UFL co-owner Mike Repole last week announced the Columbus Aviators at Historic Crew Stadium, detailing a “local hero strategy” giving Columbus priority on players within a 100-mile radius, explaining his vision of “arena football outdoors,” setting ticket price targets under $200 for families, and stating his goal is for players to leave the league after one year to reach the NFL.
Repole also revealed he has rule changes planned that he has not yet shared with league officials. The announcement opened with a video message from John Gruden.
John Gruden Opens Press Conference via Video
The event began with a surprise video message from former NFL coach John Gruden.
“Hey boys. Oh, yeah. Let’s go. Let’s go. Let’s see you guys. This is John Gruden here. I’m an Ohio Buckeye. I love Ohio State. I went to date. But I just heard the NFL has got a new team, the Columbus Aviators, man. That is so exciting. They’re going to be playing at the historic Cruise Stadium. What a unbelievable time this is for the NFL to join forces with Columbus, Ohio. Let’s go, Aviators.”
Gruden’s involvement shows the UFL is leveraging his connection to Barstool Sports and his appeal to younger audiences. Repole had previously indicated Gruden would be involved with the league in some capacity, whether as a coach or in marketing. This video message suggests he is helping promote the league’s expansion.
The “Local Hero Strategy” – 100-Mile Radius Rule
Repole detailed plans to stock the Aviators roster with Ohio State and regional college players.
“The biggest thing we’re going to do is within In a 100-mile radius, every player that comes out of the Ohio State program, their first… If they want to continue playing football, they’ll be playing here. If not, every team within a 100-mile radius… There were other colleges, obviously, we’re going to try to get as many Ohio State players, I don’t know, 20 or 25, graduate every year, maybe 10 or 15 get drafted. I don’t know if six or seven make it. But how many of those? What do you call it? The Local Hero strategy. We already have a quarterback from Ohio State. Now, hopefully, he’ll go to some of his ex-teamates, hopefully guys that can catch the ball and run a little bit, and that’s it.”
Repole used the term “local hero strategy” to describe giving Columbus priority on players from schools within a 100-mile radius. Cardale Jones, the team ambassador and former Ohio State national championship quarterback, is the first example.
The strategy aims to put 20-25 former Buckeyes on the roster to create immediate fan connections. This is more specific than what he told other outlets – he confirmed a 100-mile radius rule. This is a tactic he used for his other brands thought the years. it is not about local media, TV Commercials or press releases, its about influencers.
Rule Changes Coming That Even CEO Doesn’t Know About
Repole revealed he has plans to modify rules but is keeping them secret for now.
“We’re going to have some rule changes, which I haven’t told Russ about or other ones that are in my head I haven’t shared yet. We want to have some things that are going to be fun. We have to be different. We have to be different. These moves to these venues is just 1% of what difference is. We’re going to do something really, really special.”
This suggests Repole has plans for rule modifications to differentiate the UFL from the NFL, but he is keeping them secret even from league CEO Russ Brandon. The comment that moving to smaller stadiums is “just 1% of what difference is” implies significant changes are coming to gameplay, presentation, or league structure.
See Greg Parks article on UFL Football Ops and Repole.
Goal is for Players to Leave After One Year
Repole set expectations for player development and tenure in the league.
“For me, when I see the Columbus Aviators, and I talk to the Columbus Aviators, and I talk to the 60 players that are on this team, my goal is for me not to have them back here next year. Our goal is for them to go to the next level. In a couple of years, I want to watch the NFL, and I want to see 500 players that came through the XFL. Well, not that I said XFL because that’s what Ross said, and the NFL. I want to see them come out and know that they came through this either one year, two years, and three years. I don’t want to be harsh because I was saying, think big, dream bigger. But if in three years, you can’t, we can’t, and you can’t get to the next level, then you know what? You might be 24, 25. It might be, think about coaching.”
Repole’s goal is annual roster turnover because players should be moving up to the NFL. This positions the UFL as a true developmental league rather than a permanent alternative. His comment about telling 24-year-olds to consider coaching after three years shows he expects rapid player development or career transitions.
This angle, I get what he is trying to say, but this is something the fans are not buying into. The best players not in the NFL should be in the UFL, regardless of age.. Full Stop
Teams Will Stay 10 Days for Back-to-Back Home Games
Repole detailed plans for increased player presence in host cities.
