The football world was rocked earlier this year when it was revealed that the United States Football League would be returning in 2022. The announcement came roughly halfway through The Spring League Season, but came with very little details.
The new USFL is owned by FOX under the National Spring Football League moniker. They are earmarking $150M to fund the league over its first three seasons.
Although there hasn’t been any confirmation on which teams could return, the league has a handful of trademarks ready. In fact, with the opening of the USFL online shop we saw merchandise for the Birmingham Stallions (of course), Philadelphia Stars, Pittsburgh Maulers and New Orleans Breakers.
Earlier last month we learned that the USFL was in talks with representatives of the city of Birmingham, AL to host the 2022 USFL season. If a deal is struck the city would host all eight teams for the first season, as many as four in 2023, with all eight reporting to their respective cities by the third season.
Beyond that, all 43-games of the USFL’s 10-week season will be aired on FOX, FS1, NBC and USA. Part of the deal would see Birmingham get two spots per game. Considering that a majority of the matchups are to take place on network television, this is fantastic exposure for Birmingham.
Last week we learned that there were verbal agreements in place to fund the league in Birmingham, but now we have some more details to share.
WBRC 6 reports that the Birmingham City Council has officially voted to allocated $500,000 towards the USFL’s operation casts for the first season.
The effort to bring the USFL to Birmingham now rests with the Jefferson County Commission after the city of Birmingham approved its portion of the package Tuesday. The council voted to direct $500,000 toward the $3,000,000 package for the league’s first year of operation with the Greater Birmingham Convention and Visitors Bureau providing $2,000,000 and the county expected to add the remaining $500,000 when they meet Thursday morning.
Yesterday the city of Birmingham approved it’s portion of the funding, and the Jefferson County Commission is set to vote this Thursday to approve the remaining $500,000.
With the money seemingly ready, both parties are working to finalize the ink on the deal. It was reported yesterday that Alabama State Senator Jabo Waggoner announced to his colleagues that FOX Sports will hold a formal announcement next week detailing the USFL’s plans in Birmingham.
It’s possible that an announcement could come as early as this week. As always, we’ll keep you posted as more information comes out on the 2022 USFL season.
Do you plan on supporting the USFL in 2022? Will you tune in, or even attend a game? Let us know down in the comments below or join the conversation on Discord.
