2025 UFL Rule Changes, Training Camp, Championship Location & more | UFL Podcast #95 - The UFL Podcast

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
UFL training campus about to kick off.

Speaker 2 (00:03):
We got UFL rule changes and championship location.

Speaker 1 (00:08):
All that and more on episode ninety five of d
UFL Podcast.

Speaker 3 (00:15):
One killed Welcome back, everybody to another amazing edition of

(00:45):
d UFL podcast.

Speaker 1 (00:48):
I'm the representing Pro Football newsroom, the leaders in spring
football news, and boy oh boy, oh boy oh boy.

Speaker 2 (00:59):
Do we got a big week for you. But before we.

Speaker 1 (01:03):
Get started, as always, I'm joined by my man, Zach Klemon.

Speaker 2 (01:08):
How you doing today, my friend the big nine to five.

Speaker 4 (01:12):
I can feel that three digit mark itching ever so
closer to this show. What the milestone will be soon enough.
But I can also feel the season itching much closer now.
Some film from the start of the year. It might
be a reality very soon on social media, as we'll
be talking today, Lots of stuff going on.

Speaker 2 (01:33):
The league's getting more active.

Speaker 4 (01:34):
When I'm at my job and I see that the
UFL's on the FS one ticker, I know.

Speaker 2 (01:38):
The season's coming up in full swing.

Speaker 4 (01:41):
They're getting ready to go. Clearly it's nearby. It's almost time,
ladies and gentlemen.

Speaker 2 (01:47):
Just a little bit longer. We're like a month away.

Speaker 1 (01:49):
It's like almost literally a month away from kickoff, and
every year this happened, Zach.

Speaker 2 (01:54):
Every year we have this.

Speaker 1 (01:56):
You know, we have the season, we get to the championship,
things slow down and it feels like time is just crawling.
And then as you get closer to the end of
the year, things pick up. As the new year comes,
it picks up a little bit more and slowly but surely.

Speaker 2 (02:11):
Next thing you know, you're.

Speaker 1 (02:12):
A month away from kickoff, just like now. But before
we get into the episode, a couple things that we
need to iron out here, the easy ones. If you're
over on YouTube, look right below the video subscribe click
the bell.

Speaker 2 (02:24):
It builds morale.

Speaker 1 (02:24):
It also lets you know when we're live, just like
Monday Nights with Around the eight to you, just like
Springstock for Baby, which is coming up March twenty eighth.
Ooh boy, it feels so good, feels so close.

Speaker 2 (02:39):
It's in Houston. It's in the Home of the Swing
is Zach. You're gonna be there. I'm gonna be there.
The party's in the parking lot.

Speaker 1 (02:46):
They haven't really released details around the parking lots, but
if things stand true over at TDECU, it should.

Speaker 2 (02:54):
Be in Lot C.

Speaker 1 (02:55):
That's where they had the tailgates the last couple times,
I assume that's where it's gonna.

Speaker 2 (02:58):
Be this time.

Speaker 1 (03:00):
Once we have confirmation, we'll let you know, but that's
where you should plan on heading because before we kick off,
Zachie boy, you me we're getting live.

Speaker 2 (03:09):
Ducky's gonna be out there, and you know what, I'm
thinking we.

Speaker 1 (03:12):
Do something similar to what we did with Summerstock last year,
except for this year. I think we had better equipment
and so any of my problems that we had, those
shouldn't be an issue.

Speaker 2 (03:24):
But I'm hoping.

Speaker 1 (03:24):
I'm hoping. I'm hoping come out and tailgate. If you're
in Houston, come out and tailgate. If you're coming from
Saint Louis, come out and tailgate, Come.

Speaker 2 (03:32):
On down with us, do what you need to do, come.

Speaker 1 (03:34):
And party, because zach I'll tell you last year at Summerstock,
I think it was actually so fun. Just circling the tailgate.
We ran into so many people. We had xfl Gym there.
We had Jason Spurgeon Dirty there, we had I mean,
Jake Henry, We had all sorts of members from the community,
like James Larson and Ducky. Just tune in if you

(03:55):
can't make it, tune in. We'll have a link over
here on the YouTube. Another reason to subscribe, click the bell,
all those things. But if you're in Houston, come out Friday,
come out early. We have to figure out time. What
the game starts. I think at seventh Central, so I
assume the tailgate at least portion. I don't know about
the live stream, but I assume tailgate wise a minimum

(04:18):
will be out there.

Speaker 4 (04:18):
At three, is my guess. Yeah, I think that's a
pretty safe bet. And yeah, it's yeah, seventh Central out
there TDCU in Houston, Texas, so definitely be ready to go.

Speaker 2 (04:30):
I think three is a safe bet.

Speaker 4 (04:32):
We might adjust it late a little bit, depending on
timing or how we have to set up and.

Speaker 2 (04:37):
Get ready or move as we need, you know.

Speaker 4 (04:39):
Decide what we need to do with press credential stuff
if we're going to do that, so you know, But
for now, I think that's a safe bet. And then
follow our socials at UFL podcast for any updates or
UFL newsroom as well. We'll be getting that around on
all those accounts too. ATU will share it on as well,
so please do that at I love that, by the way,

(05:00):
I love that we're now around the around the UFL.

Speaker 2 (05:05):
Wait, what happened? What did I do? Yeah?

Speaker 4 (05:07):
No, I was messing with you around the A TU
and like the acronym. Yeah no, well that's what happened. C. J.

Speaker 1 (05:15):
Johnson is my coach, and so I just throw acronyms
with the full words.

Speaker 2 (05:19):
Mix it up a little bit. Anyway, here's a game plan.

Speaker 4 (05:23):
Yeah, yeah, three three o'clock Central, two B determined or approximation.
Stay tuned to our channels. More details coming very shortly.

Speaker 1 (05:33):
For one thing, I know what. One thing we're gonna have.
We're gonna have a cooler of our C cola.

Speaker 2 (05:39):
We're gonna have that ready.

Speaker 1 (05:40):
Hell yeah, Here's one thing we can do in Houston
that I know confirmed. We can drink alcohol, one thing
we couldn't do in Canton. We learned that first hand.
We get that out of here. Oh geez, okay, fine.

Speaker 4 (05:57):
I have never felt more lucky in my life for
the timing of getting a cooler of alcohol away from
a security official that fast.

Speaker 2 (06:08):
Didn't like us. That guy didn't like us.

Speaker 1 (06:10):
But you know what, and you know it's so far
away from it that I could talk about it now.
That guy was just mad because he didn't he called
my bluff. He didn't think. He didn't think we were
allowed to set up there. And I said, you better
get on the phone with this guy. Oh yeah, you
think you're just gonna name drop him. No, no, just
get on the phone with him.

Speaker 2 (06:27):
And I could hear the guy on the other side
of the punk.

Speaker 1 (06:30):
Yeah, no, they're supposed to set up there that we
need them there, set up right now.

Speaker 2 (06:34):
Blah blah blah. Oh what's he saying? Oh is he saying?
You have no?

Speaker 1 (06:39):
Okay, Well we're gonna be over here setting up. So yeah,
he didn't like us, so he gave us a hard
time about the booze. He gave us a hard time
about the vaping.

Speaker 4 (06:49):
Bless those Fox officials for having our back for those events.

Speaker 2 (06:52):
That was you'll they'll never.

Speaker 4 (06:55):
Not get enough love for those for that season, for
those two years, especially year one and one we got
started here.

Speaker 2 (07:01):
Two when we got the sections, it was nice.

Speaker 1 (07:04):
It was that never felt so important in my life's
act of just telling that guy and be like, no, no, no,
call him because he's like I could call this guy.

Speaker 2 (07:12):
I was like, please do go ahead.

Speaker 4 (07:14):
That has to be the great the greatest I'm important
moment or one of the greatest in your life you
ever say I'm an important guy?

Speaker 2 (07:20):
Here, call this up. Let's see if you have a
job at the end of the day.

Speaker 1 (07:25):
He was like, you can't set up because they're doing
the bomb sweep.

Speaker 2 (07:28):
I'm like, this is like not even inside the building.
Get out of here, guy.

Speaker 4 (07:33):
Anyway, He proceeds to have Darryl Johnson a few hours
later sitting in front of us in a corner of
like pac crowd, like, yeah, that, dude, I have freaking
that summer Stock was amazing, and I'm we'll get springstock
for I'm looking forward to it.

Speaker 2 (07:48):
It's in your fandom's crowd.

Speaker 4 (07:50):
You know you're gonna be as on your on top
of your shtick as ever before.

Speaker 2 (07:59):
Dude, Just wait, Zach.

Speaker 1 (08:00):
Just wait to see how smug I am when it's
finally happening, when that zero and zero turns to one
in zero, oh man, And then the BattleHawks fans they're gonna.

Speaker 2 (08:12):
Be caw caw caw crying.

Speaker 4 (08:14):
We're gonna we're gonna organize something where I will put
a bet down where I'll put Saint Louis wins and
if Houston pulls it off.

Speaker 2 (08:21):
It will just we're gonna have a good time. Yes, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 4 (08:27):
I'll make I'll be so generous to you that even
if you lose the bet, I'll do nothing.

Speaker 2 (08:32):
Because I'm back. I'm that confident.

Speaker 4 (08:34):
I will walk away out of there going I told
you so, and I'll get to go home and we'll
just have a few laughs and a few bruskies back
at the at the reference.

Speaker 2 (08:44):
Yeah, later and later that night.

Speaker 1 (08:46):
So I'm telling you, dude, Anthony Brown, see, we might
we might get old c J.

Speaker 2 (08:51):
Johnson out on the field for that game.

Speaker 1 (08:53):
We might get him out there. What position, we don't
care on the board anyway.

Speaker 4 (08:59):
Anyway, let's get into some stuff, shall we actually think?
You know what CJ is also doing? He's uh, he's
getting ready for camp already.

Speaker 2 (09:06):
He is, he is. We've already seen some of the coaches.
They're arriving.

Speaker 1 (09:10):
We had the Anthony beckt he put out a post
over on Acts. I think I saw Chris Woods put
out a post some of these guys. Everybody's kind of
ramping up players when I think they officially report what
Friday is when they arrived.

