Federal regulators have approved the merger of the two spring football leagues, the XFL and USFL, it was announced Thursday.
With the merger approved, the XFL and USFL announced that the combined league will kickoff on Saturday, March 30, 2024. Former Buffalo Bills and Sabres president Russ Brandon will be the top executive of the combined spring football league, per the Sports Business Journal.
Following the approval of the merger, the XFL and USFL released a joint statement.
“We are pleased to have completed the antitrust review process in connection with the proposed merger of the XFL and USFL and intend to play a combined season this spring kicking off on Saturday, March 30. We are now finalizing terms of the definitive agreement and will share more about this new League in the coming weeks.”
No other details about the merged league were confirmed on Thursday, but there was much speculation and unconfirmed reports.
The new name of the combined league will reportedly be the United Football League (UFL), according to XFL and USFL reporter James Larsen.
Reports have also indicated that the merged league will debut with eight teams, which means eight other teams are out or have been paused. Below are the eight teams that will reportedly kickoff the new merged league, per PFNewsRoom.com:
- Arlington
- Birmingham
- DC
- Detroit
- Houston
- Memphis
- San Antonio
- St. Louis
We’ll provide more details on the merged XFL-USFL league as they are released.