues. 

[BenSy]

The long-term future of spring football is arguably brighter than it has ever been. That's not saying much considering how many catastrophic failures there have been in the past 40 years, but there's actual, realistic hope this might be something sustainable this time around.

If the failures of the past 40 years are accounted for, this could really become something sustainable. But if the same failures will be made, different results are possible, including negative ones.

[4th&long]

The long-term future of spring football is arguably brighter than it has ever been. That's not saying much considering how many catastrophic failures there have been in the past 40 years, but there's actual, realistic hope this might be something sustainable this time around.

If the failures of the past 40 years are accounted for, this could really become something sustainable. But if the same failures will be made, different results are possible, including negative ones.

The issues in the last 40 years have changed over time... the OG USFL did have a TV contract in hand but they went for the gusto trying to force a merger with the NFL which would have been a huge financial gain.  High risk high reward... but zero payoff.  If they stayed in spring - they would have survived, at least for a while with the TV money.
Next the WLAF was basically the NFL's way of blocking independent leagues from jumping in the spring space, which for 2 yrs did that.  But with comments like Tex Schramm saying he wanted to have thw WLAF become the NFL of the spring/summer, the NFL shut it down (NFLE not a USA league so pass on that)
XFL 1.0 was looking to be a more entertainment oriented league.  It was in big cities too but after NBC bailed (and NFL got them back in their orbit) the XFL as we all know closed down.
The other UFL was a league designed to fill a gap if the NFL went on strike in 2009/or 2010 what ever, Micahel Hygue was a spending dope and the league had 2 good years and 2 subpar years before closing shop.
The FXFL was truely a TSL precursor and looking to be a dev league for NFL. 

So having said all that the real relevant history is 2018-2024.  With AAF>XFL 2.0>TSL>USFL>XFL 3.0> UFL from 2019 thru 2024 being the history that's most important to modern spring FB.
What did we learn?  AAF = have full funding in place before starting, XFL3.0 = be committed to cover losses or adapt (merge), TSL = keep cost low and hub.  USFL keep cost low and hub;, XFL 2.0 = get full commitment from TV partners, commit funding; XFL3.0 &USFL 2023 = Do not operate competing leagues, and playing in mrket builds local interest,  XFL 2.0 = go into large TV markets, All these leagues proved you can get solid ratings for winter/spring Football.

Obviously alot more than that but  that's the big ones.