Speaker 2 (09:23):
Just coming up this coming Monday, Monday, Monday, Monday, Monday.

Speaker 1 (09:27):
Yes, yes, so they're gonna be heading off and this
is like kind of the the final stretch before the season.
You know, there's no official preseason in the UFL, but
this is where they're having all of their reps. I
assume they might even have some exhibition games out there
either with the inner team, but I wouldn't even doubt
if they have it between teams.

Speaker 2 (09:48):
We saw that with the USFL at least.

Speaker 4 (09:50):
Well, yeah, and we did see that, well, we did
actually see some clips and report and not reporting.

Speaker 2 (09:55):
Veguess talking of that.

Speaker 4 (09:57):
They did do inner team scrimmages during the seven training camps.
So you know, we will get a few of these
like preliminary kind of glances that might spill out. Hopefully
maybe some training camp updates because I did see the
UFL website's been a little more active at getting articles,
so fingers crossed because they're in Texas, they send like
one or two people that they happen to have in

(10:17):
the area to just kind of give us some camp synopsies.
If you don't, hey, UFL, if you're listening, you're watching,
I think you should do that because I think it'd
be a great way of getting people interested in what's
going on with these battles, just being honest with you, well.

Speaker 2 (10:30):
Even just getting some clips and putting them on social media.
I would hope. And I'm not gonna assume anything, Zach.

Speaker 1 (10:36):
I don't assume anything about anything anymore when it comes
to spring football. But you got this new UFL headquarters
that's gonna be used for media and marketing and this
and that and everything. And you know that's in Arlington.
And you know what else is in Arlington. That's the
training camp. And I mean, if they don't have people

(10:56):
out there getting photos and videos and talking to players
is just a missed opportunity.

Speaker 2 (11:03):
I think we'll see it. We've seen it with the
past seasons. Granted, social teams are a little bit different
this year.

Speaker 1 (11:10):
I'm not gonna go into the how I necessarily feel
about that, but because mainly v Farces, I always want
to give people an opportunity, so people always have to
start somewhere. So maybe some of the posts like the
best thing about spring football is that has played in
the spring.

Speaker 2 (11:27):
If you ever see something like that and they're really upsets.

Speaker 1 (11:29):
You and you're like, oh jeez, why would you why
would you post something about that.

Speaker 2 (11:34):
Give them a little just give me maybe a little
bit of a break. I'll give you a breathing session.
Breathe in, breathe out.

Speaker 4 (11:41):
That post made me angry. It makes me angry. It
makes you you clearly. And this is funny because this
isn't this is the more resisted version of this.

Speaker 2 (11:50):
Take what it is we've been setting up today.

Speaker 1 (11:56):
It just there's so many things about spring football that
are great about spring football other than being played in
the spring, that it does genuinely make me upset.

Speaker 2 (12:05):
And I know, I know, I know there's probably.

Speaker 1 (12:08):
Some person it's like they're new on the job and
they're like, huh, I don't know much about springfall, spring football?

Speaker 2 (12:15):
Why is it great?

Speaker 1 (12:15):
And they probably turn on a game and they're like,
I don't know. It just looks like football to me.
It's played in the spring, though, Oh no, jeez, god no,
because you know, when I think it's spring football, you know,
I have the fast paced player safety, affordability, family friendly
fan interaction, boom.

Speaker 2 (12:33):
There's like a whole list of things that.

Speaker 1 (12:35):
Are great about spring football that aren't being played in
the spring.

Speaker 2 (12:39):
But again, since you're out there, not to deviate too
far from the point.

Speaker 1 (12:45):
Get some pictures, get some videos, and it doesn't just
need to be a guy catching a ball, you know
the drill, Hey is a hot dog a sandwich?

Speaker 2 (12:54):
You know the old gags. You can do them just
you know, hey, draw the picture of the logo from memory.
Just do things like that, even if somebody did it
a couple of years ago.

Speaker 1 (13:03):
Well this player wasn't here before, have like ten players
or like, I don't know, there's.

Speaker 2 (13:10):
Things you could be doing.

Speaker 1 (13:11):
So I expect and I hope to be seeing some
of that, if anything, for my own selfish needs. I
love spring football. I want more content. I want to
ingest it as much as I can. But at the
same time, which also seems to be the talk of
the town on the ticket sales and this and that.

Speaker 2 (13:26):
I don't think being a doomer is good, but it
does help.

Speaker 1 (13:30):
The more you post, the more contents out there, the
more likely somebody's going to see it or say, oh
look this is a thing, or oh hey this thing
is back, or oh what's this they play on Fridays now,
Because I don't know if many people even know that.

Speaker 4 (13:44):
I think that's going to have to be increased pretty soon.
Because Saturday Sunday.

Speaker 2 (13:49):
Sure, but.

Speaker 4 (13:52):
You know, there's been very little to push and supposedly
they're going to have a UFL Friday, Like UFL Friday
Night is what I believe they're calling it, and it's
gonna get its own probably its own special logo and everything.
Like Fox has been doing this where it's now Friday Showcase,
so I have like Fox Friday Night Hoops or something
like that right now.

Speaker 2 (14:08):
Uh, yeah, you might. Maybe it'd be a good time
to push it pretty soon.

Speaker 4 (14:12):
I almost would expect because the season's coming up, you're
gonna start seeing promos on Fox stations. But like social
media would be a great place to start doing it now.

Speaker 2 (14:23):
You mean, I don't know. We'll have a little bit
more of a talk about that, I think soon.

Speaker 4 (14:27):
What I do want to circle back because I I
find it funny with how you brought up the tweet.
The you know that that tweet makes me think of
is uh if you ever you ever watched the old
uh some of these old videos like on YouTube, like
like two thousand and nine's Nature Walk or ever whatever. Uh,
maybe this will ring the bell? This is an aspen tree.

(14:48):
You could tell it's an as for tree because the
way it.

Speaker 1 (14:50):
Is Yeah okay, yeah, yeah, yeah, it's a classic.

Speaker 2 (14:54):
It's an old school one.

Speaker 1 (14:56):
And maybe that's what they were going for, maybe the
joke just like maybe I'm the dumb I mean, and
the other end of this being like, Reff, you're so stupid.

Speaker 2 (15:05):
I'll be frank with you.

Speaker 4 (15:06):
If that's the joke they went for their I mean,
we're talking like sixteen year old humor at this point,
it's been a minute since those views have been out,
but like it's kind of the vibe. I God, was
like they're definitely trying to do that, like, eh, this
is is funny. You know.

Speaker 2 (15:21):
It's like yeah, no, you're you're right. It's all you
need to know.

Speaker 4 (15:23):
Spring football is spring football because it's played in the spring.

Speaker 2 (15:28):
Oh great.

Speaker 1 (15:29):
It made me so angry that it took me so
far off of course that I always forgot what we
were actually talking about here.

Speaker 4 (15:35):
Training camp. Let's talk let me let's talk training camp here.
So I think a little bit more on this. What
are you looking for like or and it can be
anything with training camp? What are you looking forward to
with training camp? Maybe storyline, generic league storyline, a team
specific one.

Speaker 2 (15:51):
You can talk rough next. I mean this is yeah,
I'm shying here with that.

Speaker 1 (15:54):
I think there's a couple of things, right, you know,
when you look at specifically the rough Necks, I'm really
just or curious to see how the team shakes out,
who ends up making the cut, who doesn't end up
making the cut, and even to a certain extent, for
the rest.

Speaker 2 (16:06):
Of the league.

Speaker 1 (16:07):
Right because right now, these are the biggest that the
teams will ever be from here on out, They're gonna
get smaller until the season kicks off. And one of
the things that we see every year is there's always
a couple names that you look at and you're like,
how the hell did they not make the cut? And
then it opens up this new storyline of are we
gonna see this guy now land on another one of

(16:28):
these teams in the league. Now, I normally wouldn't say
this because the Roughnecks are going twelve and oh, but
there might be some opportunities in the Roughnecks to fill
some gaps. So as cuts are being made around the league,
even maybe while training camps happening, do we see some
of these guys start switching spots, Like even as we

(16:50):
go into that, And so I kind of have my
eyes on it. From that perspective, I'm, you know, from
the roughnecks. I want to just know who are they
who are gonna who are going to be the guys
hoisting that trophy at the end of the year. Who
are these guys that are gonna go an unprecedented twelve
and oher winning streak.

Speaker 2 (17:10):
So that's that's a big thing out of it.

Speaker 3 (17:12):
Now.

Speaker 1 (17:12):
There's also, as you know, Zach, with any sport, not
just spring football, there's always a good, jumbled up story
or two that comes out of these things. So I
wouldn't be surprised if there's either a positive or a
negative story to.

Speaker 2 (17:28):
Come out of it.

Speaker 1 (17:30):
I've heard some things, not that they're worth talking about now,
because there's you know, how it goes, Zach.

Speaker 2 (17:36):
They got to go through the motion. I've you know,
seven years, Zach, seven years.

Speaker 1 (17:42):
You do something for seven years, You learn some things,
you hear and you're.

Speaker 2 (17:46):
Like, Okay, I'm gonna let that one play out. We'll
see how it goes, right.

Speaker 1 (17:50):
But you know, so there's there, I mean, there's all
sorts of things that could come out of this training camp.
Me personally, I'm just looking forward to the rosters. I'm
looking forward to.

Speaker 2 (17:58):
Maybe a little bit of band.

Speaker 1 (18:00):
You know, I can't remember this scenario, but I want
to say I think Jase was talking about it. During
the other day during training camp, there was a scrimmage
where one of the players was being extra tough.

Speaker 2 (18:13):
Was it somebody on the Panthers? It was it was
the guy from the CFL.

Speaker 1 (18:18):
That you know who I'm talking about talking about, Yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah yeah. So, like those kind of stories are always
interesting to surface out of these out of these things
too good or bad, right, because sometimes you see guys
that like, okay, a player might go out of their
way to help somebody and maybe not just hurt them.
Or you know, some of these guys are gonna come

(18:38):
in and you know how it is with coaches, sometimes
they have a good.

