Panthers And Roughnecks To New Stadiums! No UFL Expansion In 2025! March Start Date Debate! 

At least waiting to expand will help the UFL long term. And I will guard their secrets until the time comes when the Dragons can return….

I’d pick Eastern Michigans stadium in my opinion. Smaller than both and still get the student boost.

I feel they doing right by waiting to add teams.

Congrats Phox on almost reaching 800 subs you're only 10 away and I agree with you this would be a smart move for the UFL to grow organically and give some special deals for the students of universities to come to the games and get the youth involved so they can come back for more P.S. would it also be possible playing in Eastern Michigan Stadium only 35 mins away from Detroit also close to Ann Arbor if I believe and only holds 30,000 seat stadium perfect size

I live on the west side of Michigan, so a move from Detroit to Lansing would be huge. With the most expensive part of going to a Panthers game being gas, I'd definitely go if they played closer to me.

It is hard on a family to pay the excessive concession prices set by the stadium. $5 for a bottle of water, or popcorn. $8 for a “gourmet” hotdog. $20 parking is also excessive

DC with Audi Field is the blueprint. Find cities with MLS stadiums that can be converted to host football. They usually max out at 30k which is perfect for this league.

IMO I'd steer clear of MSU and UM, those are college first (and second and third and fourth and fifth..you get the point) towns. As someone else mentioned, EMU stadium would probably be a better choice.

For the Panthers I want Rynearson Stadium on Eastern Michigan campus, also in Ann Arbor. Not too huge, close to Detroit, closer to Michigan football hotbeds.

The Renegades needs to move to Toyota Stadium, a smaller soccer stadium which holds 20,500.

At first I wanted the expansion but if it helps the league stabilize and promises a long term survivability. Then I'm all for it. Plus if they ACTUALLY advertise over the off-season. Then attendance numbers will definitely jump up.

I'm curious to know why Birmingham only fills up one half of the stadium.

Hey Zomb here is something fun. What if the NFL expanded and used UFL/USFL teams. For it to even out you would have to add 8 teams. So here are my picks and what conference and division they end up in. AFC North Virginia Defenders AFC South Birmingham Stallions AFC East Hartford Generals AFC West Oakland Invaders NFC North St. Louis Battlehawks NFC South Memphis Showboats NFC East Oklahoma Outlaws NFC West San Antonio Brahmas

I know you don’t like moving teams this year, but I would make an exception to exchange Houston for an Ohio team for 2024. Then bring back Houston in the XFL conference if they want when TDECU Stadium is ready in 2026.

well we already knew that the Roughnecks were switching stadiums as they were always at TDECU but had to play at Rice Stadium because of TDECU renovations but we expected that it would be ready by 2026 but I guess TDECU is in a state where it's ready for games. Michigan's only problem is that their stadium is controlled by the Detroit Lions ticket office which makes it difficult to get tickets out. If the league were to add two more teams the easiest would be Vegas as there is already venue there ready though a second team would be difficult depending on where they choose but Pittsburgh or New Orleans are the better options. I think February would be a better start month if they did the promotion of the XFL 2020 currently not the promotional team of the current UFL as for March Madness I could careless about basketball every alt football league tends to focus on casual fans instead of building up their own fan base because casual fans are great and all but they'll leave for a more established league or sport. Though the biggest problem is that the teams not having dedicated rosters as signing players to one season contracts will always lead to the first weeks of the league's play looking sloppy because the players are "feeling each other out" and getting used to playing as a team if they signed them to multi-year contracts then the league could have a true off-season where players can practice as well as promote their team in the city where they play

I think if the UFL make an announcement about the upcoming 2025 in September, that should give all 8 Franchises time to sell tickets, including Michigan Panthers selling tickets at Ford Field during the Lions season. Also, isn't TDECU renovation won't be done til the fall of 2025? If that's being the case, then they should either stay at Rice Stadium, or play at Shell Energy Park

Detroit City FC is building a new stadium for 2027. Maybe the Panthers could target that for the future…

Ideally, what they can do is announce the teams at the title game THIS year, but they don’t launch until the 2026 season, so that way you’re hyping up 10 or 12 teams through the 2024 offseason and all of 2025. A year and a half of hype can do wonders compared to 3 months.

All of the teams except st Louis and D.C. need too play in smaller stadiums. Having 10k-15k in a stadium that seats a max of 30-35k looks much better than being in stadiums that seat 50k+ I do disagree with no expansion. I believe in betting big. Whos too say they couldn't hit lucky and both expansion teams draw a minimum average of 12-16k every home game if not 16-18k

It really is hard to fit spring football in the schedule nowadays

Hey Zomb is the Maulers your team? They were mine, hope they come back eventually

All good except for the Michagan Move and the Earlier Start Date

Why does the season need to be over by the 4th of July? 4th of July means fireworks games fireworks games means butts in seats. I would have the last week of the season be on the 4th of July and sell out all the stadiums. It seems to work well for the MLB and MLS.

first,i think all 8 teams should have a 2nd year...but,the university of michigan has the largest stadium in the country, even if attendence doubles, how will 20,000 fans look in an over 100,000 seat stadium? pathetic that's how.i don't know michigan st. capacity, about the same as ford field i think. does detroit not have a mls team? or why not use one of the university soccer stadiums?

The Renegades need to start looking at a new home soon. There's no doubt in my mind the Texas Rangers absolutely intend to tear down what they now call Choctaw Stadium. They need to really look at going to the Cotton Bowl.