“Early within the first five games of the regular season, when Columbus has a home-to-home, back-to-back season, we’ll get them on a Thursday, Friday, and they’ll stay 10 straight days, work with the mayor, community work, go meet kids in school, go out there. We might have a Friday fan fest here the weekend before the game. We really want to be part of the local community. You can’t be this national football brand in Allington, headquartered in maybe Connecticut or New York. I don’t even know if we have a headquarters, and then just not be here.”
The hub model keeps costs down by having all teams practice in Arlington, Texas during the week. However, for back-to-back home games, Columbus will host its team for 10 straight days to build community connections.
This addresses the criticism that spring leagues feel disconnected from their host cities. The Friday fan fest idea suggests the league is planning significant pre-game events.
Ticket Prices: Family of 5 for Under $200
Repole confirmed specific pricing targets for affordability.
“I mean, ticket prices to me are so important. I mean, if it’s a pro game, and I don’t know how it is with the Ohio State, I mean, family of four or five, parking is going to be more expensive than one of our tickets. To me, if the ticket price It could be anywhere between $25 and $75. Hopefully, a family of five comes in here for under $200. They get a great time, great experience, great football. Not only they come back next time, they come back with two other families of of 15.”
The $25-$75 ticket range with a $200 total cost for a family of five positions the UFL well below NFL and major college football pricing. Repole’s emphasis on repeat attendance with additional families suggests the business model prioritizes building a fan base over maximizing per-game revenue.
The Vision: Arena Football Outdoors
Repole explained his core strategic concept for the league.
“So now, what was the vision that I spoke to my team with? How do we do arena football outdoors? 10 years ago, these stadiums, the Orlando Stadium was built in 2017. I think Costaura Cruise Stadium in Columbus was built in 2014. This stadium was built in 2019. The ability now that you can take football and play inside these amazing soccer facilities is really, really special.”
“When you put football in a stadium like this, there isn’t a bad seat. The worst seat here is the best seat I’ve had in my life until about 10 years ago. It’s amazing. And the action of football where there’s a big play every play, whether it’s a hit, whether it’s a sack, whether it’s a fumble, whether it’s a touch down, that’s going to play so well here.”
The “arena football outdoors” concept captures Repole’s entire stadium strategy. He noted that 10 years ago these venues did not exist, which explains why previous spring football attempts failed.
His claim that the worst seat at Crew Stadium is better than most seats he has ever had shows why he believes the intimate venue works for football.
Summary
Mike Repole announced the Columbus Aviators at Historic Crew Stadium with a video message from John Gruden opening the event. Repole detailed a “local hero strategy” giving Columbus priority on players within a 100-mile radius, with plans to stock the roster with 20-25 former Ohio State players.
He revealed he has rule changes planned that he has not yet shared with league CEO Russ Brandon, saying the stadium moves are “just 1% of what difference is.”
Repole stated his goal is for players not to return after one year because they should be moving up to the NFL, and told players if they cannot reach the next level after three years they should consider coaching. He explained the “arena football outdoors” vision, noting these soccer-specific stadiums did not exist when past spring leagues failed. Teams will stay in Columbus for 10 days during back-to-back home games for community engagement. Ticket prices will range from $25-$75 with a target of under $200 for a family of five.
Cardale Jones, the 2014 national championship quarterback, was announced as team ambassador. The Columbus Aviators will play five home games starting in spring 2026.
7 Comments
by 4th&long
Mark,
You are taking what Repole said WAYYYYYY TO Seriously. He was joking about the Stadium swap to where the Columbus Crew play in Downtown as if the Crew will be subordinate to the Aviators.
He was just busting around with Crew brass – it was totally a joke.
He was also joking with Russ Brandon on the rules changes. Sure he’s got ideas but its a league decision.
Same with the 20-25 Ohio St Buckeyes on the Aviators… He was just trying to make the point that local team known heros will be playing with some kind of yet to be determined rules.
Again don’t take it all so literally, directionally ? yes but he’s throwing out his ideas and wants reactions, he’s making a splash. And as far as the stadium swap? That’s totally a joke on the Crew team’s management/ownership.
by Johnny the Angry Fuzzball
The comment about secret rule changes deeply unsettles me.
