Yesterday the USFL officially announced Birmingham, AL as their HQ in 2022. The deal will see the city host all eight teams for the first season, with as many as four in 2023. From there, all teams would report to their respective cities.
Although this news wasn’t shocking for any USFL fans that have been following the league. This announcement has been in the works dating back to October of last year. Many of the details has been discussed leading up to the USFL’s media event.
The league is just a few months away from kickoff, but they are looking to stick around for a while. As we discussed earlier, the league at minimum has a three year plan, and a central hub for the first season is a big part of that.
We’ve heard rumors that FOX would be looking to shop out the eight franchises to interested parties in the past, and it looks like we have a little more confirmation towards that.
Gene Hallman of the Bruno Event Team joined the 3 Man Front on WJOX to discuss the news of Birmingham, AL serving as the USFL HQ in 2022. In which, he drops a lot of information on the leagues plans.
.@gene_hallman, CEO of the @brunoeventteam, joined the guys on @3ManFront to detail Birmingham becoming the hub for the @USFL and what it means for the city as a whole. https://t.co/wJoIaIZxfe
— WJOX 94.5 FM (@WJOX945) January 26, 2022
@NewsUSFL did a nice recap on Twitter, breaking down some of the items discussed. But, there’s one that stands out. According to Hallman, Alex Rodriguez was at least in consideration for the Generals ownership. This was back in July, but it’s interesting to note that the league has been working vigorously in the background to secure some of these items for their future.
Gene Hallman on @WJOX945:
-Alex Rodriguez was/is being considered as an owner for the NJ Generals
-There are currently about 3000 players in the draft pool/portal
-There will be around 5-6 high profile guys that are “instantly recognizable”on each team— USFL News (@Newsusfl) January 26, 2022
Additionally, he mentions that at the moment there are about 3000 players in the draft pool. The player selection meeting is set for the last week of February, and will see all eight teams pick 45 players each. This will be their one shot to build their 38-man active roster and 7-man practice squad.
Jim Popp was recently brought into the USFL as Director Player Administration, so all of this falls in his wheel house.
More interestingly though, Hallman states that there will be about 5 or 6 high-profile players that are “instantly recognizable” on each team.
We’ve already heard Tampa Bay Bandits head coach Todd Haley reach out to Antonio Brown. Although that’s not in the cards, it seems like the USFL may have a few surprises in store.
This is definitely promising news for the folks out there that doubt potential of the upcoming USFL. Needless to say, it looks like there’s a lot more going on behind the scenes than we could be aware of.
We’ll keep you posted as more information comes out on the upcoming 2022 USFL season, including potential owners.
Who would you like to see purchase a USFL franchise? Let us know your thoughts down in the comments below or join the conversation on Discord.
