Back in June FOX announced that the USFL would be returning in 2022 during The Spring League season. Beyond the announcement, it was stated that the league would be targeting between eight and ten teams, all associated with cities; unlike TSL.
After that, the league went dark until October. That’s when we first started seeing reports that the USFL had given a proposal to reps from Jefferson County and Birmingham, AL to host their 2022 season. The deal outlined the leagues plans to host all eight teams in Birmingham for 2022, with as many as four for the second season. By the the third season, the USFL is hoping to have all franchises in their respective cities.
Moving to November the league announced their first set of hires, and revealed all eight team names and logos live on The Herd. With executives in place and the teams out there; the league was really starting to ramp up their efforts.
December brought even bigger news for the new USFL. The league put out a press release detailing their partnership with NBC, which will see them receive rights fees from one of their competitors in a three-year deal. Looking back at the spring football leagues of the past, this is something not a lot of them were able to accomplish.
With the broadcast partners in place the USFL flipped the marketing switch and has released their first three promos for the league. We saw our first ad for the league during last weeks Thursday Night football, since then we’ve seen USFL promos during everyone of their NFL broadcasts.
Did someone order more football? 🏈 pic.twitter.com/eQtFwjgCXM
— USFL (@USFL) December 17, 2021
Spring 🤝 Football pic.twitter.com/o0OYUSWxJJ
— USFL (@USFL) December 19, 2021
No more… No more football. pic.twitter.com/wKyAQaYqGc
— USFL (@USFL) December 19, 2021
The new USFL seems to be set up for success, so this is their game to lose. They have major backing from two of the top broadcast partners. They have big name executives in place to steer the ship, and with the XFL out until 2023 their in a good spot to gain a huge audience. One things that’s going to assist that goal, is the major marketing push we’re seeing from FOX.
We haven’t seen NBC jump into the mix yet, but they do have one major event coming up next year that could benefit the USFL; the Super Bowl. We saw the AAF and XFL get spots during the Super Bowl prior to their seasons, and with NBC as a broadcast partner we expect nothing less than the others listed.
The USFL is kicking off in April of next year, and it’s been reported that the league is targeting April 15th, with the championship taking place July 3rd.
We know the teams, we know the broadcast partners and we seemingly know the home of the central hub. We now look forward to what the league has up their sleeves for the New Years. It’s expected that FOX and the USFL and going to ramp up even more in January, so expect a rapid fire of USFL news in the near future.
What do you think of the first three USFL promos? Will you be tuning in next year? Let us know your thoughts down in the comments below or join the conversation on Discord.