Repole purchased a stake in this league and his role was specifically as business director, which is not tied to football operations or the on-field product. He has zero business getting involved in rule changes; that’s not what he was hired to do. He is not the majority or even plurality owner of this league: Gerry Cardinale and Lachlan Murdoch hold larger stakes.
This may be a very Buffalo-specific trivia moment but once upon a time in the early 1980s a guy named Bob Allen bought a minority stake in a rimshot radio station outside Buffalo and was installed as general manager. Within a year, he was in a power struggle with the majority owner and ended up in a nasty feud that culminated in him hijacking his own station. That’s the same kind of scenario that Repole could end up doing if he’s not put in his specific place. He hasn’t been given carte blanche to change everything. He was put in charge of BUSINESS operations. Not the football product.
by 4th&long
Nothing FB wise getting changed w/o all on board, but change can be good. Repole is looking for excitement – lets see what he’s got.
by Gary Winter
I’m just curious about the 100 mile rule, if it happens. So, while some teams like Columbus draw from Ohio State and Ohio University and Louisville draws from Louisville University and possibly Kentucky for example, who does St. Louis draw from? Lindenwood University?!? Mizzou and Southeast Missouri are both over 100 miles, sooo… I’m not sure what’s near DC, Dallas, Houston, Orlando or Birmingham but maybe putting an actual number on the distance could be revisited to areas and not specific distances.
If this is simply to help increase attendance, maybe the UFL could simply advertise in the other areas besides just the 3 new cities. We dropped in attendance last year in St. Louis by a few thousand per game on average. This doesn’t happen for no reason. I don’t know how many season tickets have been sold to date here but it would be nice to see an ad on TV or an interview or two on the local news at some point. Season tickets would sure make a nice Christmas present!
by Ken Granito
I think if we want to start talking about Ohio State players to sign, we cannot start talking about players who didn’t even make a NFL tryout. If the UFL wants to be taken seriously we need to look at signing Austin Mack or Binjimen Victor players that are bonafide professional players. e.g. Let’s say the Panthers move to Columbus and they re-sign Bryce Perkins and Siaosi Mariner. With Malik Turner being back in the NFL Austin Mack could slide right in if healthy. These are just ideas. I agree that it is nice to give Columbus players they can identify with, but make them players that can thrive, not players that aren’t in demand.
by Ken Granito
Just some thoughts as Mike Repole asked. As I have stated on multiple occasions. First of all I love that Repole is a man of hard work. It’s amazing to me what he has gotten done in a short time. The league had grown very stagnant.
As Mike Repole has stated many times in the press conferences bringing on new teams football is the best sport. He bought into this league because he feels there is so much untapped potential. I agree with him. Last year’s AFC championship game had 57.7 millions viewers. I did not include the Super Bowl, because about half of those people are not football fans. So that means there are 57.7 million football fans of which the UFL has about 1 million. I understand football is best played in the cold and the UFL is going away from that model, but to only have 1 million shows a grossly inadequate way of running a league. I feel that if you do this league right you could double the amount of UFL fans with little additional investment.
1. You asked about scores. The score of the UFL Championship game was awful. That stated based on the rules that were in place at the time, meaning at least it was real. The Panthers were down multiple cornerbacks and the Defenders Jordan Ta’amu and that excellent receiving crew took advantage. It was a great triumph on their behalf. That stated that needs to be the extraordinary, not the ordinary. That can’t happen every week or it just won’t be American football. With that, you need to start bringing real football back. IF a punter downs you within the 5 yard, the teams starts from where the ball was. It is not moved to the 35. You don’t come up with some BS rule that was never a football rule before because you want to promote offense. So for the rules, I always like a 27-24 game. It gives the offense and opportunity to make some plays, but also gives the defense and opportunity to make a difference. IF a defense plays a great game they should be able to hold opponents to 7 or 10. Plus it would help NFL football fans to recognize the game of football and not that this is arena football.