Speaker 2 (18:42):
Idea who's going to make the team or not.

Speaker 1 (18:43):
Right, So even more more looking forward to seeing who
are those surprises you know of like there's the surprise cuts,
but who are the guys that we're gonna look back
and say, really, that's who got it.

Speaker 2 (18:53):
And then three weeks from.

Speaker 1 (18:54):
Now we're gonna say, I see, I see why they
got him on the field because he just returned.

Speaker 2 (19:00):
At ninety eight yards or did this or who knows what?
You know what I mean. Uh So that's mainly roster stuff.

Speaker 1 (19:06):
Roster stuff and gossipy background noise.

Speaker 2 (19:10):
Those are my two favorite things.

Speaker 4 (19:13):
Yeah, I think, quite frankly, you know, I always anything
with training camp. I love camp battles, and I think
with spring. You know, it's a little different now where
we are. I think we're almost get tied up in
ways and talking with like when we talk with like
Nick Thorne or like James about this on ATU, we

(19:33):
almost get tied up with names sometimes and like you know,
now with like as years ago by, you're gonna see
newer talents come in from like the draft pool or
just from schools that are smaller like and UDFA guys
that are gonna come in. And I almost wonder, like
that's my most fascinating part is who's gonna get bumped
that was like a recognizable guy that you felt like
his like name was gonna get locked in and he

(19:54):
would have a spot on a roster. So, you know,
quite frankly, like yeah, I can I can look at
these rosters and you know say, like you know, if
I'm off the top of my head here, like say
I'm looking at like a Saint Louis and not you know,
looking at like we talked with Travis Feeni last week.

Speaker 2 (20:11):
You know, I think, for example, I think his.

Speaker 4 (20:13):
Spot's locked, but like there's been guys like his name
that you know, in the last few years he'll get
just like they'll just evaluate and unfortunately they get booted.

Speaker 2 (20:20):
Now do I think he gets booted.

Speaker 4 (20:21):
No, I'm just specifying as an example, Like we've seen
this where like some big names will get removed and
then they'll go and find a new place or go
and try and find a new roster.

Speaker 2 (20:29):
And I think that's the thing.

Speaker 4 (20:30):
Is I like that, like first and second round of cuts,
always waiting for that anticipatory thing and watching how the
wa waiver wire plays out. Maybe some teams that did
get signings or were like, man, this team really needs
like some sort of boost in any position. You know,
they just get lucky that someone is an overloading a
spot and then you can kind of slide them in
somewhere else for help, you know. I know on our

(20:51):
last on around the UFL, people were saying I actually
had some comments that said Saint Louis needs corner help.
I'm like, oh, interesting, Well, I guess we'll be well.
I would be curious to watch and see if maybe
that's a waiver wire thing that you know, Anthony Beckton
company might take advantage of if they feel like they're
weak at that spot. I don't know if that's what
they believe, but like, that's kind of what fans can think,
is like, hey, you know, I like the rest of

(21:13):
this roster, maybe this could be filled by someone who
has a little too many pieces in one position, you know,
and has a little too much competition, but they're good
elsewhere and they can fill in a need really easily
and still start somewhere else in the league. So that's
what I'm waiting on. I like those trends. I like
those waiver wires, and like those cut rounds. And not
for the fact that some of these guys may not

(21:33):
get a spot, but for the fact that some of
the waiver wire rounds allow these players to go elsewhere
and maybe more balance out some of these teams better,
you know, because I think a lot of people don't
want to see, for example, the USBO Conference last year.
I don't think peop want to see the conference get
locked up by like week seven again, you know, I
think they want to see it like till the down
to the wire. That second position for the championship game

(21:55):
kind of being close and stuff like that does help,
you know, in theory. So it's not bad. But this is,
of course football. We are competing for winning first and foremost.
It's anything goes and trades in this league are not
really a thing right now, just because you know, it's
just it's too many one year deals, like it's the thing.
We always hope there's trades or like things like that,

(22:18):
but usually they're just for the benefit of a player.
It seems there's not a toy much you get in
return right now, because again we haven't solidified multi year
deals as a concept because this league's still in its
youthful stage for the most part.

Speaker 1 (22:30):
Now. I'm curious when when we do look at the Roughnecks,
because I'm actually surprised there's conflicting ideas about this on
the internet on who's gonna win that QB battle. To me,
it seems a lot Anthony Brown's gonna win that. Maybe
I'm maybe I'm crazy, maybe I'm living in the past
because this happens. I also said that the same thing
about Clayton Thorson. I thought he was gonna be our guy, right,

(22:54):
Maybe not Nolan Henderson solid, McClendon solid. Don't know, man,
it just feels like Anthony Brown is is that's the pick,
that's the signing that this team has been waiting for
to hopefully put us to the next level.

Speaker 2 (23:10):
Now, granted he's gonna need a little bit.

Speaker 1 (23:11):
Of help from people being able to catch his balls
and and things like that, but I don't know, it
just feels like to me, that's that's that's that's the
guy that's gonna get it.

Speaker 2 (23:25):
But I'm curious what are your thoughts on that?

Speaker 4 (23:27):
Well, I I if I'm going like Houston real quick,
you know, I I think Anthony Brown makes the most sense.

Speaker 2 (23:34):
Is the starter off the gate? Uh?

Speaker 4 (23:37):
Probably, I'll be honest with you. I don't know if
it's just me, but I mean, I've like Jalen mccuinnon.
I don't know, I still see the Vegas Vipers guy
that came in and kind of stepped into a role
and really and really kind of solidified what was Hin's
Ward's team for that one XFL season. Maybe I'm wrong,
you know, I know that he keeps kind of getting
buried in rosters wherever he's been going.

Speaker 2 (23:58):
But I still faith in the guy.

Speaker 4 (24:00):
I still think he can make an impact somewhere, and
I think he's gonna give good competition in in camp.
But if I'm being honest with you, I think most
people think Brown or Henderson's more of the dynamic play caller.
And I think that's what most of these teams want,
is someone that you know, yeah, sure the arm's great,
but you know, when you have a league built on,
you know, alignman talent that is very premium to come by,

(24:26):
you know, you do need somebody that needs to be
able to kind of buy some more time. And you know,
I think mcclennon isn't as much as that as the
other two. I think Brown also has a little bit
more upside, just because you know, he's fresh out of
the NFL scene a little bit, and I think that
he's ready to finally show off his talents that he
had and clearly was displaying at organ. So I think

(24:47):
it'll be Brown, but that one will that one to me,
I think I'm watching.

Speaker 2 (24:50):
For as curious who gets the number two.

Speaker 4 (24:53):
You know, they're not overloaded on QB, so like, no
matter what, the third one is going to be an emergency,
it's just who's going to be the emergency and stuff aside. Uh,
I think also if I'm looking at like other camp battles,
you know, quite frankly, I think the big I think
a lot of people were debate. If we're talking QB debate,
you know, Birmingham comes to mind. It's not really to me,
there's other spots. You can probably argue that they have

(25:15):
other battles going on with Like I'll be honest with you, Uh,
Birmingham's tight end group. Holy crap, Like have you seen
who is all in this? Like just pulling up and
looking at the Nick Thorns roster doc by the way,
check that out free download PFN Discord. Like Jay Sternberger
is the lock then you look like Michael pet Way,

(25:35):
Marcus baw and Jordan Thomas. Excuse me, all four of
these people could be starting somewhere immediately or being number
two tight ends. How do you sift through that? Like
that it's gonna be great? This is such a packed
Like I'm just picking a group out of all these rosters.
That position group is insanely packed for a team like, Yeah,

(25:56):
that's that's a camp battle I'd watch if I'm a
if I'm a Stallions fan who comes out as those
like number one and two tight ends at the end
of the day, because.

Speaker 2 (26:04):
I don't think you keep all of them. You know,
you're gonna have to cut that spot down personally, So
I don't know.

Speaker 1 (26:11):
Yeah, I'm very intrigued about their receiver battle too.

Speaker 2 (26:14):
With Alex Magoo now in the mix.

Speaker 1 (26:16):
I mean, that's gonna be that's gonna be a close
one when it comes to comes to game day. I mean,
I don't know if anyone's gonna stop them out there,
but I will say this, it is due the Stallions. Man.

Speaker 2 (26:30):
They're They're just good. They're just good. They're just good.

Speaker 1 (26:34):
And I you know what the craziest thing is gonna
be at the end of the season is people are
gonna look back and be like, oh the hell did
the Roughnecks beat them? And yeah, I don't know either,
but we're going twelve and ohers, so get over it.

Speaker 2 (26:46):
But dude, the Stallions.

Speaker 1 (26:48):
If anyone's gonna beat the Roughnecks, it's gonna be the
Stallions because they are.

Speaker 2 (26:53):
They're good. Yeah, they're good.

Speaker 1 (26:55):
If you were hoping if you were like an XFL
fan or in a USFL fan and you're like, come on,
the Stallion's gotta suck one of these years, and you
were hoping this might be it. I don't know, man,
I don't know. I think that they might continue to
be good. Just call it a hunch.

Speaker 2 (27:13):
You may, you may be onto something. You just might.

Speaker 4 (27:17):
Yeah, But yeah, I mean I love the I love
the competition aspect training camp, just general football thing. And yeah,
I'm kinda for the sake of like competition. I'm fascinated
to see how the waiver wire plays up. It's gonna
be good. Every year, every year, every league we've seen this,
and even last year we had a few here there
just kind of go places and whatnot.

Speaker 2 (27:39):
Yeah, be fascinating. I'm looking forward to it a lot.
It's gonna be good. I don't know.

