In spring football, the term "home field advantage" in the playoffs is more of an aspirational goal rather than a practical matter. The latest victim of earning a home playoff game and not actually getting it is the Orlando Storm, whose Inter&Co Stadium will be used for World Cup activities, preventing them from hosting against D.C. The UFL has already announced that the game will be played on a neutral field in Columbus.
When Mike Repole came in as co-owner, one of his core philosophies was to find stadiums that would provide more intimate settings and also be good partners with the league. Well, one out of two isn't bad. The league downsizing its stadium inventory helped with the setting both in-person and on television. But it didn't help an issue that has lingered for the last few years: The inability to secure home playoff dates for teams that have earned them.
This is a situation where it's easy to blame the UFL - and Repole profusely apologized to Orlando fans on social media, claiming the league exhausted its options in the region before ultimately moving the game up north - but in reality, the league doesn't have a lot of leverage here. For most of the stadiums, UFL teams are not the primary tenant, and therefore have to play second fiddle, usually to MLS teams. It's the cost of doing business.
In this case, it's a unique situation as the World Cup doesn't happen every year. And you can't blame the stadium as they're not going to pass up the money and prestige that likely comes with hosting a game. Unless the UFL wants to build stadiums themselves for their teams to play in - and I won't hold my breath waiting for that - they're going to get the scheduling scraps.
It's why San Antonio had to play a "home" game in St. Louis last year, and Audi Field and Ford Field were both otherwise occupied come playoff time. It's why San Antonio had to play in St. Louis in the 2024 XFL Conference Championship despite being the higher seed. UFL fans are upset and I understand why: They felt that with the stadium changes, team movement and new cities, we'd moved beyond these issues. Yet, the UFL continues to get the short end of the stick.
Repole and the league have received a lot of negative attention for this from fans online, but it's difficult to place the blame on them. They could try to play hardball in negotiating leases with these stadiums but again, the leverage just isn't there. The UFL is not a well-known enough commodity that makes enough revenue for these stadiums to kowtow to the UFL's needs.
Repole came in as co-owner looking to solve a lot of the big problems the UFL has encountered. Even he, with all the changes made on the venue side of things, is no match for the reality of the situation: Until the time comes when the UFL is a significant profit center for these stadiums, they will always be a guest, subject to the whims of those scheduling events for the venues.