Topic: 🏈 The United Football League (UFL) 2024 Thread 🏈 - page 2. (Read 380 times)

Dig the idea of having made this thread instead of mixing it in with the NFL.  So if you guys and gals haven't seen the Larry David guest spot of the Rich Eisen show, I think that aired originally yesterday, you're in for a real treat.  Larry's agent literally had The Rock call him to discuss his displeasure for kickers and goal posts, and he gave him his feelings about how he should start the trend in the UFL of getting rid of it, this whole show appearance is like an episode of Curb lol..enjoy - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwyoZ50o0vk&t=1786s

Full team rosters in case you want to look for names you might recognize:

Birmingham Stallions
Houston Roughnecks
Memphis Showboats
Michigan Panthers

St. Louis Battlehawks
Arlington Renegades
San Antonio Brahmas
DC Defenders

A few names looked recognizable, nobody really stood out (like, "hey there's Johnny Manziel!".. thats cuz he's already playing in a Canadian league). There's a significant number of players in their late 20s. I didn't really do much player research yet.

Just based on the odds provided by jeremypwr above, right now I'm leaning on a moneyline bet on the Stallions for the season opener. Gonna look into a bit more first, see what's out there, what's being offered.

Was curious if there were odds for this League and lo and behold, Sportsbet has them

UFL Championship 2024 - Winner

Birmingham Stallions +364
DC Defenders +407
St. Louis Battlehawks +428
Arlington Renegades +535
Houston Roughnecks +696
Memphis Showboats +856
Michigan Panthers +1498
San Antonio Brahmas +1498

I rooted around in my usual sources and couldn't find anything. There's got to be a way to make it happen. BRB

Is there a way to watch this without a $200 cable package?

So here's a few rule differences I noticed between NFL and UFL -- there are others but these are some of the big ones.

 - Kickoffs will take place at the kicking team's 20-yard line as opposed to the 50-yard line like usual -- this is because apparently less than 21% of kicks are actually returned in the NFL
 - There is no extra point option after a TD, instead there are multiple PAT running options: you can go for 1 point at the 2-yard line, 2 points at the 5-yard line, and 3 points at the 10-yard line.
 - Instead of having an onside kick, a team can elect to take a 4th-and-12 from their 28-yard-line.

I would like to know more about field and roster size, will have to look that up later.

https://www.si.com/fannation/ufl/news/ufl-reveals-rules-2024-season-xfl-usfl-kickoff-points-after-challenges
https://www.foxsports.com/stories/ufl/dean-blandino-on-what-fans-should-watch-for-with-new-ufl-rules

It might also be because of the season. February is still cold in some of these locations in America and this might not be encouraging for fans to get out of their houses to watch a smaller football league. It will also be spring time by the end of March and it is also an Easter weekend! I reckon everyone might want to get together and watch something on tv with the family. It will be the UFL heheehehe.

The decision to start the season so late is interesting, last year the XFL started right away after the SB, I suppose the thinking behind it is that not only the organizers want to give some time to the fans to calm down and crave more football action, but also they want fans to forget a little bit about what they watched on the SB and the playoffs as a way to avoid a stark contrast between the NFL and UFL, a comparison the NFL would win for sure.

When I heard that the USFL and XFL were merging I assumed each league would bring 8 teams, for a total of 16.  It's interesting that they chose to reduce to a total of 8.  I guess they weren't sure how much interest they would generate, and decided to keep the expenses manageable at first.

I would love for a secondary league to challenge the NFL and break their monopoly on professional football, but in the past I've found it difficult to get excited about any of the teams or players.  Maybe it's because they often shun the Western US, but that's probably also due to dollars and cents so I get it.  It's also not the best time of year for me to want to sit in front of the TV.  Spring is for mountain biking, hiking, backpacking, and turkey hunting.  Not to mention the EPL starts to get exciting around that time also, and yeah, I'm one of the 12 American EPL fans that exist.

Reserved, for some reason

OK well let's do this. I was hesitant at first but since the start of the NFL season is still 6 months away, I need a new sports-related hobby and I'm willing to be open-minded enough to give the United Football League a chance since this is the inaugural season of a secondary-type of American Football league.

I wanted to open a new thread about it so as to not dilute DireWolf's esteemed, NFL-centric American Football thread with what is likely to be an inferior version of America's most-watched pastime, Hand Egg.

Let's dive right into how the UFL works, which is a newly-formed leagued that merges XFL and USFL teams. It is still "American Football" as the rules are somewhat similar to NFL and all the teams are based in the US.

Here's some basic information about the United Football League:

 - There's 8 teams that will play a 10-game season.
 - The season starts on March 30, with a contest between thee 2023 XFL champions (Arlington Renegades) and the 2023 USFL champions (Birmingham Stallions).
 - The season culminates in a "Super Bowl"-like match on June 16.
 - It is considered to be a "football minor league", which IMO is needed as the NFL doesn't really have that (it just has college football instead).

Here is the structure of the league (4 teams in each conference):

XFL Conference
 - Birmingham Stallions (Birmingham, Alabama)
 - Houston Roughnecks (Houston, Texas)
 - Memphis Showboats (Memphis, Tennessee)
 - Michigan Panthers (Detroit, Michigan)

USFL Conference
 - Arlington Renegades (Arlington, Texas)
 - DC Defenders (Washington D.C.)
 - San Antonio Brahmas (San Antonio, Texas)
 - St. Louis Battlehawks (St. Louis, Missouri)

So if you live in the Midwest or West Coast you're S.O.L., apparently. I'm still gonna find a team to root for.

What are the rules and how are they different from NFL rules?

Hell if I know. Apparently they want it to be a more fast-paced version of the NFL. I will go more into detail about it it in the next post, after I find out... Really not much out there on it at the moment; maybe they haven't nailed everything down yet.

Anyway, gonna try my darndest to make this fun, find a favorite team & perhaps it will even be bet-worthy.

Feel free to chime in if you have some hidden knowledge about the whole thing!

Also keep in mind this is a self-moderated thread and if your posts suck I will probably delete them. Thanks for your understanding.

Resources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Football_League_(2024)
https://www.espn.com/xfl/story/_/id/39610041/ufl-2024-season-logos-coaches-stadiums-quarterbacks-players-watch
https://www.espn.com/xfl/story/_/id/39578185/ufl-2024-information-xfl-usfl-merger-spring-football-league
https://www.foxsports.com/usfl/teams