Some of the United Football League’s most recognizable and accomplished veterans went public earlier this week with explosive claims that they are being blacklisted. This development was clearly foreshadowed several months ago when new co-owner Mike Repole stated the league is not a place for players who linger around for four or five years. The UFL has not responded to these claims as of yet.
Former Birmingham Stallions running back Ricky Person Jr., a 2-time spring football champion who led the UFL in rushing touchdowns in 2024 posted on X: “I’m getting black balled I would love if stallion nation could back me up I’ve had multiple teams reach out and try to sign me but the league isn’t allowing me to play but this the league of opportunity?”
Linebacker Frank “the Tank” Ginda, whose own name has been a staple in spring football, followed suit stating, “Blacklisting us is INSANE. I have 3 UFL teams’ HCs, DCs, 1 of the GMs, & LB coaches all frustrated because they been fighting hard to sign me but the league is not allowing for no reason. As of very recent, TWO of the HCs has been literally begging on multiple occasions @TheUFL”.
Linebacker Scooby Wright III, a cornerstone of the Stallions dynasty, added: “It’s crazy watching a dynasty you helped build fall into shambles……” and revealed he tried to get involved on the media side but “didn’t even get a phone call back.”
My Prediction from November
Back in November 2025, I published an article titled “UFL’s Shift From Pro League to NFL Temp Agency is Recipe for Fan Disengagement.” I argued that the league’s structural changes, including the termination of all eight general managers and the centralization of roster decisions under a single office, were not steps in the right direction but would lead to turning a promising professional league into a glorified developmental pipeline.
In November I wrote:
“If it’s not a league that is worthwhile for long-term presences from professional players, why would it be a worthwhile product for long-term fan interest?”
“Repole’s candid remarks… underscore this temp agency-like mindset. He stated plainly that the UFL isn’t for players lingering four or five years. ‘And if you’re in this league four or five years, you probably shouldn’t be here. You should probably go into coaching or do something else.’
Why should fans get attached to a league that is only an NFL stepping stone? It needs to an entity in its right with its own heroes and lore, but it seems like the organization is ashamed of itself in 2026.
I warned in November that new co-owner Mike Repole’s explicit philosophy that the UFL is not a place for players who stick around four or five years would strip the league of not only the continuity and mentorship that veterans bring, but also remove the guys who generate season-over-season fan engagement.
I noted that centralized control eliminates competition among front offices, kills true player trades, and removes any incentive for teams to scout and build distinct identities. Tuesday, we saw the greatest quarterback in modern spring football history, Luis Perez “The King of Spring”, get traded for a backup tackle.
I also wrote how proposed territorial protections were a gimmick that would needlessly limit talent pools. The constant churn would prevent the very heroes fans crave. I ended that piece as an open letter to Mike Repole: reverse course, restore team autonomy, embrace veterans as assets, not liabilities.
Six months later, the predictions are playing out in real time and in public.
Pattern of Broken Promises
This blacklisting controversy follows other moves I’ve criticized, such as the second full roster redraft in just three seasons, which broke an explicit promise to fans that "As the league finalizes the reorganization of its football operations, all team rosters will remain unchanged." from the UFL’s communication department.
Under Repole, it’s been public that moving forward, the league will prioritize rapid turnover and NFL development over stability and competitive integrity. The result has coaches begging for proven veterans while the central office says no. Fan-favorite stars watching their teams’ legacies erode. And a growing sense among players that loyalty to the UFL is a one-way street.
Fans now theorize that many other big-name players, such as e these same players (and others like Breeland Speaks, Chris Odom, or Chris Odom are being shut out due to the agenda of the central league office.
The Human and Business Cost
When veterans are blacklisted, fans lose the players they’ve cheered for through championships. Storylines vanish. Merchandise sales and season-ticket interest dry up. The on-field product suffers when proven performers are replaced by artificial roster churn in a strange attempt to increase NFL turnover. It’s counter intuitive to not simply play the best players available period. Young players will develop best when they can go up against the best competition available.
The league’s manufactured instability has seen impact players fo to the CFL. Last season’s MVP Bryce Perkins to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers shortly after finding out that Michigan Panthers Head Coach Mike Nolan would not only not be brought back to the UFL but the Michigan Panthers would be relocating. Last season’s leading receiver Siaosi Mariner to the Saskatchewan Roughriders, defensive ends Levi Bell and Bradlee Anae to the BC Lions.The CFL gains stability-seeking veterans. The UFL loses them.
Mike Repole has been vocal about marketing initiatives, local ties, and growing the game, and he’s been doing a great job at trying to be an involved owner who interacts with the markets the league is in. But you cannot build lasting local heroes when the league itself prevents those heroes from staying.
A Path Forward
The blacklisting of Ricky Person Jr., Frank Ginda, and likely several others is not just bad optics. It is the logical endpoint of the centralized, churn-focused model the league adopted. Teams want these players and so do the coaches. Fans are demanding answers.
The fix remains what I proposed months ago:
Restore real team autonomy with GMs or dedicated player-personnel directors (even low-paid ones who know the league inside out).
Stop treating high performing veterans as liabilities.
Eliminate engineered turnover and let competition determine rosters, not a single central office.
Focus marketing on genuine rivalries, stability, and the stars fans actually care about.
This league still has enormous potential. But potential means nothing if the product on the field stops feeling like serious professional football and starts feeling like a controlled simulation.
To Mike Repole and UFL leadership: the players have now spoken. The fans have spoken.
It’s not too late to change course, a man can change his stars.
The league of opportunity cannot succeed if it blacklists the very players who helped build it.