Speaker 4 (27:46):
Otherwise, just camp footage, I mean, just seeing these guys
on the field again. You know, it's fun watching the
highlights from last year. But now I'm like, I'm at
the point now I think everyone is where it's like,
all right, let's see some new like in new uniforms
like J Perry in a Memphis show. Boats uniform for
God's sake, Courseie Magou and Matt krall, you know out
there being on camp and having to you know, be

(28:08):
arguably the I think the most it's gonna be arguably
the most talked about quarterback decision of the offseason is
who gets that starting role out there or how they
split time. So you know, that's the stuff I think
a lot of people also are waiting for. Is this
new camp footage we're gonna get and just helping to
now reinvigorate that the season is now here and we

(28:28):
can start talking like even more seriously about oh my god,
we can we can get back to watching football again
here and it's.

Speaker 1 (28:35):
Coming, like I said, a month away, a month away,
and you know, as such, we have training camp coming up,
so that you know what that generally means. The league
is going to release the rule book completely free of charge.
By the way, absolutely free of charge.

Speaker 4 (28:47):
I love, I love how how free is me and
and you and basically the entire spring football audience that
is that wants to save five bucks in their pocket.

Speaker 2 (29:00):
Yep.

Speaker 1 (29:00):
Unfortunately, the league's not providing premium content, but they are
providing content nonetheless, and so we have a list of
rule changes.

Speaker 2 (29:07):
Rule changes to talk about.

Speaker 1 (29:09):
Now, this one the first one, Zach, I don't know,
it's an interesting one because this one we're now going
we're changing the kickoff rules back.

Speaker 2 (29:19):
You know.

Speaker 1 (29:19):
Now, grant if you're an XFL fan depends on which
fan you were, if you're one fan or another.

Speaker 2 (29:24):
But we were.

Speaker 1 (29:25):
Going from Okay, we're keeping the USFL kickoff, now we're
but then the NFL kind of adopted the XFL kickoff,
which kind of made the UFL lean towards changing their kickoff.
And now the NFL's changing their kickoff, and it's just
all kickoff changes left and right, and every it just

(29:46):
leaves you confuse, what does this kickoff look like? So essentially,
the UFL's kickoff rules this season will be based on
a combination of the kickoff used by the XFL during
his twenty twenty three season and the NFL Dynamic kickoff
used by the NFL during this past twenty four season.

(30:08):
So the kickoff, let's get into the specifics. It's now
going to start from the thirty thirty yard line after
being at the twenty yard line last season. Ten remaining
players on the kickoff team will line up at the
receiving team's forty yard line. All kicking team players will
be at the twenty yard line, including the kicker.

Speaker 2 (30:29):
Let's see what do we got here.

Speaker 1 (30:30):
Receiving team setup zone will stretch from thirty five to
the thirty yard line. Must have at least nine players
in that zone. Last season, receiving team had to have
a minimum of eight players, but no more than nine
in their setup zone, which was kicking the team's thirty
to four.

Speaker 2 (30:46):
We're just throwing out number, Zach.

Speaker 1 (30:48):
I don't know if anybody's even follow what I'm saying.
I'm just saying numbers nuts a I think.

Speaker 2 (30:52):
I mean.

Speaker 4 (30:53):
Look, it is available on the UFL's website as well.

Speaker 2 (30:56):
But the best thing you need to know are to
more simple.

Speaker 4 (31:00):
This is when you see the kickoff this year, if
you've watched the XFL in any capacity, it's gonna look
very famil Or if you've watched European League Football, because
we have a lot of people that also watch the
ALF and that's a growing audience over here in North
America as well. If you've watched either one of those leagues,
all you need to know is is that between the
thirty and thirty five yard line. When you kick off,
there are two lines of men lined up, nine players

(31:21):
a piece that are gonna be kind of setting up there.
You then have you know you're gonna then set up
and you're gonna have at least minimum nine layers.

Speaker 2 (31:29):
You then have a.

Speaker 4 (31:30):
Kicker who's way far back kicking it off. He has
to pass both those lines of the ball otherwise there's
a massive yardage penalty that sets the ball in a
very advantageous space up on the field. So you know,
quite frankly, you don't want to kick it short. Otherwise
you're gonna get that thing spotted upwards to the forty
yard line, So keep that in mind. If you get

(31:51):
it passed, you can still touch back. But the idea
is that you've set the ball up to where you
should see minimal touchbacks. Which in the NFL, they did
increase the returns this year by the NFL standards quite
a lot. It was a little north of fifty percent
returns this year, which if you've watched any NFL in
recent years, you know that that number has been very
minuscule up around, Like, I think that best between twenty

(32:15):
and thirty thirty is even being generous for me. So
the NFL liked it, and the UFL they, as we
talked about, they merged, they consolidated rules, they tried to
play fifty to fifty split and quite frankly, the NFL
saw the rule changes and they wanted to change something
and bad timing.

Speaker 2 (32:34):
I'll give you my thoughts.

Speaker 4 (32:35):
Personally, I after watching both rule sets, I slightly preferred
the USFL style only because it was more traditional set up,
with a bit more of the spacing and chaotic nature
of how you know, the traditional run nutritional return plays go. However,
I'm not going to be I'm not going to be
too Homerish on this because I also like to play

(32:56):
the realist side of the things.

Speaker 2 (32:57):
The writing was on the wall last year.

Speaker 4 (32:59):
If the kickof the NFL was going to blow up
and people liked it, and the NFL teams liked it,
and you saw returns that were cool and were dynamic
and got return touchdowns, again, they weren't going to go
away from it, and the UFL wasn't going to shy
away from kind of matching up in that area of
something that you know, their origins kind of created.

Speaker 2 (33:19):
So it makes sense.

Speaker 4 (33:22):
Yeah, Yeah, as long as they as long as the
NFL didn't royally screw it up, it was coming. And
so you know, it was nice to see one more
year the USFL kickoff because I still think that rule
set from Mike Pereira was pretty nice. You know, it
did encourage you know, better better returns almost always a return,
by the way, and you also had yardage start much
higher up on the field, so you could help with

(33:43):
the scoring issues in earlier week offensive I think issues
of synergy that come with spring football and short training camps,
but it's a different era. Safety's part of this league,
as they've stressed, and well the XFL kickoff at least
by appearance, although data still has not fully been out there,
but you know, it did help. I would say if

(34:05):
I had to guess with concussion numbers going down the
NFL again this year, so.

Speaker 2 (34:09):
Yeah, yeah, it can't be mad at that. Yeah, they
were going to go that way.

Speaker 4 (34:12):
It just it was inevitable once the return numbers came out,
Once that percentage came out, that was over fifty percent
of returns were coming back.

Speaker 2 (34:20):
With that setup, it was over. That was it. It
was going to be over. It was a matter of time.

Speaker 4 (34:25):
They finally announced it very recently as one of the
main changes.

Speaker 2 (34:28):
It's the highlight change.

Speaker 4 (34:30):
There's a few other noteworthy ones, but it's the one
that most people are discussing right now.

Speaker 2 (34:37):
Is they were waiting for that shoe to drop now.

Speaker 1 (34:41):
I will say, in regards to the coaches Challenge, we
have a little bit of an update here. So now
they get a second challenge as long as the first
challenge is successful, right, which is nice. Same kind of
rule apply. If they don't have any timeouts, they got
no challenges. It's not a huge update there, but the
same you know, it's kind of other same rules apply.

Speaker 2 (35:02):
They can challenge everything.

Speaker 1 (35:05):
Even when it makes no sense to challenge it, Zach,
which we've seen.

Speaker 2 (35:09):
There's been a couple of times where I would dare.
I don't think C. J. Johnson would have ever done
anything like.

Speaker 1 (35:14):
That, but I know other coaches have done things where
I'm like, really, guy, you know you already know Mike
Perera looked at this call, right, Like in those instances
where you know it's a call that they had to
review and then you challenge, I'm like, they're actually, I
take it.

Speaker 2 (35:31):
There may have been one instance where that worked.

Speaker 4 (35:33):
There have and actually San Antonio did execute at getting
some overturns last year, so it's not it's not too
crazy of a change. Quite frankly, it can happen. But
what I but the thing here's the difference is is
that it's it doesn't happen enough.

Speaker 2 (35:48):
I guess uh.

Speaker 4 (35:50):
I think some coaches though, would appreciate having that second
one just in case. And I think that's why they're
putting it in is you know, hey, you know me,
I still maybe feel like I got burned here and
we saw it last year again, Lebramas executed where they
did show that, yes, super challenges still do matter. I
know that they're not common. I know that there's a
low percentage that you get an overturn because of the

(36:13):
fact that you have so much oversight video wise on
this on the fields with the command center in place,
But it does happen sometimes. There are a few times
where in the action things kind of slip. I don't disagree,
but like, on face value, it's funny because like anyone
who's watched any spring football with the command center or

(36:35):
sky judge, whatever you call it, it's almost near perfect
at its job of what it does. So like challenging,
almost feels like you're throwing something away. But we saw
last year there are times there are misses, like there
is still human error in the system. It's very minuscule.
It's still the best version, as the NFL is showing
that they're trying to lean more into replay assist as well.

Speaker 1 (36:57):
When you throw the judge nudge, you know what that
makes me think of Zach. I don't know if you
remember this. I think this was year one in the USFL,
and you know, Mike Perera, God bless his soul. He
was such a flipping trooper that year because he was
the only guy. Remember it was like him and maybe
one other guy in that command center.

Speaker 2 (37:15):
Yep.

Speaker 1 (37:16):
And there was one weekend where he was at like
his daughter's wedding, but he was still doing the command
center thing. And I'll have to find out what game
this is now and find the clip. But there's one
time where they go to Mike Perera and you could
just hear him talking in the background, like having a
drink or something like he was.

Speaker 2 (37:37):
Not at the command center. That's all I know. He
was not there and you could hear him like.

Speaker 1 (37:43):
Off in the if he came back around like, oh hey,
sorry about that.

Speaker 2 (37:46):
You know, virtual means you can kind of be where
you need to be.

Speaker 4 (37:51):
You know, it's it's amazing what you can do now
with some of the tech, with some of the broadcast subs.
People have anymore. I got stories I just don't want
to share out of entity. But uh yeah, you know,
I was thinking a little bit more about that Brahmas one.
The one that the actually the one that I remember
most is uh that was successful was Week one against DC.

