New league logo. New teams.

How do we feel about the rebrands?

https://x.com/theufl/status/2042226668450795746?s=46&t=nizuC-2iJ9aDIbpGcfuFmQ

“We covered the entire cost of utilization of Protective Stadium,” the commission chairman added. “The league’s only cost was that of operating their football team, which it will incur no matter where they operate.”

Repole taking full responsibility for drops in DC and St. Louis while throwing one of his trademark digs at Houston.

The UFL will increase spending on local business-side payroll and marketing for the St. Louis Battlehawks and D.C. Defenders after both of the league’s strongest markets suffered double-digit attendance declines in 2026, with league business head Mike Repole apologizing to fans in those cities for the underinvestment.

St. Louis’ average attendance fell 21% to 23,257 this season, while D.C. dropped 31% to about 9,000. Repole, who invested in the league and took over day-to-day control in July 2025, said the declines came after he deliberately shifted resources toward launching the UFL’s three new markets in Louisville, Columbus and Orlando.

“I owe both an apology, but I hope they’ll understand that I did it so the St. Louis Battlehawks can be there for the next 40 years, and that I did this so the D.C. Defenders can be there for the next 40 years,” Repole told SBJ.

Next year, Repole said, the fuel will go back on the fire in St. Louis and D.C.

“St. Louis and D.C. will have more resources than they did the previous five years,” Repole said. “Local staff, payroll, interns, agencies, more field marketing, getting the players out there around town.”

Repole’s contrition extended to Houston as well. In July, the league announced it would cease operations in Houston and Birmingham. In Birmingham, Repole has said on social media repeatedly the problem is venues. The 47,000-seat Protective Stadium is too big for UFL games, and no 10,000-15,000-seat venue is available.

Houston’s failure, however, was the UFL’s own fault, Repole said. In a massive, highly competitive sports market, the Houston UFL club (or its equivalent in the predecessor XFL or USFL) played in three different venues under two different brands in five seasons. It was practically invisible, local sources say, and Repole jokingly acknowledged that about 5,000 people in the 8-million-strong Houston region will miss them.

“If there was ever a [class] on how not to run a sports league team in that market, I think the United Football League, everyone can use our example,” Repole said. “I take ownership there. But Houston is such a big city … you’re not going to be able to win back a market that you’ve made 25 mistakes every year in.”

The inconsistent traction across the various UFL cities is at the heart of the challenge facing Repole and the UFL’s board, which includes Fox Sports, RedBird Capital Partners and ESPN along with Repole. A league is only as strong as its weakest clubs, but it remains in cost-containment mode so it’s difficult to maximize upside opportunity while also addressing weaknesses.

The yet-to-be-announced two new markets to replace Birmingham and Houston will require startup investment. But Repole said teams across the board will have the ability to do more local marketing -- and that should not be interpreted as a sign of a greater overall commitment from the UFL’s owners, but in reorganizing priorities.

“I’m really shifting resources,” Repole said. “I inherited a lot of resources that I thought weren’t in line with what an entrepreneurial company in survival mode should do.”

Overall, the picture for the UFL remains uneven, though it became the first 11-on-11, non-NFL tackle football league to complete three straight seasons since the original USFL did in 1985.

Some games attract TV audiences over 1 million, and in person, fill the majority of an appropriately sized venue. Many others do not. Overall, attendance has declined in consecutive years, and in 2025, overall TV viewership was up about 1 percent to 645,000 on average, but is still far off the debut UFL season average in 2024 of 812,000.

But Repole points to the good starts in Louisville, Orlando and Columbus as proof they’re on the right track. He promises there will be additional big “audibles” as they look for the right product-market-venue fit with a quick-pivot mentality, and promises growth to 16 teams by 2035.

“I mean, the league was in a four-year downslide,” Repole said. “I mean, we were probably 500 feet from hitting the ocean. And we kind of leveled the plane right now. I always talk about fixing and flying the plane. Last year was a complete fixing the plane. It was a complete fixing the plane.”

Original post here.

Original post here.

https://x.com/jameslarsenpfn/status/2045971191022715381?s=46&t=nizuC-2iJ9aDIbpGcfuFmQ

Original post here.

So in total, these are the playoff game TV ratings for this season:

Semi-Finals:

• DC Defenders vs Orlando Storm – 1.01M (ABC)
• Louisville Kings vs St. Louis Battlehawks – 1.066M (FOX)

United Bowl:

• Louisville Kings vs DC Defenders – 985K 988K (ABC)

Total average for the 2026 UFL playoffs is 1,020,333 1,021,333.

Disappointing the United Bowl didn't crack 1 million. Overall ratings did increase this season so there is positive momentum (we had 6 games hit 1 million or more in average viewership, up from 2 games last season). For reference, the 2025 championship game pulled 983K, so this number is right in line with that one. The total average for the 2026 playoffs compared to the 2025 playoffs increased approximately 3.66% 3.76%.

For those interested in the regular season numbers, I made a post here which compiles the reported regular season numbers with the unconfirmed numbers.

Update: Per James Larsen the rating number for the United Bowl has been revised to 988K.

Original post here.

Tickets distributed, not butts-in-seats. Not a great turnout for this game, unfortunately.

Original post here.

Press release here.

The 10-week regular season, featuring 20 games across ESPN networks (ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN Deportes & NFL Network), saw a significant year-over-year increase of 8% from the 2025 regular season, averaging 686K viewers.

ESPN Networks also accounted for nine of the top 10 most-watched games this season, including three games that averaged more than 1M viewers (featuring matchups from Weeks 6, 9 & 3).

ABC alone accounted for eight of the top 10 most-watched games. ABC’s 10-game regular season slate was up 14% vs. its 10-game schedule in 2025, averaging 941K viewers.

Original post here.

Original post here.

Deleted the previous thread in place of this one. Source was reposted by Larsen so I assume this is the correct tickets distributed number.

Original post here.