I hope the Panthers stay at Ford Field. Rice Stadium is horrible

Simply put. Relocating the Roughnecks makes all the sense in the world as the merger all but destroyed this team and three teams in Texas is way too many... something has to break and Houston doesn't even need the team as I am about to explain. The Michigan Panthers are playing in the Detroit Lions market on their field at a time where the city is rediscovering it's support for the Lions as they're finally becoming a more dominant team. This is a city that has remained loyal to the Detroit Lions and if they ere losing, then yes I could see the Panthers playing here... that dynamic no longer exists. However, Michigan is not just one big city like Portland in Oregon would be (as an example) and Michigan has other metro areas with stadiums that could host the Panthers and it makes no sense to move this team out of state which is what the rumor is basically saying they are considering. They could move them to Grand Rapids which is about to get a major new Soccer stadium for 2026 where they could arrange to play their games if the teams could get their schedules set just as one example... and there are multiple venues across the state that can support a UFL team. The Panthers even identify as Michigan rather than Detroit so that efforts can be made to keep them in the state. Thus, relocating the Roughnecks to say Oklahoma would make perfect sense where relocating the Panthers out of state makes zero sense which is why I can believe the Roughnecks move possible but the Panthers moving would be a mistake. In fact, if you move the Panthers out of Michigan, you can justify relocating every team except the Battlehawks. As to attendance. A lot of this stems from the fact when you bring it up you have a majority of people who will ignorantly point out this is a television league and for entertainment where anyone with any sense knows they have to make every dollar that they can where they can because it's important for the league to at least break even and not lose money. Look at Disney hemorrhaging money by backing wokeness and causing people to reject almost everything they put out. I address it by pointing to the Little Mermaid fiasco where Africa has numerous mermaid myths and there are countless authors who have written stories about black mermaids. They didn't even commit to merchandising for Baileys version as most of the toys and merchandise were still for the original white red-haired version. Now, why mention Disney as how is that relevant here? Disney owns ABC and ESPN which also backs the UFL. All of these companies that backed wokeness are losing billions of dollars and are now finally realizing they have to stop. But, in the case of the Little Mermaid, the point is they didn't have to race swap the character but could have created a new story about a new kingdom of mermaids that happens to have an African origin and create a new black Disney mermaid character that they'd have to fully endorse with marketing, blacks would get a permanent black Disney Princess and they would have employed numerous black actors so that everything fits for DEI and they do it the right way. They didn't... In the same way, I again address the 8 teams as it's only a rumor they won't be expanding next year and it actually makes zero sense not to expand just as retaining ownership does not make sense. They need to sell all the teams to new owners so that FOX and any other broadcast company involved can actually cut their losses and show an immediate profit because the broadcast side of things is working and they are making money. Then you have that local ownership of each team means promoting them as you also agree that promoting the teams on the ground in each city has to be done... but FOX and the Rock can't do this because it's simply too enormous of a task for them to do. However, then you have what just happened this year and look back to last year where half the league are absolute losers! It is one thing to have a team that finishes 5-5 but multiple teams finishing with a below .500 record means failure! No one's going to want to invest in a team that has one win. As I have mentioned, no one cares that the Renegades and Roughnecks "tried" and the Showboats didn't when the teams that tried have the exact same record as a team that made no effort. Saying the Renegades and Roughnecks came close in game after game can also be said of the Showboats as had they done this or that they could have won. While we can focus on the teams that win, the reality is that half the league are losing teams and if you don't sell them now, you're simply not going to. The UFL needs investment and it needs more teams. Simply put, you aren't going to build on 8 teams. Sticking with 8 teams will not make next year any better than this year because the failure is not having that local ownership and when are the rumors saying they will sell the teams? Almost all of them say 2026 when there's not even a commitment to continue the league past 2025! This is the error in your logic as getting too big is a mistake and getting too small is a mistake. They absolutely need to get back into the Northeast and the West and even you have agreed with this multiple times. But where you keep saying stay at 8 teams then how are you going to get into those markets before 2026 when I remind you there is no commitment to play in 2026?! Expansion is almost required, that or relocating teams to those markets and you also voice opposition to this as well. So you say you support the UFL getting back into these regions they must have bit you oppose the ways to do it before 2026 where the ultimate failure in your views looms as I again remind you they have made no commitments for a 2026 season and if FOX loses tens of millions this year and loses tens of millions next year... where's the incentive to continue when they could air almost anything in those timeslots and make money instead of losing it? Thus, expansion is a must and you latched on to this rumor of no expansion because it fits your own views... and yet, your views will damn the league to collapse. Before you get angry like before. I am simply addressing logic. I am even addressing things you've said as well. You admit they need to have local representation to promote these teams as many in their cities and states don't even really know they have a team and the local marketing has suffered immensely. You have said the UFL have to return to the Northeast and West. But then you also admit they haven't committed at all to a 2026 season. When you speak of stability and building by remaining 8 teams, you fail to say how they can build by staying small when it requires many things and if they're going to do this then it means what? Remember, these teams haven't existed for one year but for three seasons... the seasons before they merged into the UFL still count. They also put teams on hiatus that had much greater potential while keeping teams like Memphis where they have far less potential. Birmingham only matters because every rival league that had a team there has at least shined if they made any effort at all... it's the biggest football city and state not to have an NFL team and they're never going to get one because the NFL has carved the state up between existing teams and they have zero intent of putting a team in Alabama when they won't even promote the NFL teams here that they claim belong to the Titans, Saints, Falcons and Buccaneers. But Birmingham legitimazes the league in a way only St Louis really does as it's an NFL city without an NFL team. So what do they have to build on with the teams they have now? They have nothing! I've even addressed a problem with Birmingham because if they win the championship, this is literally like a Threepeat for them and all leagues that are dominated like this by one team that are trying to compete against another league for fans is going to be hurt by one team being so dominant as it creates even more incentive for fans to ignore their own teams.

this league is walking dead