As the end of the 2023-2024 NFL season comes to an end, The United Football League, a brand new league is starting up. Spring football, which has had its ups and downs, has officially created one league.
Spring Football throughout the years has not been as successful as people have thought. The Leagues that have come have seen its phases; the United States Football League began in 1983 but ended in 1985 due to the leagues inability to get TV contracts and financial problems. In the early 2000s a league called Spring Football League started up, but again failed to gain an audience and had very little media coverage causing it to last for 2 days. The SFL that failed a year before did plan a return for spring 2001 but was overshadowed by a new and upcoming spring football league named the XFL which was heavily endorsed by WWE star Vince McMahonand, The XFL did what no other spring league could do and gained a TV contract with CBS, The large support of the XFL ended the SFL.
The XFL was looking good and brought lots of different rules and ideas that the NFL would later implement. But as the curse of Spring Football continued, the XFL had ended after one season. The XFL made a return in 2020, but only made it to 5 games before the season was canceled due to the nationwide pandemic. Football, having its main audience in the U.S. still has not translated over to spring football and continues to show relatively low numbers compared to the NFL.
“I think it’s cool to see football in the spring because we get football all year round,” said Ari Rosen ‘25.
The USFL and XFL who competed against each other in the 2023 Spring season have officially merged into one league, the UFL. The UFL is the league of opportunities. The UFL welcomes all players of any age looking to prove themselves and show they deserve a chance at a higher level. Last year many players coming out of the USFL and XFL had chances to prove themselves at a higher level in the NFL. Playerslike Kavontae Turpin, kick returner for the Dallas Cowboys, and Luis Perez who backed up for the Los Angeles Rams and many more were invited to training camp and signed NFL Contracts. These leagues have given players massive opportunities and is a main reason why both leagues combined into one.
“I just hope to see a yearly spring football league happen without a new one being made every year,” said Brandon Shafer ‘25.
Spring Football all around does not have the best track record, but considering all these opportunities and media coverage the brand new spring league is gaining, it may be here to stay for a while.
