Dwayne Johnson, Dany Garcia reveal teams in United Football League

The United Football League teams were announced by Dwayne Johnson and Dany Garcia

Busy weekend for Dwayne Johnson and Dany Garcia, honchos of the United Football League.

On Sunday, they made the reveal of the league name.

A day later they were on the “College GameDay” set to announce what teams from the XFL and USFL would combine to form the UFL.

USFL, XFL merge to create United Football League

The XFL and USFL have merged to become the United Football League

The USFL is no more for the second time. The XFL is no more for the third time.

However, there will be a spring league: The United Football League.

The announcement was made by Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Dany Garcia on the FOX Sports NFL pregame show.

The first game will be on March 30 of the new league.

The opening game will feature USFL champion Birmingham Stallions against the XFL champion Arlington Renegades.

XFL and USFL announce intent to merge

The XFL and USFL announce plans to merge

If you can’t succeed on your own, why not try and merge?

The XFL, which has already failed twice, and the USFL, which fell apart once decades ago, announced Thursday they are planning to merge.

It looks like the new league will be called the National Spring Football League.

The XFL is run by Dwayne Johnson and Co.

While this is a significant step, there is no guarantee a second league, even in the Spring, will succeed.

It is worth a try, as they say.

XFL, USFL holding significant merger talks

The XFL and USFL are on the verge of merging

Two “other” football leagues are looking to become one.

Axios.com reported Tuesday that the XFL and USFL are in advanced talks to merge. An announcement could come later this week.

Per the report:

The merger would be structured as a merger of equals and would require regulatory approval, one of the sources said. The leagues hope to combine before the 2024 seasons.

  • Fox Corp. owns the USFL, while the XFL is owned by Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, his business partner Dany Garcia, and RedBird Capital Partners.
  • Game broadcasts of the combined league are likely to be split between Fox and XFL media partner Disney, according to the source. The USFL also has a broadcast agreement with NBC, although it’s not yet been determined if that will continue.

The XFL is on its third attempt to succeed with the first two failing under WWE boss Vince McMahon.

The USFL had a much stronger run decades ago before failing in part due to a legal flop that included Donald Trump.

The USFL filed an antitrust lawsuit with the NFL and won the case for just $1. The three-year court battle added to the league’s financial woes and the USFL was forced to close operations in 1986.

 

Birmingham Stallions repeat as USFL champions

The Birmingham Stallions are the USFL champions for a second straight year

Alex McGough was dazzling, throwing 4 touchdown passes on Saturday, as the Birmingham Stallions downed the Pittsburgh Maulers, 28-12, for the USFL Championship.

McGough was not named MVP of the game despite his performance as the Stallions won their second straight USFL title.

The honor went to wide receiver Deon Cain, who caught 4 passes for 70 yards, with 3 going for touchdowns.

The loss ended Pittsburgh’s hopes of a miracle title. The Maulers were 2-6 before putting together a late-season streak to gain the playoffs and championship game.

Coach Skip Holtz’ Stallions are 21-3 over the two seasons for the new USFL.

Holtz’ dad, former college and NFL coach Lou Holtz, was in attendance at Tom Benson Stadium in Canton, OH.

Stallions blast Breakers to gain USFL championship game

Birmingham crushed New Orleans to win the USFL South Division crown

The USFL championship game will feature the best offense in the league, the Birmingham Stallions, against the team with the best defense, the Pittsburgh Maulers.

The Stallions made an emphatic statement as they won the South Division on Sunday, crushing the New Orleans Breakers, 47-22.

The Stallions are looking to defend their championship and bring a 9-2 overall record into the contest, which will be on Saturday and televised by NBC.

The Maulers, meanwhile, are 5-6 and have only put things together during this recent surge.

The teams played in the regular season and Birmingham won, 24-20.

Against New Orleans, Stallions QB Alex McGough was magnificent.

He accounted for 394 total yards and 5 touchdowns as Birmingham surged to a 40-7 lead after three quarters.

Maulers win USFL North in mind-boggling overtime clash

The USFL North Division championship game was … insane.

The USFL packed a season’s worth a highlights into the final minutes of the fourth quarter, and overtime, of Saturday’s North Division title game between the Michigan Panthers and Pittsburgh Maulers.

Last thing first: The Maulers downed the Panthers 31-27 in overtime to earn a spot in the championship game against either New Orleans or Birmingham, who played on Sunday for the South crown.

The Panthers and Maulers did the league proud, as 27 points were scored in the fourth quarter and two two-point conversions connected in overtime.

The final quarter saw:

    • A 59-yard field goal by Chris Blewitt gave Pittsburgh a 20-17 lead.
    • An E.J. Kelly touchdown pass of 55 yards to Trey Quinn appeared to give Michigan the lead. However, a penalty flag was thrown for a facemask. Mike Pereira in the review booth overturned the penalty and said the touchdown would stand.

  • Then, the Maulers drove the field and scored a touchdown on a fourth-and-goal in the final minute to go up 27-24 after the PAT.
  • Not to be outdone, Michigan got a 47-yard field goal by Cole Murphy as time expired to tie the game at 27 and force overtime.

On to the shootout:

  • After the Maulers scored on their first two-point attempt in the best-of-three shootout, the Michigan running back attempted to reach the ball over the goal line. He fumbled it into the end zone and it was recovered by a Panther.

  That brought Mike Pereira and the review center back into the discussion. It was ruled the back had lost possession prior to the ball breaking the plane and like in the final two minutes of a half it could not be advanced, So, the two-point attempt failed.

https://twitter.com/USFL/status/1672811205084192770?s=20

  • The Maulers converted their second two-point conversion and were on their way to the USFL title game when a Kelly pass was batted down on Michigan’s second attempt.

 

Football meets baseball when USFL North championship hits overtime

The term innings, which is associated exclusively with baseball, made its way into a USFL overtime coin toss

If viewers of the USFL North Division coin toss were confused by the rules explanation prior to overtime, imagine how the players felt.

The referee of Saturday’s game between the Pittsburgh Maulers and Michigan Panthers gave the captains a detailed look into the best-of-three shootout overtime rules.

However, when he referred to the segments — each team had a possible three chances at two-point conversions — he called them innings.

This could have been the first time the word inning was tied to football.

The Maulers scored in their first and second “inning.” The Panthers had their first score nullified by a replay review of Mike Pereira.

Their second attempt saw an E.J. Kelly pass batted down.

And, after two innings and four points — runs??? — the Maulers had a 31-27 victory and a spot against either Birmingham or New Orleans in the USFL championship game.

A quick look at the USFL rulebook doesn’t provide the word inning, but it worked.

Overtime will be a best-of-three-play shootout. Each team’s offense will alternate plays against the opposing defense from the two-yard line. Each successful scoring attempt will receive two points. The team with the most points after three plays wins. The subsequent attempts become sudden death if the score is tied after each team runs three plays. The overtime period will extend until a winner is declared.

Effect: Both teams have an equal chance of winning.
Reason: Create more excitement and fairness with a designed shootout overtime period.

Pittsburgh Maulers’ Matt Mengel crushes 83-yard punt in USFL action

Pittsburgh Maulers punter Matt Mengel with an amazing boot

One of the highlights of the USFL season came off the foot of Pittsburgh Maulers’ punter Matt Mengel on Saturday.

Mengel flipped the field against the Michigan Panthers as he walloped this punt 83 yards.

If this is an audition for the NFL, Mengel made a striking impression.