Per Ben Fischer of Sports Business Journal, the UFL's quarterbacks did not report to training camp this past Sunday. All 24 quarterbacks were scheduled to get in a quarterbacks-only practice Monday through Wednesday with the rest of the league's players reporting on March 3rd. At issue, the proposed labor contract for the 2025 UFL season.
A letter, signed by all 24 players was sent to UFL President Russ Brandon and Executive Vice President Daryl Johnston.
The proposal our Players Association received on Thursday was unacceptable and insulting. We – all of the quarterbacks in the UFL – have collectively decided not to attend the UFL quarterback training camp this weekend in Arlington, Texas, in proposal of that proposal and the message that is sent to us as players.
The United Football Players Association is the new entity representing the players for the 2025 season. In 2024 the United Football League players were represented by the United Football League Players Association (UFLPA), a local union affiliated with the United Steelworkers. That ended after the season, and the rumor players joining the NFL Players Association never can to fruition. UFL News Hub sources had told us that the NFLPA had no interest in bringing on the UFL players.
The UFL release the following statement;
The United Football League continues to negotiate in good faith with the players union to finalize a collective bargaining agreement, which will be beneficial both to the players and the league.
To be clear, this is not a strike, because currently there is no collective bargain agreement in place between the players and the league. Per Ben Fischer ,both sides have been working on an agreement since December. The UFPA got the current proposal February 21st with a "negligible" increase in player compensation over last year. We have a full breakdown of UFL player compensation from 2024. Last season players made $5,500 per week.
This is the first time, since we have been covering Spring Football, that we had run into anything like this. On the one hand, the UFL seems to have been spending more money in 2025. They opened their new 111,000-square foot location for its league headquarters. However, they also let go part of their leagues ticket sales staff a month ago. UFL News Hub is hearing from sources that ticket sales are over 50% less than this time last year.
Players are asking for a bump in pay and year round health insurance. We are hearing from sources that it would cost the UFL 2.5 million per season just for health insurance year round. With ticket sales expected to be down, that ain't happening.
At the same time, there is rumblings around the agent world that some UFL QB's got paid above the per week limit and some did not. Making the whole thing a tricky situation.
The league and union have four days to get this resolved. Transparency needs to be the key to getting a deal done. The second season of the United Football League is set to kickoff on Friday March 28th.