Sports Illustrated Anthony Miller broke news last week that UFL Vice President of Communications Jeffrey Altstadter is no longer with the league. The article stated that Altstadter and the UFL had mutually parted ways.
A source informed SI.com that the vice president of communications Jeffrey Altstadter and the league have mutually parted ways with each other. No replacement has been announced.
Things must have changed recently because three weeks ago, he posted the following on LinkedIn.
“I am so proud of what we accomplished in our first year as a combined entity.
Now, we can improve, excel, and challenge the norms.
The future of the UFL is bright.
Sources told UFL News Hub that at the beginning of the XFL/USFL merger Altstadter name was one that had a 50/50 chance of being part of the new merged United Football League. With former USFL Vice President of Communications Darryn James in the mix as well. At the time of the merger, the feeling behind the scenes was that James would be the guy. In the end, the UFL went with Altstadter.
The XFL originally hired Altstadter as the Vice President of Communications in August of 2022. Before the XFL he spent 10 years with the NHL’s New Jersey Devils, 9+ years with the United States Golf Association (USGA) and one year with PointsBet before joining the XFL.
The knock we heard from sources was he was “too much of a Golf guy” and not a Football guy. The question now is who will replace him. Here are the names we heard are in the mix.
A return of Darryn James to Spring Football since he has strong ties with the USFL side of the house in FOX Sports. St Louis Battlehawks Director Team Communication and Media Relations Brian Stull. He is the media person for the most successful franchise in the UFL.
We hear UFL Director of Communications and Media Relations Bianca Gamez as an outside possibility. This would be a promotion for her. The league could also bring in someone outside the Spring Football world from FOX Sports to save some money, but that is seeming less likely.
Former XFL 2.0 Senior Vice President of Communications and Media Relations Stephanie Rudnick is now based out of Australia so a return for her is very unlikely as well. A lot of the former XFL 2.0 people are no longer with the UFL so her connection with people at the top of the league is slim.
Who ever the UFL decides to bring in, they must have a background in Football and a keen eye of the changing landscape of media globally. Things are a lot different now then they were even two years ago. An approach of the old ways of doing PR will fail.
