XFL Discussion

[Blzer]

UFL 2025 season starts tonight!

St. Louis Battlehawks take on the Houston Roughnecks at 8:00 PM ET.

Then one game tomorrow and two on Sunday.

https://www.theufl.com/scores

Only thing left for me to figure out is which stations they're airing on.

[Blzer]

The Battlehawks absolutely bullied the Roughnecks tonight. It was like fifth graders playing against second graders. The score isn't enough of an indication of the obliteration that was seen on a play-by-play basis. St. Louis isn't messing around this year.

Look out, Birmingham.

[Ghost Of The Year]

Said this last year. Hoped it would change in time for 2025. I love the idea of having a spring league, especially seeing as they have managed to last more than three years, but I sure wish this was at bare minimum a twelve team league, with each team having its own ownership. I understand they are better off in the shortrun with one owner and fewer teams but I want this league to get wildly successful quickly so expansion and more owners is feasible and sustainable. Just want them to get to the next level. Also, not crazy about rebranding to UFL. I hate the XFL name but loved the USFL name. Small nitpicky.

[Blzer]

Saw the full weekend.

Renegades may have walloped the Brahmas in the score, but they didn't put the spanking that the Battlehawks did to the Roughnecks.

Defenders are generally the most exciting team, and they showed to be that again taking down Birmingham.

The last game had an exciting ability to take the over on both betting lines (total score and spread) after that pick-six at the end. Shame the extra point didn't happen.

A couple of things that I thought were interesting:

- UFL doesn't have "half the distance to the goal" penalties. Instead, it places you I believe up to the 2-yard line? I don't remember that last year, so that might be new.

- Defenders half chest cams or something like that, and I think those could be helpful in those fumble or pileup scrums during a replay review when it's impossible to see the ball from any other camera angle. I wonder if they'll ever utilize the technology in that way.

- They keep saying they want full access, but then they better be ready to hit the mute button. Memphis' OC T.J. Vernieri dropped F-bombs left and right as plays unfolded, and they barely caught any of them on the censor. I'm personally not a fan of the full access thing, except for mic'ing up quarterbacks, sideline interviews, and talking with the rules analysts. Otherwise, it's too much access and transparency, and really makes the presentation feel amateurish.

- I'm surprised how they scheduled who played at home in Week 1. You'd want to entice audiences to watch your product and show that others are interested as well, and the Battlehawks start on the road to play against a team with virtually no fans in the stands? You'd think if it was related to other sports teams playing the nights that they played, consider that while the Cardinals had a home series, so did the Astros and Rangers. D.C. didn't have the strongest fanbase this time around (and the Nationals were in town) so that game would've made more sense in Birmingham, and Michigan would've made sense to host with the Tigers in L.A., Pistons in Minnesota, and the Red Wings off on Sunday. Basically, you would've been better attendance numbers playing in swapped venues.