It looks like spring football is here to stay a while longer. The successful merger of the USFL & the XFL to form the UFL United Football League which kicked off this past spring already said they will be back this March of 2025 with the same 8 teams. On Sunday Fox is already advertising the return of the spring fling year two of the UFL. The league wants to expand in 2026 with two new teams. Then another two teams in the year 2027.

Right now the UFL consists of two conferences. In 2023 the XFL had 8 teams while the USFL had 8 teams. The teams that made the cut and played last year from the XFL are the St.Louis BattleHawks, San Antonio Brahmas, Arlington Renegades, and DC Defenders. They are in the XFL Conference.

The 4 teams that made the cut that survived the merger from the USFL start with the Memphis Showboats, Birmingham Stallions, Michigan Panthers, and the Houston franchise. The Houston franchise from the USFL was the Gamblers. The Houston franchise from the XFL were called the Roughnecks. This is America where we need oil and love our big engines so Houston adopted the XFL Roughnecks name and Gamblers are with the rest of the old teams from the past. Maybe on hold. Maybe gone but not forgotten.

So where will the UFL go West or East? Could the league add to the Midwest as the league has most of their teams south in the midwest region of the country. Will the UFL resurrect old names from the XFL and the USFL? They could pick cities that they never had a team in. They could use a different name for that new city or an old city that once fielded a team. Do you pick cities where they already have an NFL team playing there? Michigan, Houston, & DC share the same city with the Lions, Texans and Commanders from the NFL. Those three teams the beer snake in DC the Defenders have the best attendance out the three last year. You know the UFL will pick the cities they think will make them the most money. I will throw my two cents into the ring and help the league choose the right teams. I will pick two teams from the old XFL list and two from the old USFL archives. I will throw two cities that have never been in either the USFL or the XFL that may be a good choice.

THE XFL

My first choice is the Seattle Sea Dragons for the XFL conference. In 2020 Seattle debut in the 2020 XFL that did not finish its season due to the pandemic. That was a good year for Seattle as they averaged 25,616 fans. In 2023 that number was pretty much cut in half with only 12,328 fans. They would play their home games in an NFL stadium with the Seahawks. Seattle will give the league an established team on the west coast.

My second choice for the XFL conference would be going back into the hot tub time machine and putting a team in the bay on the west coast. Bringing back the Demons of San Francisco back in the original Vince McMahon hooligan football league that was wrestling inserted into the gridiron. Imagine the Demons playing home games at Oracle Park, home of the baseball team the San Francisco Giants. The water views from up above during the telecast would be awesome. The back up stadium certainly could be where the 49ers play their home games, Levis stadium.

THE USFL

The Oakland Invaders coming back would be awesome as they can play their home games where they last played them in the 1980’s. The Oakland Coliseum. The city of Oakland had the Raiders and their baseball team the Athletics ripped away from them. This could re-spark the San Francisco Oakland rivalry in the sports landscape if the league also brings back an oldy but a goody from the original XFL, the Demons. Demons vs Invaders sounds like a monster mash on the football field. Remember the Black hole? Those Raiders fans were scary SOB’s. The Vegas version looks rated G. Look at St.Louis with the BattleHawks. Oakland fans may embrace a team with that kind of love and support.

I showed the love for the west coast. I have to go east and we need to bring back the Pittsburgh Maulers. The Maulers have the best logo in spring football history. The logo even looks sharper when they changed the color scheme to black and gold to match every other team in the Pittsburgh landscape. The league has the love for the hard workers. The Roughnecks in Houston. The Maulers in Steel Town. The Maulers have been around the last few seasons in the reboot of the USFL and they played back in the original one of the 1980’s league. The Maulers could probably play their home games where the Steelers play at Heinz Field. The Maulers made it all the way to the 2023 USFL championship only to lose to the Stallions. In the reboot of the USFL the Maulers did not get a chance to play in the city of Pittsburgh. They shared other hub cities. They were close when they played their home games in Canton, Ohio. Pittsburgh is a great sports town and they love football. My first choice would be Maulers.

THE UNKNOWN CITIES

For the two cities I will pick if the UFL wanted to start a team in a different city. My first choice is San Diego. First of all San Diego has the best climate perhaps in the entire country. Secondly, their hearts were wrenched when the Chargers left town to be the second fiddle to the Rams in LA. The city of San Diego did have the Fleet that played in the AAF American Alliance Football league that almost finished regular season. They came up short as the league ran out of money. I would expect the city of San Diego would be classy enough to embrace a new spring football team.

Do you remember the Hartford Whalers of the NHL? The owner ripped the hearts out of all the Hartford fans when he moved the Whalers to Carolina and renamed them the Hurricanes. Why not Connecticut? The state of Connecticut shows huge love and support for the Huskies. The University of Connecticut is a power house in basketball as they are fans of football. In the past they have supported the Whalers hockey team. It would give the UFL a city that does not have much of a professional sports landscape. I’m sure they have a football field that they can play some home games on during the spring. The Huskies field would be a great choice. The UFL is looking for 20,000 fans each contest which is reasonable for their league. You know all those fans in Connecticut are either rooting for the Patriots or the Giants. Most of the state may be people from New York City or Boston. Maybe for once these two cities could agree and find common ground on a new team that does not represent where they came from but where they are currently.

I would love to see my home town bring back their team, the Chicago Blitz from the 1980’s USFL. It seems like it’s a Bears and Bears only kind of town when it comes to football. Another great choice would be Tulsa, Oklahoma. Oklahoma City Thunder do well in the NBA in that state. You could bring back the Oklahoma Outlaws which have a very kick ass logo.

The UFL has to take things slowly because expansion can kill this league. The product on the field suffers if you water down the league with too many expansion teams. Some cities don’t embrace their new team especially if they are bad. I do like how they are playing year two with the same 8 teams from last year. This will help develop those cities and grow their fan base. Maybe they need to expand in 2026 & then try it again in 2028 to let the league slowly develop into something special.