The United Football League (UFL) is gearing up for another season. They began as a new league beginning with the 2024 season after merging the USFL and XFL into one entity. So, 2026 will be their third season set to kickoff on March 27.
The league does not have individual owners but is owned solely by the league, which is owned by RedBird Capital Partners (Dwayne Johnson, Dany Garcia), FOX Corporation, and Impact Capital (Mike Repole).
The UFL has eight member teams, with three being new this year. The league shut down Memphis, Detroit, and San Antonio. The three new cities are Louisville, KY, Columbus, OH, and Orlando, FL. The Houston club reverted back to their “Gamblers” team name and dropped the “Roughnecks,” while the “Arlington Renegades” are now the “Dallas Renegades.”
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There are numerous pro football leagues that players can keep their dreams alive in. The NFL pays the most, followed by the Canadian Football League. Then there are numerous indoor leagues such as Arena Football One, Indoor Football League, National Arena League, American Arena League, Great Lakes Arena Football, United Indoor Football Association, and The Arena League.
Plus, the UFL. This league is considered a developmental league.
Last year, 160 UFL players were invited for a workout with an NFL club, with 90 signed. In Week 1, 46 players were either on a final 53-man roster, practice squad or some sort of injury list.
This means the UFL is not tied to the NFL or CFL whatsoever. That being said, however, this league is friendly with the NFL and CFL because it is not a rival league that attempts to pilfer players, coaches, and front office personnel. Both the NFL and CFL have used the CFL with a training lab for rule variations, teaching young coaches, referee training, instant replay innovations, and any experimentation that the established leagues wish to pursue, especially with helmet technology and technological developments that require actual game data.
The NFL’s new kickoff came from the XFL. Chips in footballs have been used to experiment in live games. Meetings with both the NFL and CFL are commonplace.
UFL senior vice president of technology Scott Harniman explained:
“Our mission at the UFL has always been to attempt to balance innovation with changes that advance the game of football while providing the highest level of transparency in sports for fans.”
And now, the UFL is in the middle of several league player drafts. Since every player in the league is under a one-year contract, every roster is basically purged each season. This year, however, each team was allowed to keep 12 players from last year’s roster.
Other drafts include a QB selection meeting, a regional rights draft, plus a free agent draft that more exemplifies the normal NFL draft, which is the league’s way of teams claiming rights to NFL and CFL players who might eventually be waived.
Former Cardinals QB Clayton Tune was selected by the Columbus Aviators for their inaugural season.
Along with Tune, OT Juwann Bushell-Beatty was selected, who has three years of experience plus Alize Mack, who is a big tight end out of Notre Dame that will surely help the passing attack. Two other QBs were selected: Jalen Morton and Jalan McClendon.
Tune, a former fifth-round selection in the 2023 NFL Draft by the Cardinals, joins Columbus after time in the NFL and will make his spring football debut.
He was a pandemic athlete who ended up with five seasons in college with the University of Houston. He became the starter in his junior campaign with an 68.2 completion percentage.
As a true senior, Tune tossed 497 passes with 335 completions for 4,069 yards with 40 TDs and just 10 picks. He also rushed for 544 yards with an additional five touchdowns.
The 2022 Cardinals went 4-13-0 under Kliff Kingsbury with three-year veteran Kyler Murray under center, David Blough on the bench, and journeyman Colt McCoy. After the season, Kingsbury was out, and Jonathan Gannon took over with an identical win-loss record. He wanted to upgrade the backup quarterback position.
Murray was still the starter at QB, but Josh Dobbs had come over in a trade with the Cleveland Browns, plus the draft pick, Tune. In two seasons while with Arizona, Tune played in 13 games with one start and went 14-23 for 70 yards, zero TDs, and two picks. He was sacked seven times.
Tune was cut on the last cutdown day in this past year’s training camp, and was added to the Green Bay Packers practice squad. With injuries to QB Jordan Love and QB Malik Willis, Tune was elevated to the main roster in Week 18 and started. He went 6-11 for 34 yards and was sacked five times in the 16-3 loss. Green Bay’s only points came on the last drive of the game with :01 left on the clock.
