The UFL named four new markets on September 23. Rhode Island and Colorado join for the 2027 season. Utah and Oklahoma follow in 2028, which takes the league to 10 teams.
UFL co-owner Mike Repole explained the thinking the same day in a Front Office Sports interview with Dan Roberts. Roberts opened with a New Englander's question: does Pawtucket need a UFL team?
"Let's not forget the Patriots play in Foxborough, right?" Repole answered. "They're not playing in Providence or Boston."
Right Market, Right Venue
Repole kept coming back to stadium size. He pointed to the three soccer venues the league used in 2026, in Louisville, Columbus and Orlando.
"Football in these smaller venues, more people, sold-out crowds. It's just the energy, the vibe, the excitement's great."
On Pawtucket, he laid out the map. "It's 45 minutes south of Boston, 10 minutes from Providence, and probably an hour and a half from Hartford," he said.
The Rhode Island team will play at Centreville Bank Stadium, a 10,000-seat venue that opened in 2025, per the Boston Globe. Colorado will play at Weidner Field in Colorado Springs. Axios reports that it seats about 8,000, the smallest venue in the league, and that the two new teams replace Birmingham and Houston. That keeps the UFL at eight teams in 2027.
"There's something about these intimate stadiums for the fans, the experience, the way it sounds and looks on TV," Repole added.
Is It Working?
Roberts asked if more fans are following the UFL since Repole took over the branding and marketing. Repole pointed to the numbers.
"When I came in, it was 3 years of lower attendance, lower ratings, and lower merch, and you name it. And every metric went the other way. Attendance was up, viewership was up. We had 12 games over a million viewers."
Here is the public record on 2026. The United Bowl drew a sellout crowd of 19,023 at Audi Field, where Louisville beat DC 27-20. Sports Media Watch counted a season average of 674,000 viewers, up 1% from 2025, with six windows over one million. Awful Announcing reported regular season attendance down 20%, to 10,501 per game.
Cities Are Calling
Repole said the league did not pick from a short list.
"We really interviewed 10 markets and we probably could have went to 8 or 9 of them. We looked at the fan base, we looked at the market, we looked at the venue."
He compared that to two years ago. "2 years ago, we were hoping these venues would keep us in," he said. "Now that we're getting calls from all these other cities that are looking for a team, that are looking for spring football."
The league announced Oklahoma City on April 9. That team will play at the MAPS 4 Multipurpose Stadium, which is still under construction. Utah will play at America First Field in Sandy.
Repole also set a long-term target. "I want 16 teams by 2034," he said. "I'm looking to get into growth mode and build mode and I think we're there."
The LSU Question
Roberts asked about Dae'Quan Wright and Zxavian Harris. The two played in the NFL preseason and then tried to return to LSU. LSU kept them off its roster for its Clemson game in early September. Could they land in the UFL?
"We're a pro league, right? At the end of the day, anybody who plays in the United Football League shouldn't be able to go back to college, right? We pay our players," Repole said.
He then turned to players moving up to the NFL. He brought up Tay Martin of the Columbus Aviators, who earned a game ball from Dan Campbell after Detroit's Week 1 overtime win over New Orleans.
"If we lose 10 or 15 players a year to the NFL, I enjoy watching them on Sunday," Repole said.
The league said on August 24 that more than 100 UFL alumni were under NFL contract, with 69 of them from the 2026 season.
What's Next
The new teams get their names soon. Rhode Island unveils its identity on October 18. Colorado follows on October 25, per the UFL.
Rhode Island hosts its first home game on April 2, 2027, on FOX. Colorado opens at Weidner Field on April 11 on ABC, at 6,035 feet above sea level.
Utah and Oklahoma City start play in 2028.