(38:12):
Remember Jordan Tom who throws a touchdown, Wade Phillips says,
there's a hold on the play. There is a hold
on the play. Same player eventually gets a personal faucamily
for supposedly fitting on a player.

Speaker 2 (38:24):
Oh yeah, that's right.

Speaker 4 (38:26):
That game change on a dime because of the super Challenge.
Otherwise DC was back into it if they score instead
no conversion, they didn't get any points on that drive.
So you know, this kind of shows you there there
is enough if you look. You know, I think it
comes down to the not only like finding the few
times there's error, but like in that instance, there's creativity

(38:47):
and what you see as a coach.

Speaker 1 (38:50):
Well, you know, you bring it up because you know
where the magic and the Brahmas usually is is those coaches.

Speaker 2 (38:56):
Up in the in the in the movie got a
coaching staff.

Speaker 1 (38:58):
That's one thing that a smith is looking at it
like Madden, and he could spot those things from like
a mile away. So yeah, yeah, yeah, it does come
down to the coaches being like on it to know
like whe where it's gonna work. Unfortunately, again, I don't
think this would ever happen in Houston, but if it did, it.

Speaker 2 (39:16):
Wouldn't surprise me this one. I don't know how to
feel about this one, Zach. No more on side kicks
in terms of the traditional on side kick, well you yeah,
you well you can get it from the was it
fourth and twelfth?

Speaker 1 (39:32):
Right?

Speaker 2 (39:32):
Yeah?

Speaker 4 (39:32):
So so basically, and I I kind of think this.
I think they're trying to lean into the excitement factor
here because I think a lot of teams, well and
a lot of these coaches. What happened is they fall
into a lot of more traditional football setups where it's like, well, yeah,
I mean we can do this, but like why don't
we just go for that the extra the on side kick?

(39:54):
And you know, I know we do have a set
of fans that they lean into the don't take away
specialist stuff for the sake of because the league has
a lot of good specialist players as kind of they're
touting it. But this rule, I feel like, kind of
does play into what spring football, like, what makes it
different in kooky and like why people tune in is
like for some unique stuff like this is them them

(40:18):
basically saying, look, your only option, go for a fourth
and twelve. You know, I don't mind it, you know,
I think that quite frankly, I know some people the
other side of this has been maybe fourth and fifteen
because they felt like the XFL one because this was
the XFL adjustment was a fourth and twelve and the
twenty twenty three season, and a lot of people felt
that was almost a little too easy. But I don't know, man,

(40:41):
I mean, good defense and they always want to comeback,
you know, keep these games close and make them energetic
till the end. So it's good broadcasting stuff here that
you get. This is kind of a rule of cool choice,
which I'm not opposed to, I think, quite frankly, with
some of the rules the NFL's taking and borrowing that
from the UFL's innovations that from both leagues. He kind

(41:03):
of got to get in where he fit in and
choose what makes you a little bit different. And this
isn't one I complain with. And this is one of
those rules that I think we're gonna see come up
and it'll be one of those things that blows up
for like casual sports, Twitter, casual social media, beyond our circles,
which is what I think they're looking for.

Speaker 1 (41:20):
Right right, right, Yeah, I guess I agree. It's not
like the end of the world. I'm not going to
be so upset about it. I would, you know, kind
of going to the rules that are still coming around.
We still have the three extra point options, so one
point from the two to two points from the five,
three points from the ten. I would like the extra
point kick rather than the two point two yard line

(41:41):
if surprisingly, though, Zach, people don't get those that extra
point every time. Now, it feels like that from that
you you should be getting that point every time. It
just feels like you should. I like the kick better
if anything, because it gives I mean, you're we're seeing
it every year. The kickers are becoming less less important
in the Spring Football league, but at the same time,

(42:04):
those are the guys that are getting signed by the
NFL and showing out. We had Brandon Aubrey and then
we had Jake Bates last year, and then it's like
another year where it's like, Okay, yeah, we don't have
the extra point, we don't have an on site kick,
we don't really have you know, the kickoff, you know,
so there's.

Speaker 2 (42:23):
I don't know. I don't know.

Speaker 1 (42:24):
Again, I like, I do like the idea of having
the three extra points. My gripe would be is if,
especially if you're going to change the kickoff, at least
bring the UFL one back where it's like, okay, the
kick and then the two and the three point, you know,
oh sure, sure.

Speaker 4 (42:38):
And I think I think you could. I think that
I think the league's just looking at as they just want.
They're trying to find something that makes exciting, exciting and
marketing stuff, which you know, yes, going forward and having
to play an offensive plane force it. That's what gets
it there when you're the two yard line, so you know,
I see the other side of the coin. But what
I also argue, and I think I'll play to this

(43:01):
is with the NFL's adjustment to the new kickoff rules,
which the XFL rules aka whatever you want to call it.
Coming in, you're gonna see emphasis not only on kickers
that are of course hitting these sixty yarders, like a
Jake Bates. How consistently can you get touchbacks? And I'm
not gonna lie, like touchback is still a part of
the game, but special teams coordinators will that aren't playing

(43:25):
on the side of kicking the ball away.

Speaker 2 (43:27):
They love if you can get back.

Speaker 4 (43:29):
To the end zone even with this new format and
take away any chance of a return. So like that
is marketable for a kicker is saying, oh wow, you
had this high of a rate of touchback with this setup.

Speaker 2 (43:40):
Oh yeah, that's nice.

Speaker 4 (43:42):
And you were pretty damn good from getting kicks and
you were hitting the easily fifties or even a sixty
here or so, which is amazing. If sixty yard kicks
are becoming a normal a crazy yeah, But like this
is the modern NFL we like modern football we live in.

Speaker 2 (43:55):
Is like that's still valuable.

Speaker 4 (43:56):
Like, yes, you do lose the on side here, and
you do lose that extra point, but like you do
get that eval And I think kickoffs are going to
be a bigger stat that, Like I think even statisticians
will be looking at the more we get into this
with the new kickoff rules set, because no one wants
to give up a forty yarder because you freaking chucked
it and couldn't get to the launch point. Like, sorry,

(44:17):
that's gonna look bad. Like if you have a whole season,
like say you go through a ten game season, you
know you were maybe eighty five eighty six percent on
field goals and you had zero launch errors, like you
had zero launch point errors. Where you're getting the forty
that's a pretty damn good like prospect. If you're a
team in the market for a free agent kicker, maybe

(44:39):
looking to compete, and then they get that shot in camp.

Speaker 2 (44:41):
So like that's where I like argue.

Speaker 4 (44:43):
Plus, you know, say you aren't going to get that
kick that touchback, Well, now we can have returners that
maybe have a little more specialty. Even though I know
that was the case of the uf USFL kickoff, that
still is a viable thing with this one.

Speaker 2 (44:56):
So there is give or take.

Speaker 4 (44:57):
I think kickers still have a good avenue though, to
get themselves out there and looked at as one of
the top positions that I think the UFL's used to
help get guys to the NFL and also make an
impact in the NFL.

Speaker 2 (45:08):
Yep, yep, yep. So anyway, we got rules, we got
training camp.

Speaker 1 (45:13):
The season is still a month away, but yes, we're
already talking about the championship. Zach Man, we potentially have
a location, which if you're not checking out Pro Football
Newsroom dot com daily, don't, I really don't.

Speaker 2 (45:26):
Know what you're doing. Because hats off to James Larson.
We'll just take a moment.

Speaker 1 (45:31):
We're gonna we're gonna praise the everything there is about
James Larsen, because I mean that dude every day is
knocking out articles, and I mean, if you want to
know the ins and outs of the league, good and bad,
he's throwing them out there. And one of those articles
last week he put out was it looks like potentially

(45:52):
the UFL championship is heading back to Saint Louis.

Speaker 2 (45:56):
Now, I don't know, let me just pull up his article.

Speaker 1 (45:58):
I don't know what I can of can't well, I
could say whatever I want, Zach, You know what I don't.
You know, I'll say whatever I want. Okay, he doesn't
mention in the article, but I'll mention it here I
don't care. So I know they were initially looking at
going to d C, which I feel like that was
out there. So I feel like I'm not saying.

Speaker 2 (46:16):
Something that was out there places.

Speaker 1 (46:19):
Okay, okay, good, I wasn't sure, Okay, never mind. So
they're officially looking at DC scheduling, so it wasn't like
a money thing.

Speaker 2 (46:27):
It wasn't like anything like that.

Speaker 1 (46:29):
Is just scheduling, which is unfortunate, Zak, because I'll I'll
tell you, I would love to go see a game
in DC. I think DC would be perfect for the championship.
I've always thought Audiefield was like the perfect size for
a spring football league. It sits right around that twenty
thousand mark, which, if you'll remember, was one of the beautiful,
perfect things about Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium over

(46:51):
there in Canton, Ohio. Is that twenty thousand. It's because
ten thousands not hard to get to a game. We
saw that last year with the UFL Championship in Saint Look.
But if you have that in the twenty thousand seed
arena verse like a fifty sixty, it looks a lot different, right, Yeah,
But I understand why they would want to go to

(47:11):
Saint Louis for a couple of reasons. The easy one,
it's their biggest market, right, and so their their hope
is is well one if Saint Louis is in the game, hey,
this should be an easy one to knock out of
the park, right, it should be pretty full boom if
they're not in the championship. What we saw last year,
it's kind of a mixed bag. The other one I

(47:35):
think is equally important, if not more important, and having
it under a dome. Right, we saw the XFL do
that with San Antonio, then we saw it with Saint
Louis last year and probably Saint Louis this year. But
it saves you from weather, right and with spring football,
you know, you really don't.

Speaker 2 (47:55):
Want to delay your game. You're you know, like that
creates that.

Speaker 1 (48:00):
Creates problems, right, especially because the game's on ABC this year.
What's ABC got on on Monday night? Probably not the
UFL Championship if the game gets rained to delayed, you know.

Speaker 2 (48:11):
So it is what it is. But at least we
know where summer Stock is probably gonna be fairly fairly certain.

Speaker 4 (48:20):
Summer Stock is out Missouri way off of the Mississippi River,
but you know, to be determined.

Speaker 2 (48:28):
I think here.

