The UFL released its week-by-week schedule for 2026 today. Single-game tickets were initially slated to go on sale today as well; however, fans will have to wait a little longer. An e-mail from the league was sent on Wednesday pushing that date back until February 2.
With the schedule now out, here are six of the most intriguing matchups for the upcoming season.
Week 1 – Birmingham at Louisville, Friday March 27, 8pm EST
The first game of the year and a return to Friday nights. The UFL struggled to attract viewers in this timeslot, so we’ll get a chance right away to see if they’ve improved at all in that regard. A new market gets the first home game, so we’ll also see what the excitement level is in a city that has usually drawn pretty high TV ratings for spring football. It’s the first game for new head coaches A.J. McCarron and Chris Redman, both of whom will want to set the tone for their squads out of the gate.
Week 1 – Houston at Dallas, Saturday March 28, 4pm EST
The UFL shaved one Texas team off the map for 2026, leaving just two, which becomes the lone in-state rivalry in the league. And they get after it right away in week one. Despite not being a heated competition quite yet, you can bet the UFL will build up the matchup as such leading into week one, with the hopes that it develops into a battle between fanbases at some point down the line.
Week 2 – St. Louis at Dallas, Tuesday April 7, 8pm EST
Hearkening back to the odd scheduling of XFL 2023, the UFL has brought back a Tuesday night game. It’s one of three games the Battlehawks and Renegades will play in the span of 15 days to start the regular season – a difficult path with which to open. This will test the conditioning of both right away, which could change up how their head coaches operate training camp. Attendance and ratings will be watched closely as well for this day to see if Tuesdays may be a viable option in the future.
Week 4 – Orlando at Birmingham, Sunday April 18, 4pm EST
The matchup everybody wanted to see as soon as McCarron was named head coach in Birmingham. It was a messy breakup between the QB and the St. Louis Battlehawks after the 2024 season, with McCarron even throwing out the idea of joining a new team for 2025 just to stick it to his former head coach, Anthony Becht, whom he criticized in the handling of his release. The cameras will no doubt be tuned in to the post-game handshake. But it won’t be the only time the coaches will stand on opposite sidelines: This match will be replayed two weeks later, in week six.
Week 6 – Dallas at D.C., Saturday May 2, 12pm EST
These two teams played in two high-scoring affairs last year in games that were separated by seven combined points. D.C. came out on top in both on their way to a UFL Championship. Both gunslinging quarterbacks, Jordan Ta’amu and Luis Perez, return for 2026. The offenses of Dallas and D.C. return a healthy number of skill position players, so we could be in for a treat once again when they get together.
Week 6 – St. Louis at Louisville, Thursday April 30, 8pm EST
A few Thursday night games were added to the schedule this year, and the most prestigious one is the weekend of the Kentucky Derby. The UFL press release made note that this would start a tradition of Louisville hosting a game that weekend, likely trying to take advantage of the thousands of people in town for the Derby. In theory, this could be one of the best-attended non-Battlehawks games of the year. Horse racing is one of co-owner Mike Repole’s businesses, so it’s no surprise he would try to tie the two together here.
