The UFL will not bring the Birmingham Stallions back for the 2027 season. AL.com's Roy S. Johnson reported the decision on Thursday, July 30, 2026. Pro Football Newsroom confirmed it through league sources.
The Stallions played five seasons in Birmingham. They won three league titles and posted a 37-13 record. The league is ending the run over the stadium and the gate.
The League Cited the Stadium and the Business Model
Jefferson County Commission Chair Jimmie Stephens said the league told him the venue was the issue.
"They said the stadium didn't provide the atmosphere they were seeking and did not fit in their business model," Stephens told AL.com.
Stephens said the outcome bothers him, since the county built a facility that opened in 2021.
Protective Stadium seats 47,000. The Stallions have played there since the venue opened. UFL co-owner Mike Repole has pointed at that number for a year. He posted on July 22 that the league is building around "smaller stadiums, packed houses, real energy and a true home field atmosphere." He wrote that he had a hard time seeing the league back at Protective Stadium next year.
The Hoover Metropolitan Complex, which holds about 15,000, was raised as an option. That site is out for 2027. UAB's soccer venue holds 5,000. Huntsville sits 90 minutes away.
Attendance Fell Through the 2026 Season
Birmingham's home gate dropped week to week.
Week 4 vs. Orlando Storm: 18,340 (home opener, paired with a Gucci Mane concert)
Week 5 vs. DC Defenders: 8,120
Week 7 vs. Dallas Renegades: 4,705
Week 8 vs. Columbus Aviators: 4,824
Week 10 vs. Houston Gamblers: 5,253
The trend runs back further. The Stallions averaged about 10,192 in 2024 and about 8,800 in 2025. That 2025 figure filled 19 percent of the stadium. Repole set a target of 15,000 per home game. In August 2025 he asked Birmingham for 5,000 season ticket deposits in a week.
The 2026 Season Ended the Streak
A.J. McCarron took over as head coach on December 18, 2025, replacing Skip Holtz. Birmingham finished 4-6. It was the first losing season and the first playoff miss in team history.
The Stallions lost 16-0 to the expansion Orlando Storm in Week 4. That was the first regular season shutout in UFL history. A 26-13 loss to Houston in Week 10 ended their playoff chances.
Birmingham won the USFL title in 2022 and 2023 and the first UFL championship in 2024. The team went 7-3 in 2025 and did not win a title.
Birmingham Was the Last USFL Name Standing
The 2022 USFL fielded eight teams. Four survived the 2024 merger with the XFL: Birmingham, Houston, Memphis, and Michigan. The New Jersey Generals, Philadelphia Stars, Pittsburgh Maulers, and Tampa Bay Bandits did not.
The survivors have gone one at a time. The Michigan Panthers and the Memphis Showboats folded after the 2025 season. The UFL sent their players to the expansion Columbus Aviators and Louisville Kings in a January 2026 redistribution. The league treats Columbus, Louisville, and Orlando as new franchises. They do not inherit the records of the teams they replaced.
That leaves Birmingham and Houston. Birmingham is out after 2026.
Houston is the last one, with an asterisk. The franchise took the Roughnecks name, history, and social media accounts in the 2024 merger and played two seasons as the Roughnecks. The UFL announced on October 7, 2025 that the team would go back to the Gamblers name for 2026 and move to Shell Energy Stadium.
So the Gamblers name is back on the field, but it sat out 2024 and 2025. Birmingham is the only USFL team that carried its own name every season from 2022 through 2026.
The Houston rebrand did not move the gate. The Gamblers averaged 5,683 in 2026, last in the UFL. That figure is close to what Houston drew in 2025 under the Roughnecks name, in a different stadium. Houston set a season low of 4,880 in Week 4 and then dropped to 4,409 in Week 7.
Birmingham averaged 8,248 in 2026. St. Louis led the league at 23,239.
The Hiring Board Signaled It First
The UFL careers board pointed at this outcome two weeks before the report.
On July 22 the league posted a Head of Business Operations (Team) job and listed seven markets: Columbus, Dallas, DC, Houston, Louisville, Orlando, and St. Louis. Birmingham is a 2026 UFL market. It had no posting. The role pays $130,000 to $235,000 and runs local ticketing, sponsorship, marketing, community relations, and game day for the 2027 season.
The league office kept hiring against a count of eight. A VP, Ticket Sales & Service posting on July 27 refers to the league's eight markets and to eight team-level Directors of Ticket Sales & Service. A Sr. Director, Brand & Team Marketing posting the same week covers the league and all eight teams. Both list expansion for 2028 and beyond.
That gap held for eight days: eight seats in the league office plan, seven markets named at the team level.
Mike Repole invested in the UFL in July 2025. His firm, Impact Capital, runs the league's business operations out of White Plains, New York. That group cut the market-level team business roles for the 2026 season and started hiring them back this month.
Where the Eighth Market Could Go
The UFL has eight teams. The league has not announced where the eighth one plays in 2027. It moved three teams to new cities ahead of the 2026 season, so it has done this before.
Repole named candidate markets on the Pat McAfee Show on April 28. Pat McAfee asked him about the league's Oklahoma City announcement. Repole answered: "Austin, Salt Lake, Omaha, Albuquerque, who knows maybe New York City."
He gave two filters on that appearance. He said spring football has more room to grow in markets that do not already share fans with an NFL team. Four of his five picks fit that filter. New York City does not, which is why he hedged on it. He also said he wants soccer-size venues in the 15,000 to 25,000 range, and that the smaller the stadium, the easier it is to fill. He pointed to Louisville's Lynn Family Stadium, which holds about 15,000 and sold out on opening night.
Those are the same two filters that ran Birmingham out. Protective Stadium seats 47,000 and drew 4,705 in Week 7.
One point to keep straight: those five cities are candidates for 2028 expansion, not confirmed replacements for Birmingham in 2027.
Oklahoma City Is Already Locked for 2028
The league announced on April 9 that it will place a team in Oklahoma City for the 2028 season. That team will play at the MAPS 4 Multipurpose Stadium, which holds more than 10,000 and opens in early 2028. The team has no nickname yet.
That move takes the UFL to 10 teams in 2028. The second 2028 expansion market has not been named. Repole has said the league is targeting 16 teams by 2035.
"Oklahoma lives and breathes football, so bringing the UFL to Oklahoma City was an easy decision," Repole said in the league's release.
UFL President and CEO Russ Brandon said in the same release: "Oklahoma City has long been one of the most glaring vacancies on the professional football map."
Oklahoma City is an addition, not a Birmingham replacement. It arrives a year after the 2027 season that Birmingham will miss.
What Happens Next
McCarron's status is open. Repole has said he wants coaches with ties to their local market.
BJCC CEO Tad Snider said on July 23 that the authority had not received direct communication from the UFL about the team's future at Protective Stadium. WBRC reported Thursday that it had not heard back from the league, the city, or the BJCC.
Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin issued a statement: "Birmingham has been home to the Stallions since 2022. We have been proud to see the team's success on the field and its growth in the market over that time. We wish the organization well."
The UFL has not posted a statement to its official news feed.