Speaker 4 (48:31):
You know again, they were waiting on you know, all
the all of its pointing that way right now, but
it is you know, still got to hold out just
a little bit longer on them saying it themselves that
it's happening. The DC one would have been awesome, I think,
just because it's another high energy fan base, you know,
I think I think you have seen people go out

(48:51):
for that. It's a more confined venue, a fun soccer
venue that you know, I think, does you know it's
got a more intimate crowd that way. But the Saint
Louis makes sense, like you're absolutely right on the indoors.
I mean, we've seen this too much already between both
leagues even I mean, and I'll even go with it
with Birmingham. I mean, how many times have we had
a lightning strike delay in the last several years where

(49:14):
you'll start a game, a storm comes in, lightning strike happens,
you have to wait then you know, thirty minutes minimum,
and then extend it depending on how many more lightning
strikes you see. And I'll be honest with you, you know,
unlike the NFL, this, the UFL is not in that
same position where where broadcasters are going to give it
leeway to just keep on going. And that's that's from

(49:37):
experience watching these leagues, but also from experience again just
how you view and how the property is viewed in
the television landscape.

Speaker 2 (49:45):
It's still not there.

Speaker 4 (49:46):
You know, there's a reason you still see that the
league wants to get this three the three hour windows
in and whatnot, because they're not these networks.

Speaker 2 (49:54):
As much as Fox.

Speaker 4 (49:54):
Owns the UFL and as much as ABC through Disney
has invested in interest in the UFL, they know that
these are still not the top dog programs for them
and that they can default them to other smaller channels.
They won't wait for them. So you know, there are
other things at play. So imagine if that happens during

(50:17):
a championship game, which keep in mind, you know, for
both of these leagues, you know, and we thinking just
looking back at Fox with USFL for example, if they're
too you know, they incentivize on trying to get a
lot of good spots for those for those championship games.
You know, even even the XFL trying to sell inventory.
You really don't want to burn that inventory or that viewership,

(50:38):
especially when this is your marquee event that you're trying
to show increase yere over years, Like, hey, we're getting
one and a half million to two million people for
a championship game and then we're trying to maintain that
million plus growth every year.

Speaker 2 (50:51):
That's not a good look, you know.

Speaker 4 (50:53):
And I think that what would happen is if you
had that delayed, that just hurts your numbers overall, and
they're not in a position and really to be talking
about these numbers online in the in a bad light.
So you know, I think you get a safer spot.
And then you know, the argument beyond that is, Okay,
well we can't go to a southern stadium or something
outside because we're worried about weather. Well what about ford Field?

(51:14):
And I've seen that too. What about ford Field? Well
two things, Hey, ford Field is very busy. It's much
busier than the Dome. It's a much bigger metro than
where the Dome's at too. And exactly number two, it's
been talked about people that it is an expensive venue
to rent. And you know the fact that we were
having conversations online about like we're still talking about people

(51:37):
that think they should go to Reinerson and Eastern Michigan,
which I don't agree with personally, but you know, ford
Field's expensive, it's an NFL venue, It has its own
restrictions and things, and you got to play by their rules.
And I don't think they would have unless the availability
came up all of a sudden, I don't think they'd
have it. And I think it's so you just put
all that together. Saint Louis works and I I'm gonna

(52:00):
save my point for after this. But what I found
fascinating about this discussion stuff on everyone had their take
on it, and everyone either was upset or defending the
choice if that is the choice. And I said it
this way. I said, look, I find this entertaining how
this debate's going. Neither side's wrong though, Like I think
that's what's to me, Like if I'm looking at this

(52:22):
from both angles, I don't think there's any wrong take
on this, because like if I'm Birmingham fan, like, hey man,
I've had like three championships, like yeah, there's a weather risk, but.

Speaker 2 (52:31):
Like, you know, why do not come to us.

Speaker 4 (52:33):
Like we you know, we have We've had a lot
of we put our keep in or like, you know,
if I'm looking at like Ford Field, like, yeah, sure
it's expensive, but it's like we're Dome Stadium. Why not
check out and get the Michigan market engaged. But that's
the thing, you know, are we in the position to
do that? Where we And this is what the league's
also gambling on is as we saw last year, to

(52:54):
gamble on attendance or gamble on that look for a
championship game, you know, because yes they won't it admitted publicly,
but a Battle Walks championship game would do wonders for
optics for spring football. You would easily and people project this,
but you would easily get forty k without a doubt
going into the into the Dome.

Speaker 2 (53:14):
Some people think fifty.

Speaker 4 (53:15):
Like and that's the thing, that's what they're They'll never
tell you out loud, but that's exactly what they want
to happen.

Speaker 2 (53:21):
If it happens. Is that.

Speaker 1 (53:24):
Yeah, Now I will say this, you know, for the
people giving it gruff about heading back to Saint Louis, now,
granted I would, I would my personal take, I would
like to see it somewhere else, just if anything, to
keep it moving at.

Speaker 4 (53:36):
Some point in the even San Antonio and I hate
that we didn't bring that up. That's another market dome
stadium too, you know, but Shakira screwed that one up. Now,
you know, there's other things or that they still have
to get. They have to fix next year, a full
slate of home games, let's say, not even Foy stick
that in.

Speaker 2 (53:53):
But like there are I think we.

Speaker 4 (53:55):
Talk about this, this audience engagement, and I feel like
that's where I'm like, I don't disagree with the other
side of the coin. That's not defense that's upset about
this because they want to be feeling like they're part
of this too, you know. Yeah, like keep that in mind, Like, yes,
Saint Louis draws the numbers, but like, isn't the mission
to grow all the markets?

Speaker 2 (54:15):
Right?

Speaker 4 (54:15):
And that's and but I understand the point that the
financials say, go to Saint Louis.

Speaker 2 (54:20):
No.

Speaker 1 (54:20):
The other thing I'll give them though, is it's also
a partially renovated dome, new field, some new lighting. I
think that the field, especially Zach that was always even
back in XFL twenty twenty.

Speaker 2 (54:35):
I'm like that that field doesn't look so high nice.

Speaker 1 (54:39):
Is that that one needs a little maybe a little
we saw him painting the field in Las Vegas.

Speaker 2 (54:43):
They should have had that guy out in Saint Louis.
It's all I'm saying. It's a lovely new turf.

Speaker 4 (54:49):
Uh And and I think that's a testament to the
Battlehocks power that they were able to even kind of
convince in a way, you know. And there's other stuff
they do their football wise, but the fact that the Battlewocks.

Speaker 2 (54:59):
Are presence there too, where they're.

Speaker 4 (55:00):
Like, yeah, we can invest in this turf and get
a new set of turf and not feel like we
didn't use that money, right, Like that's pretty big and
so yeah, it's it's still it's yeah, I don't disagree,
you know, but I also get it's like, you know,
at some point, if we talk futurists or future moves,
like you know, you do got other venues, and you know,

(55:20):
I think that's what we're gonna have to balance because
I think if you, for example, keep doing Saint Louis
every year, I'm not saying that will happen, but I
feel like that animosity grows a little bit more the
more you lean on the same place or something like that.

Speaker 1 (55:35):
And even to that point, there is such a thing
as too much football, and we saw that with season
one of the USFL, right, And I think that might
even be part of the reason that Birmingham has somewhat
of an I won't say attendance problem, but it's hard
kind of getting it back out in the market.

Speaker 2 (55:53):
Is that first season you had every game, not only.

Speaker 1 (55:57):
Was every Birmingham game a home game, you had every
team playing there.

Speaker 2 (56:03):
To where now it's like season two, season three.

Speaker 1 (56:06):
I mean, you had so much of it to where
it's kind of easy to just like pass up a
little bit now. Or same thing with Saint Louis. You
put that championship there every year. Second year you probably
get away with every year the lure might go away
for somebody that was like, oh, I really need to
go see a game in the dome. Well, if they
did it the last two years, they might not be

(56:27):
incentivized to go a third year, right, And so yeah,
you might get the local market. And again, if Saint
Louis is in there, you're right, Zach, I don't know
if there's any other market in the league to where
if their team was in the championship and their game
was at home, Birmingham might show up. But I we'll
see Saint Louis is probably gonna win that battle anytime,

(56:49):
So I get it from that perspective.

Speaker 4 (56:51):
I think as well, if we're talking other venues, like
let's be honest here, like if they can find a
way to get San Antonio where that's not a scheduling conflict,
I mean, if we're talking getting other activations of nearby teams.
Oh yeah, I mean that's the other one where I'm
looking at. It's like, at some point you got to
look at that as like the Almo on me is like,
to me, an easy number two option that you've got

(57:12):
to look into at some point.

Speaker 1 (57:14):
As another almost you're almost guaranteed to have a team
from Texas in the championship with like almost half of
your league in there.

Speaker 2 (57:21):
Not guaranteed, but almost three eighths.

Speaker 4 (57:24):
But like, yeah, that's that's my point, is like even
but even without that, you know, you have three fan
bases in a very reasonable triangular distance between distance for
each other that you would have enough fan base of
diehards that would come out to celebrate a championship game
and then whoever else is.

Speaker 2 (57:42):
In there that would come there.

Speaker 4 (57:43):
So that's my take, you know, And I think that
was also apparent when they did the XFL Championship in
San Antonio as well.

Speaker 2 (57:49):
It wasn't a bad turnout, so I.

Speaker 4 (57:52):
Think because the game and it could come and again,
I think that's a good argument to say, hey, you know,
if you need another place to go to try and
avoid some of the animosity of trying to say we
favorite one base over the other, that's your other option,
you know. I think that's a solution that's available. They
got to get the venue availability fixed, though, without a.

Speaker 1 (58:15):
Doubt, one one thing at a time, I suppose, yeah,
But I think I think that brings us to all
of our topics.

Speaker 2 (58:24):
I mean, I feel like maybe there was one other
one in there was what did you have a gripe
about something?

Speaker 4 (58:28):
Ze?

Speaker 2 (58:29):
I don't know if it's a gripe.

