The rumored venue for the 2025 UFL Championship at Audi Field in Washington DC is no more. Sources have told UFL News Hub that due to the FIFA Club World Cup in 2025 the game can’t be played in that stadium that weekend.
The beer snake section, the weekend of June 14th, will be filled with soccer fans instead of UFL fans. The UFL Championship game is scheduled for Saturday June 14, 2025. A FIFA Club World Cup game will be played the next day on Sunday June 15th. The venue would not be able to turn around the field in time for the FIFA game the next day.
This is one of the reasons why UFL management have been sour on using MLS stadiums for UFL games in the past. There are rules in place for the fields to be at a certain condition for MLS / Soccer games. The is why the DC Defenders always play on Sunday’s at Audi field and will never play on Saturdays or even on the new Friday Night FOX time slot.
The official FIFA Club World Cup 2025 schedule has not been released to the public, however league officials have gotten word from Audi field what will happen that weekend. The UFL was waiting for official word on the FIFA Club World Cup schedule before making any UFL Championship game location announcements. Last month when the framework UFL schedule was released the Championship location was withheld for this reason.
The question now is where will the United Football League championship game take place in 2025. We are hearing from sources that Protective Stadium home of the UFL Champion Birmingham Stallions will be the location.
Other venues like the Alamo Dome in San Antonio already hosted the 2023 XFL Championship. The Dome in St Louis hosted the 2024 UFL Championship and also has an extra game slated for the 2025 season.
Based on attendance numbers Audi Field in Washington DC was next in line. The team averaged 14,000 fans per game. But given the unique situation with the FIFA World Cup, league officials had to move to the next. The Stallions were 4th in the league in attendance and averaged 10,000 fans per game.
Protective Stadium
The stadium, which opened in October 2021, has a seating capacity of 47,100. It also serves as the home field for UAB Blazers college football team. Protective Stadium previously hosted the 2024 USFL Conference Championship game. The Stallions beat the Michigan Panthers 31–18 to punch their ticket to the UFL Championship game in St Louis.
Protective Stadium features a turf field that can be covered in natural grass and is located in downtown Birmingham. The facility is part of the Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex.
The city has never hosted a modern spring football championship game before. Lets hope the weather is ok that day as the stadium needs to clear out for inclement weather which has effected games in the past.
Past Championship Locations
In 2023, the Stallions beat the Pittsburgh Maulers 28-12 at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium in Canton, Ohio. In 2022, the Stallions beat the Stars 33-30 also at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium. Both games were for the USFL Championship before their merger with the XFL in 2024.
The Stallions beat the San Antonio Brahmas 25-0 at The Dome at America’s Center in St. Louis in 2024 to become the inaugural United Football league Champion.
Regardless of where the UFL Championship game will be in 2025, will you be going? Does this change in location from Washington DC to Birmingham effect your decision. Let us know in the comments.
2 Comments
by Ken Granito
I was really looking forward to see the UFL Championship game in DC. It is the closest stadium to me in New Jersey. I attended the USFL Championship game in 2022 on Canton and thought that could also again be a good venue. That stated, I really like Birmingham. Protective Stadium is really a class stadium and I could see the city being extremely happy to host the biggest game of the year. I feel between that Birmingham and Memphis themselves we could hopefully put at least 15,000 to 20,000 fans in the stands. 20,000 would be a reasonable number, but I hope the competing teams’ home fans plus the UFL fans and community can put another 5,000 at least. So hoping to really gain traction this year and get at least 25,000 to 30,000 fans which would really give Birmingham some of the spark they thought they would get when they started this four years ago. PS, hoping for an evening game so as to avoid the heat.
by Rodney Hart
Getting from Sacramento to Birmingham is a pricey airfare, DC less so. Still, once the venue is chosen I’ll sort it out with work to make sure that weekend is clear and just keep an eye on a deal.