Oklahoma City is in, other markets will be explored.
The United Football League has finished up its 2026 season and it is time for the people who run the league to figure out in the off season how do we make this thing successful? In terms of attendance and TV ratings, the league is a work in progress. Attendance has been, for the most part, dismal and there seems to be a small and loyal audience for the games on TV. But that is not dissuading the league’s chief investor Mike Repole from talking about a bright future for the league. The UFL apparently will survive into 2027 and beyond. There is an expansion team slated to begin play in 2028 in Oklahoma City. There is a collective bargaining agreement with the players. There are just not enough people filling seats in the Dallas market or in the Houston market or in the Orlando market or in the Birmingham market.
But Repole is looking ahead. There needs to be a 10th team in the league in 2028 and Repole does have a few markets that he would like to explore including one in his backyard, Queens, New York. Flushing Meadows will be getting a soccer stadium adjacent to the New York Mets home ballpark and across the way from the National Tennis Center. There will also be a casino nearby. The soccer stadium, which will house Major League Soccer’s NYCFC franchise, will seat about 25,000 people and that seems to be the upper limit of capacity for stadiums that Repole wants for his league. Repole has other markets in mind as well for future UFL teams. Austin, Texas, Salt Lake City, Omaha, Nebraska and Albuquerque, New Mexico. Austin and Salt Lake City have soccer stadiums with limited capacities. Spring football never found a niche. But investors keep trying, hoping to find the right formula for success.
Evan Weiner’s books are available at iTunes – https://books.apple.com/us/author/evan-weiner/id595575191
Evan can be reached at evan_weiner@hotmail.com