2. Please note, I feel the league helped the Battlehawks all season, but mostly after they sat @ 2-2 and were in danger in missing the playoffs. I have written this over and over. I feel most people don’t like to even fathom the league would do this. They want to believe it SO little that fans stick their heads in the artificial turf and spew hatred at me for even suggesting it. Those of us that know football, know it happened. You don’t even need to confirm it for me, just please don’t do it again. First, this looks awful, because you own the WHOLE LEAGUE and feel you would make a higher profit at the dome. IF you call it fair and the Battlehawks host a playoff game, hey whatever you do at least you can sleep at night. Last year that did not happen. You know it and I know it. And worse Anthony Becht knows it.
The #1 way to easily double that fanbase is to stop stuff like that. Like you said, Mr Repole football is a huge sport and you have 1/60th of the marketplace. You have 1.7% of the marketplace. 1.7 percent of the football marketplace feels what you have done is ok tells themselves this football is not real. It’s not worth their time and about 35% (I might be trying . The other 98.3%to be conservative here.) of the time they are right. Make football real. Call the games based on the football. Make it important to win a game. Last year the Showboats were trying to win a game and the league’s legacy leading receiver was hurt and they were asking the coach what play they were going to call. The game was on the line. They couldn’t even realize that the player who had almost 100 yards receiving in the second half was not on the field due to injury. Even high school football on some local cable station would have brought that up. To televise a program that proves you can do this on a football show is not what you are looking for, because that leads to 700k – 800k viewers. You need to catch the essence of football. Good sportsmanship and who wins makes a huge difference. The league is so caught up in itself that they have physically been able to do this, that they forgot the football.
3. Bring back the extra point kick option. Keep the XFL options, but add a kick from the 2. A 1 point play should be from the 1 and 2 point play from the 2. The 3 point play should be from the 7. Overall, I understand what you have done with the XFL format. It’s actually better and more thought provoking for a coach to determine the PAT options, however, more than half the plays result in no points. That becomes anticlimactic to the touchdown that was just scored. What the offense is on the sidelines and they show the kick go through the uprights, like Ricardo Montalban on Fantasy Island, smiles everybody, smiles. However, in the 1% the kicker misses you have drama, because the coach will have to decide whether they go for two or play catch up the whole time. Believe me the drama of yesterday’s game is real. On top of feeling horrible, because his team lost his literal career might be in jeopardy. Although the kickoff has worked the XFL way, I do favor the USFL style. Think about this. Not only is it better, but the onside kick could be brought back from extinction and become a viable special teams play. I like the 4th and 12 play, but maybe limit how many times you could use it. The Defenders’ defenders were so exhausted the Panthers could have come back and won that championship game.
4. Bring back the USFL style of booth call. I saw most of the 2023 USFL season and they made every right call except for one. This will make the UFL the very best football league in the US for gameplay. Talk to Mike Pereira & Daryl Johnston. They got it done.
5. Two feet makes a reception in pro football, always. How do bubble NFL players play in the UFL and develop bad happens like 1 foot is a catch. I don’t like to call the UFL a Developmental league, but I think players need to develop and developing into NFL caliber players is what you are looking for.
6. I like Mike Nolan in Columbus. He is the stylish, but hardwork and no bs, which Columbus should love. Plus the players he attracts the Columbus fanbase would love. You need to hit in Columbus. I think they would love Mike Nolan’s squad. Don’t worry I think they have a name or a couple of names in mind when it comes to Orlando.
7. Keep a hard line on tackling out of bounds. You need to start the tackle before you cross the out of bounds marker. We can’t have players getting injured on plays that don’t matter. Hitting should be intimidating, but should be limited to legal hits that are made in the field of play.
Lastly, Keep announcers focused on the score and not the upcoming play call is and that you (the UFL) are so cool, because you can force a coach/player to tell you and the whole world what the next play call is going to be. Saying this is amazing and tooting the UFL’s horn is not what the announcers are supposed to be doing. You want a pat on the back do something nice at your church and announce it so someone tells you what a good job you have done. You are a football league. Make the football real. Make it about football.
This is my point of view, but I feel you have done a great job building a place to make the UFL the best place for football. I think you are right on the numbers. There are so many fans out there. You don’t need gimmicks, you need to make real football, then when you say what a great product you have you will be able to market it knowing that it is so. I strongly believe that, IF you build it, they will come.
by He Hate Me
Please bring back the USFL traditional kickoff format. The XFL/NFL weird style kickoff format is BORING to watch. It’s so boring I don’t even pay attention.