The only year the USFL and XFL crossed paths, 2023, was like a game of "Survivor." Everyone who followed spring football knew only one league would outwit, outlast and outplay the other. It was only a matter of when that would happen. Both leagues would poke and prod from time to time without necessarily directly mentioning the competitor. And who "won" the 2023 season was likely based on whatever metric you could choose to prove the point you wanted to make.
The end of the rivalry came sooner than most expected. It wasn't one league defeating the other or absorbing the other; rather, it was a partnering of equals. At the outset of the UFL's existence, ownership seemed very cognizant about trying not to "favor" one former brand, the USFL or XFL, over the other. After all, they needed to draw from both fanbases - and beyond - in order to thrive into the future. Management was combined as equally as possible, teams were carefully selected with the same in mind, while players and coaches were divvied up to allow many to have a chance to participate in the merged product.
Now about to enter its third season, the priority is no longer equality; it's survival. And to that end, it's become crystal clear that the XFL side has outlasted the USFL.
Last USFL exec left, turn out the lights
The biggest - and perhaps most surprising - move this off-season was the non-renewal of Daryl "Moose" Johnston's contract. Johnston had been a leader behind the scenes in the USFL, moving over to become Executive Vice President of Football Operations in the UFL. He was the public face of the UFL, doing a lot of interviews, hiring head coaches, and generally running the football ops department.
Amid the UFL's reshuffling this year, Doug Whaley - from the XFL - inherited much of Johnston's role. Working alongside him is another XFL alum, Russ Giglio, while Jim Popp, Johnston's ally from the USFL, was also shown the door. Remaining in Football Operations is David Dykeman, initially hired by the XFL in December 2021 as Director of Football Special Projects. He has worked his way up to a Vice President of Football Operations. The three regional scouts working underneath Whaley, Giglio and Dykeman - Jim Monos, Rick Mueller, and Will Lewis - all came from the XFL tree, as did Patrick Austin, former XFL Director of Team Operations, now Manager of Football Ops.
It doesn't end with that department, however. Those few public relations people that have survived the last couple years are XFL folks. How about the cities? Birmingham and Houston are the lone USFL survivors (though Houston doubled as an XFL franchise), while D.C., St. Louis, and Dallas represent the XFL (the rebrand from Roughnecks to Gamblers appears to be a rare "W" for the USFL side of things).
Zooming out, the headquarters of the UFL aren't located in Birmingham, Alabama, where the USFL was stationed; Arlington, Texas was chosen, where the XFL was based. And the UFL's hub model? They went with the XFL's version rather than that of the USFL.
Though new co-owner Mike Repole has taken on a lot of responsibility that used to belong to Russ Brandon, the former XFL head honcho remains a vital part of the management group, as Executive Vice President of Football Operations - Johnston's former job. While both Mike Pereira (USFL) and Dean Blandino (XFL) play prominent roles on gameday, it's Blandino who carries the title of Head of Officiating for the league.
A not-so-united front
After the merger, members of both sides publicly talked about how the joining together was best for the future of spring football. And they were probably right. They tried to paint a harmonious picture of the two sides uniting as one. In reality, there was tension in some areas.
According to a source with knowledge of the discussions, one of the early disagreements was in the rules package that would be introduced for the UFL. The USFL utilized the traditional kickoff, standard at the time in both the NFL and college football. The XFL, however, had been using a variation of the kickoff invented by Sam Schwartzstein and first used in the 2020 version of the league.
The source said that the split was right down party lines, with Johnston and Popp preferring the USFL's, while Whaley et al. argued for the XFL's. In the end, the traditional kickoff won out. Johnston spoke publicly about the desire for players to be trained on what the NFL was using so as to be able to show NFL scouts what they can do and potentially get signed off that tape. Sound reasoning. Until the NFL changed its kickoff to the XFL version, just as the UFL's season was about to begin, making spring football look like it was behind the curve.
Even though he had a history in both the XFL (as the Dallas Renegades Director of Player Personnel in 2020) and the USFL, some players and coaches believed that Johnston favored the USFL franchises when the leagues were blended, according to the source. There was famously the incident before the first UFL Championship between Birmingham and San Antonio where the Brahmas were prevented - by the UFL office, headed by Johnston - from signing a player after objections from the Birmingham side.
"I think Moose and Jim Popp's traditional football values clashed with the XFL leadership side, who leaned more toward innovation," the source told me. The USFL, after all, was built on franchises from the 1980s and attracted an older viewing audience. The XFL, from the time of Vince McMahon in 2001 up through the reboot in 2020 and then 2023, was about using spring football as a laboratory to move the game forward.
Anyone who has listened to Repole knows he's all about thinking outside the box. In a way, then, it makes sense that he'd trend toward the XFL side of things, who have built and rebuilt that league on innovation. "Repole's thought process was that the league (UFL) wasn't doing enough to stand out," said the source. That certainly explains some of the decisions that have been made since he took over.
What's in a name?
I'm only half-kidding when I say this, but all of this almost makes you wonder if the league should just change its name back to the XFL.
Let's face it, the UFL has not caught on as a brand. Pat McAfee, one of the most prominent sports podcasters, jokingly refers to the league as the "USXFL." When A.J. McCarron was named head coach of the Birmingham Stallions, ESPN Cincinnati Bengals reporter Ben Baby posted on X/Twitter that McCarron would coach "the XFL's Birmingham Stallions." Yes, that's the same ESPN that has an ownership stake in the UFL.
The XFL is embedded in the sports zeitgeist in a much stronger way than the UFL. While 2001 was a disaster in many ways, it's now seen as a curio; nostalgia and propaganda (ESPN's documentary, for one) have been kind to it. The gold standard for spring football was the XFL in 2020, which seemed on its way to tremendous success before COVID-19 hit and owner Vince McMahon made the decision to shut it down.
Some may choose to write off these opinions as the musings of an XFL fan, so of COURSE he's going to take the XFL side. Fair - I have covered every version of the XFL and did not cover the USFL. But when third party entrepreneurs like Repole come onto the scene and reshuffle the deck in favor of those with XFL backgrounds, it becomes more difficult to write off as bias fandom at play. It's also a series of moves that are tough to write off as coincidence, either. Did the XFL side outwit the USFL side? Maybe. Outplay? Probably. Outlast? Definitely. In the game of spring football "Survivor," the tribe has spoken and the XFL is the one left standing.