The United States Football League is prepared to give spring football another try, and on Monday the eight teams that will open its first season in the spring of 2022 were revealed on Fox Sports. The league chose eight franchises that were also in the original USFL, which ran from 1983 to 1986, and retained rights to key original team names.
These are the eight teams that will play in 2022. Four will be in the North Division and four will be in the South Division:
NORTHERN DIVISION
Michigan Panthers
New Jersey Generals
Philadelphia Stars
Pittsburgh Maulers
SOUTHERN DIVISION
Birmingham Stallions
Houston Gamblers
New Orleans Breakers
Tampa Bay Bandits
All eight teams will play games in one location in the inaugural season. The logos have been updated for the new league and Fox Sports explained that the central location will be announced at a later date. The league will begin play in April of 2022, with games every Saturday and Sunday for a 10-game season.
The USFL is the third attempt at spring football in the last four years, hoping to stick past one season after the Alliance of American Football collapsed due to financial issues in 2019 and the XFL cancelled in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic (the XFL is now aiming at 2023 for a return). The USFL originally debuted in 1983 and lasted three seasons.
The original USFL launched the careers of Herschel Walker, Reggie White, and many others due to competitive salaries that trumped what NFL players were making at the time. But the lack of a hard salary cap led to unsustainable payrolls that contributed to the league's destruction. The league started with 12 teams and had a territorial draft, to load up rosters with familiar local collegiate stars to attract fans.
That version of the USFL shut down in 1986. It had voted to move from a spring to fall schedule to eventually compete with the NFL -- an attempt to force a merger between the leagues. The USFL won an antitrust lawsuit against the league as the NFL violated anti-monopoly laws, but the USFL won just $1 -- and shut down in the ensuing months.
Fox Sports will serve