Speaker 4 (58:30):
I expressed on around the UFL that I was gonna
kind of go a little more in depth on the
ticket marketing discussion for those that have been following that,
you know, our again, our our great insider James Larsen
put put and painted a picture of what is definitely
some concerning trends with ticketing and the marketing side. We've

(58:52):
seen recent firings of head ticketing and marketing officials in
the UFL or sorry dismissals, I want to be more official,
not saying fired, but they parted ways and so they've
been trying to rebuild these spots. And I think we've
had a lot to talk about online about what they
need to address or who's to blame for these situations.

(59:15):
And I more want to address the blame part of
this discussion because to me, I've seen several folks in
various fan bases. Doesn't not just one specific one or whatever.
There are a few from other places. I've seen, DC,
San Antonio, Saint Louis, you name it. Because the conversation

(59:35):
has revolved around like a Birmingham mostly where it's like, man,
this market has three championships and they.

Speaker 2 (59:42):
Can't get tenth out.

Speaker 4 (59:43):
They can't get eleven or twelve thousand people out to
a market, or someone goes man, if they can't average
twelve thousand people, should we just move this team. It's
ridiculous that they don't that these fans don't show up
and they don't show out for a championship team. And
I pause and I say, is it their fault? Is
this the fault of the consumer, we're choosing to not

(01:00:06):
come to a game because the business does not appeal
or does not target, or does not get to them
the message of the value that they want from their ticket.
Is it their fault if the business is not doing
its job correctly to sell you on the product that
they want you to see. Is it their fault for

(01:00:28):
having a price rise year over year over year and
not adding on things to help justify a price change.
I really want people to sit down and kind of
think about this for a second and really understand that
if you're a person that is you're on the fence

(01:00:48):
on this, or you are you know, you just came
out of a season and you were not satisfied with
something with your ticket package, or as I've heard, you
saw that a season ticket hole or single game ticket
holder got a better deal by waiting for coupon codes
that the league drops on red talk.

Speaker 2 (01:01:08):
I actually put that, and I'm speaking to you as a.

Speaker 4 (01:01:10):
Season ticket holder for Houston, by the way, so you
probably feel this and others that you talk to in
your season base the exact same. Is it Is it
the consumer's fault for not feeling like they're rewarded for
being a fan or being a ticket holder in this place.
I really want to ask people because it feels like
we're trying to get at people at certain areas that

(01:01:31):
are not to blame. I really feel like we are
trying to blame something that is not the actual problem.
It's the business's problem to attract your dollar to sit
in a stand and to buy a season package. It's
not the fans. This isn't something that we should expect
fans to instantly just bow down and throw cash at
the problem. It's the businesses problem. It is the business

(01:01:55):
finding and reaching the fandom or reaching the person that
maybe does know or maybe feels like they are not
going to get what they want, and showing them that
they will get what they want out of this if
they buy tickets. And I think that message gets lost
from some fan bases that either they are the fortunate
ones that have had a jump out of the gate

(01:02:17):
because of certain situations. For example, Saint Louis a team
was left. For example, DC for years during the DC
Defenders run had a pretty horribly run NFL team in
the same market, and I feel like it was kind
of easy to just justify not watching your other option
for Birmingham's for the memphisis is for the Michigans.

Speaker 2 (01:02:35):
Of the world.

Speaker 4 (01:02:36):
You know, do you blame them for having tickets rise
while also not having your appealing in market and in
your area vibe come your way?

Speaker 1 (01:02:52):
Like?

Speaker 2 (01:02:52):
Is it there? Is it?

Speaker 4 (01:02:53):
This fans fault for not getting reached out well enough.
That's my message. I really think a lot of people
need to realize. And I'm not saying, you know, just
be angry at the UFL. No, I'm saying, focus more
your energy on what the real problem is. The real
problem is the league dropped the ball on ticketing and
marketing correctly to people when the merger happened. And clearly

(01:03:14):
you can see they are course correcting it this year
very hard because they realized too they messed up. It's
the businesses problem to solve, not the fans problem. And
I really, I really can't say that enough, because the
fans should not be the ones that are trying to
save your business in terms of like it's their responsibility, No,
it's not. It is is the responsibility of the owners

(01:03:36):
of this business that is the United Football League to
solve that problem, not the person sitting at home watching
the game that felt like they were going to spend
way too much for a football game. That's on them,
That is on the league, not them. Do not blame fans,
blame the business owners. Expect better from those people, not

(01:03:57):
the person at home.

Speaker 1 (01:03:59):
Yeah, we can see it. It's not even just what
people are saying online. I see it firsthand. I live
here in Houston. I've been and I've been covering spring
football for over seven years at this point, right, And
so I was talking to you. I watched Charlie Eppersall
announced the AF I watched vincick Man announce the XFL,
like just over the weekend. I was just kind of

(01:04:20):
like looking back on things, and I don't know, man,
it feels like the people, not maybe the people in charge,
because I don't know if necessarily the people in charge
know everything that's even kind of happening behind the scenes,
separate it out right, But I don't know, it feels
like the some of the people that are doing some
of the work now have kind of lost the mission.

(01:04:43):
And I, you know, I already complained about it earlier,
but that fucking I'll say it that that stupid social
post about the best thing about spring football is its
played in the spring.

Speaker 2 (01:04:55):
Is it's everything we're talking about right now.

Speaker 1 (01:04:59):
They don't even know one thing that's good about spring
football other than it's played in the spring.

Speaker 2 (01:05:07):
And it's the same thing you don't know, Like, okay, when.

Speaker 1 (01:05:12):
You look at the ticket guys, right, they were already
on shoe string budgets, small staffs. Like even in the
instance of the USFL, there's like one guy kind of
manning the whole league, right, and then they come into the.

Speaker 2 (01:05:30):
UFL and everything got screwed up.

Speaker 1 (01:05:33):
Everything got screwed up, And I don't know what the
change was, per se. I mean, people can speculate, but no,
I think you're exactly right, Zach.

Speaker 2 (01:05:43):
This isn't on the fans. You can't be mad. I
mean we were talking about this earlier.

Speaker 1 (01:05:47):
How many people are not going to be at a
game on a Friday night because they don't even know
the league's on a Friday night until.

Speaker 2 (01:05:53):
Maybe three four weeks into the season. You bet it, Zach.

Speaker 1 (01:05:57):
You know we're going to see that reply under our
tweet maybe week two of wait they play on Friday nights.

Speaker 2 (01:06:03):
Now we might even.

Speaker 1 (01:06:04):
See it Saturday, the day after that Friday night game
of wait, what the hell yep, Friday. You know it
just as I know it, just because even the years prior,
people would say, oh my god, I can't believe they're back,
and there's those people. This time plus changes and I mean,
you know, as we look into like this year and

(01:06:25):
going forward, there's more competition now, no longer is this
the days of the illness that shall not be named
sports are in full force?

Speaker 2 (01:06:34):
Yes, right, and Fox has more sports than ever.

Speaker 4 (01:06:38):
You are not kidding, I mean, for crying out loud.
You know Spring scene alone there. I mean, you see
all the marketing for any car Fox is doing these
days that launches by the way, this weekend, and that
is high priority on that list, you know. I mean,
they're the competition is higher than ever, even for the
networks to try and get eyeballs on their own stuff.
It's only gonna get more nuts, you know, and it's

(01:07:00):
gonna get crazier as when you see you know, we're
talking more places are gonna get streaming or sports streaming
that are going to look for rights and you're gonna
be dividing a buyballs and such. But you know, the issue,
it's funny because the TV it seems like they kind
of just feel like they're fine on but it almost
feels like all the crises type of like panic buttony

(01:07:21):
stuff is all of the stuff about trying to make
the market activated, to put into marketing terms, to activate
your city, your community, you know. And I think they
are doing some things. But you know, it's funny like
a lot of people complain about Birmingham and I'm like, well,
when's the last time you saw anything that they were

(01:07:41):
in the city lately. Yeah, And I'll be honest with you,
like that's that's on the business. Like, yes, they are
tackling markets they were disappointed in last year, specifically Memphis.
They've been hounding the Memphis market this year with.

Speaker 2 (01:07:53):
A lot of stuff and that's great, that's great, But
where's the other stuff? You know?

Speaker 4 (01:07:58):
I do ask like if we're going to tackle one,
Like I'll be honest with you, I said this best.
There's five of the eight markets to me that we
should be like really concentrating a lot of effort on
selling tickets on. I could argue six, but the only
reason I don't, and I say this again, is because Arlington,
Texas is the home of the UFL headquarters. They're not

(01:08:20):
going anywhere because why would they leave when they have
a sweet art deal in a stadium Right there, You've
got five markets that buy you know, metrics of some
fandoms that I've discussed with. We for some feel it's
twelve k. Well, last year only two teams reached twelve
k average attendance at home, So I feel like you

(01:08:42):
should be doing a lot. And I've seen a lot
of San Antonio marketing. I've seen a lot of Michigan
marketing lately with Pablo, and I've seen a lot of
stuff with Skipper and stuff with Memphis, which is good,
but I feel like we're still leaving someones out there.
Like again, if we're complaining about Birmingham Houston as well,
I feel like you're talking as well, you know, and
I think they're just leaning on well TD you will
fix the issue.

Speaker 2 (01:09:01):
Well if nobody knows that. Nobody even knows, I know.

Speaker 4 (01:09:05):
But that's the thing, you know, if we're talking about it,
whose problem is this?

Speaker 2 (01:09:09):
Is this really a fan problem?

Speaker 4 (01:09:10):
Because again it seems like the business is choosing and
picking what it wants when in reality, you know, you
gotta shit if you want to if you want five
markets to be activated, you know, doesn't seem like they
really seen Birmingham's an issue because they aren't focusing on
that being a.

Speaker 2 (01:09:26):
Problem right now.

Speaker 4 (01:09:27):
You know, it doesn't seem like Houston's issue, even though
they were one to nine squad last year. You know,
ref be damned on his record, you know, because they
aren't seeming like that's a problem right now.

Speaker 1 (01:09:38):
So we're gonna have a new greatest game ever seen
before with the Houston Roughnecks. I'm telling you it's gonna
be twelve and h twelve people in the crowd, twelve wins.

Speaker 2 (01:09:48):
It's gonna be amazing. Long story.

Speaker 4 (01:09:50):
I can't expect your business to do better then the
fans come. It's up to them to get people, not
the fans. It's up to them. Remember this, it's my
last message I'm going to say about this through the
year because I want I'm at this point moving forward.
It's about enjoying football season. To me, anything else comes
and goes. And as I always say to people, and

(01:10:12):
you and I have talked about this so much spring football,
expect anything to happen.

Speaker 2 (01:10:16):
I enjoy.

Speaker 4 (01:10:17):
I enjoy the ride every year, and I don't expect
tomorrow unless I'm heard here about tomorrow. So always enjoy
it and support where you can. But remember it's up
to them to sell you on the ticket. It's not
up to you. Do not make this a fan issue,
make this a business issue.

Speaker 1 (01:10:34):
Well, and even to that point with the season tickets,
and I talked about this and I at you you
kind of alluded to this. I understand why you have
no choice but to make the tickets cheaper as the
season goes on, but you're screwing the season ticket holder.
And so you can't be shocked that to season tickets
are down sixty percent.

Speaker 2 (01:10:54):
When I hear you need to like have an incentive.

Speaker 4 (01:10:56):
When I hear that the Thoroughbreads group is having season
ticket holders from that group, some of them are saying,
I'm out and that's a booster club.

Speaker 2 (01:11:05):
By the way, that's that's not something I want to
hear about.

Speaker 4 (01:11:08):
Like that to me means that you're missing that something
is clearly being miss missed in the message or how
you're approaching and looking to value the season ticket holder. Again,
just the more I've been and been talking to folks
that have been through the ringer in sports business, season
ticket holders are your like gold standard. They are the
people you are, like, you treat the best possible. And

(01:11:32):
I'm not saying season single tickets aren't like that. You
still do a good job, but in the realm of
ticketing and marketing, like they're the ones you appease the most.
You answer and cater their call as much as often
the only one that's above it is like sweet buyers,
or like people that are company by sweet tickets.

Speaker 2 (01:11:49):
Otherwise, your season ticket holders, you.

Speaker 4 (01:11:51):
Treat them like freaking gods because they're the ones that
bought the whole season for you. And when you don't
do that and you cheat amount of money supposedly times,
or they feel cheated by deals, I mean, can you
blame them?

Speaker 2 (01:12:05):
Well, here's the thing, and I'll tell you.

Speaker 1 (01:12:07):
So. They sent out a survey to all the season
ticket holders across the league, right, and it may have
actually been to more than season ticket holders.

Speaker 2 (01:12:15):
It may have been to just anybody on their email list.
But I know, I know I got one. I filled
it out.

Speaker 1 (01:12:21):
I usually don't fill these things out because I feel
like these guys know my stupid opinion. We're up here
yapping and this and that. But you know what, this
time around, I'm like, I don't know if these guys
know anything about spring football, so they probably don't even
know that anybody's talking about spring football.

Speaker 2 (01:12:34):
So I'm gonna fill this damn thing out.

Speaker 1 (01:12:36):
And what I put in there is mainly what we
said is like, look, I get that you have to
run deals because you don't want an empty stadium. Because
of that, you need to give an incentive for the
season ticket holders.

Speaker 2 (01:12:46):
And it doesn't you know that. The crazy thing is
that it doesn't need to be anything insane. Like if
they literally.

Speaker 1 (01:12:53):
Just made commemorative physical tickets with like a nice printed
out schedule that they sent to all the season ticket holders, Dude,
I'm telling you that's enough for half of them.

Speaker 2 (01:13:05):
Half of them.

Speaker 1 (01:13:05):
Would be like, sweet, look at this cool thing that
I can frame. Like, you can't even get physical tickets
to most games anyway, Like you kind of have a
thing that like three weeks from now, they're not going
to run a deal and say, hey, we're going to
give you two tickets for the price one and give
you a sweater, you know, and then here's the other
thing they could do.

Speaker 2 (01:13:24):
Any of those promotions. You should get the promotion if
you're a season tickeholder.

Speaker 1 (01:13:28):
Yeah, Like if they have a promotion where you buy
one ticket, get one free, and you get a free sweater.
If you're a season ticket holder, you should get that sweater.

Speaker 4 (01:13:36):
Season ticket holder should be getting the first choice or
first run of certain things. And I think that's the
disconnect I'm warning more and more is it's like the
league is very focused on getting these in, but what
they're forgetting is that core principle, like with any sports
property in ticketing, is your season ticket holder guys should
always get the best available options. And I really feel

(01:13:59):
that disconnect showed off last year and the more I've talked,
especially the folks I know in Birmingham, it really feels
like they dropped the ball there last season. And I
feel like that's a definitely a big part of why
we have this discussion with like why aren't the tickets
going more. It's like, well, fix the problems you're making.
That is that is on you, It's not on them.

(01:14:19):
You're causing that stuff, so you know, and I think
that's why we saw certain moves. It's like, you know,
they're realizing, oh crap, we need to like find some newer,
fresh ideas or new people that have a take on
this because Apparently what we are doing is not working.
You know, it's showing itself. So that's all I got
on it. I can keep going all day. But you know,

(01:14:41):
they clearly know the issue because we've seen the moves
on this issue, and it's up to them to fix it.
It's a little late in the game for what they've
been making changes, but you know, what are you gonna do.
You got a season to operate, and you want to
start getting butts in seats, and I think people just
want to find a find a fix as soon as possible.

Speaker 1 (01:15:00):
So now here's the good news. If you're a fan
of the league. The games are still gonna be fun, right.

Speaker 2 (01:15:06):
They're still they might be a little bit more expensive,
but they're still affordable.

Speaker 1 (01:15:09):
Especially honestly, if you wait till game day, you're probably
gonna be getting in pretty affordable, right, and you can
kind of sit wherever you want. So don't be a
doomer about anything. But don't be a doomer about spring football.

Speaker 2 (01:15:24):
So Zach and I were professionals.

Speaker 1 (01:15:26):
We're professional critique artists, so we can do this without.

Speaker 2 (01:15:30):
Damaging our brains.

Speaker 1 (01:15:31):
And you know, I think I talked about this the
other day Zach, being a doomer is like a cancer
for your mind if you are like negative about it.
I know doomers in real life. I work with doomers.
I know doomers and like friends that are doomers, people
that are. There's negative about every there's always a complaint
that you're gonna, you're gonna, You're.

Speaker 2 (01:15:51):
Gonna damage your brain thinking that way.

Speaker 1 (01:15:53):
So don't do it, and just don't do it with
spring football, as you mentioned, Zach, and not even with
spring football. We saw this in twenty twenty. Anything could
happen with anything. We saw all short sports shutdown, which
I never thought I would have saw the day that
March Madness was canceled, but it happened. I don't think
that we're gonna see that with the UFL. I think

(01:16:14):
we're going to see the UFL finish out the season.
But I always just enjoy Look, we were like veterans
in this. We've been through the AAF, We've been through
the XFL, We've been through I mean even the MLFB.

Speaker 2 (01:16:25):
Baby, you know, so you know, you kind of take
every game for what it is.

Speaker 1 (01:16:32):
But I mean, I don't have any worries that the
league's not gonna make it throughout the season anything like that.

Speaker 2 (01:16:36):
But enjoy it.

Speaker 1 (01:16:37):
If you're a fan of ly, you support it in
any way that you can. And if you can't, you
can't watch it on TV, right, but enjoy the games.
The games are still gonna be good for as all
the griping is online about.

Speaker 2 (01:16:49):
Tickets, I mean it kind of takes me.

Speaker 1 (01:16:52):
Back to the argument of the Hubs people wanted fans
and stands. Yes, sure did it impact the games? Really,
the games are still fun, so I'm looking forward to that.
I'm looking forward to a twelve and oh season for
my Roughnecks. I'm looking forward to hoisting the trophy along
with them. Through hook or crook, We'll make it happen.

(01:17:15):
So anyway, we do like to be realists about things.
You know, we could hill all day at night, but
at least you know we have real.

Speaker 2 (01:17:22):
Opinions about stuff. I'm that No.

Speaker 1 (01:17:26):
For more coverage like this, make sure you check it
out Pro Footballnewsroom dot com daily.

Speaker 2 (01:17:31):
Make sure you subscribe, click the bell. It builds morrel.

Speaker 1 (01:17:34):
It also lets you know when we go live just
like every Monday with around the UFL, just like we're
going to be doing with Spring stock four March twenty eighth,
Live in Houston, Home of the Swing is and we're
going to be there to witness destiny when the Roughnecks start.

Speaker 2 (01:17:47):
They're twelve and oh season, I'm looking forward to that.
Oh wow.

Speaker 1 (01:17:52):
Follow us at UFL podcast, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok's unbanned.
It's there, it's there, we got it. It's so you know,
check it out. We're there, PF news from you know,
the drill. You can any any other final words before
we head off into the sunset.

Speaker 4 (01:18:08):
Yeah, just look seasons of season, I think for us
in terms of like tangible on the ground stuff is
finally here. Just excitement's starting to build. Get into it.
You know, it's that time again. Friday night football for
the UFL is coming up soon enough, and it's much
sooner than you think. So yeah, it's it's still exciting.

(01:18:30):
Like yeah, we had we had that, we had just
had a discussion, but like, look, still a fun time.
You know, go and have fun with it as well,
and again, let the business fix their own stuff. You
be a fan first and enjoy in the way you
want them enjoy, and let them do what they need
to do to get you to continue enjoying the product
they want you to see.

Speaker 2 (01:18:47):
Hell yeah, and on that note, sign you up.

All Episodes

2025 UFL Rule Changes, Training Camp, Championship Location & more | UFL Podcast #95

Episode Transcript

Popular Podcasts

NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal

On Purpose with Jay Shetty

Dateline NBC

.css-15opob5{left:0;position:absolute;top:0.8rem;} All Episodes

.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}2025 UFL Rule Changes, Training Camp, Championship Location & more | UFL Podcast #95