The UFL's players have introduced another hurdle in the league's climb to viability.
The adage that any publicity equals good publicity never rings true for entities like the UFL. That's because the only mainstream attention Spring Pro Football Leagues have gotten in the past has been focused on the failing nature of these fledgling entities. There's never a net positive from the expected negatives.
Impending doom and inevitable peril are time-tested narratives attached to leagues like the UFL.
From a lack of product awareness to financial struggles, leagues like the UFL only get headlines when something goes wrong, which is what everyone on the outside looking in expects. Well, something is going wrong on a grander scale than usual.
Inside the UFL bubble, everyone knows the stories that have come out in recent days from mainstream outlets like Front Office Sports, Sports Business Journal, and even part league owner ESPN.
Whether overblown or not, Unrest exists in the United Football League universe because some of the league's players are looking to get more compensation.
Although the league's players are currently in training camp, prepping for the upcoming 2025 season, which kicks off on March 28th. Currently, some contracted UFL players are sending vague threats to any media members who care that they are contemplating no longer participating in the league until their needs are met.
The UFL braintrust, who has all the leverage, may call their bluff.
UFL management is in a rough spot. The league's image and future are in a rougher position than they were just a couple of weeks ago. It didn't help matters, that on the day when the UFL announced single-game ticket sales, an area where the league has struggled mightily to generate revenue, doubt was cast on the season taking place.
Things seem to be getting worse from an optical standpoint after the initial reports of player strife.
Players have confirmed to ESPN that the UFL's labor negotiations took a turn this week when warned that they would be released if they followed through on a plan to boycott the league's media days. It's a message that came directly from the UFL's top football executive, Daryl 'Moose' Johnston.
"In the normal course of business, like any professional league, the UFL has disciplinary procedures in place for a player's failure to participate in league events. However, it is not a part of UFL policy to cut a player for not participating in events like media day."- excerpt from ESPN report by Kevin Seifert
Here's the bottom line: The United Football League, headed by the management teams of FOX Sports and Redbird Capital Partners, and broadcasting part owner ESPN, has just barely survived to arrive at this destination.
Since FOX and RedBird Capital entered the spring football landscape, the two sides have struggled mightily to gain traction as a business. They have attempted and failed to lure financiers. With no success, FOX and RedBird hired prestigious investment firms for the last several years to raise capital for the league with promises of team ownership.
The modern-day incarnations of the USFL and XFL couldn't get it done apart, so they have merged to seek light at the end of a dim tunnel.
The USFL, XFL, and now UFL have endured a fake-it until you make it strategy. They have struggled and failed to meet yearly revenue markers, which is common in the expensive endeavor of operating a pro football league.
What's kept the concept and league afloat in the hopes of seeing brighter days is a measured financial model enacted to keep down expenses. Measures like having the league's teams centralized in Texas for tax breaks to limiting travel costs from that region by flying teams together on flights.
Some players and fans assume that the UFL's owners, Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson, Dany Garcia, ESPN, RedBird Capital, and FOX could simply reach into their vast finances to fund the league out of pocket, Exhorbitant financial losses be damned. But that's not how a healthy business or responsible corporation works.
You have to make money to get money. Only mad geniuses like Vince McMahon enact a plan to fund an entire league with half a billion dollars of his own finances.
FOX and RedBird have already spent hundreds of millions of dollars funding the league, but the revenues have not kept up with the expenses. That's why the UFL has employed seasonal pay and modest-sized staffing to keep the lights on.
Against all odds and conventional wisdom, the UFL is attempting to thrive, but at some point, the survival part to get there will end. Some misguided players are speeding up that process.
The part of the story that you won't hear is that there are several UFL players who have confided to me that they are siding with management on this issue. They understand that the league isn't in a position currently to be a cash cow for players and coaches, and are appreciative of the opportunity the league presents for continuing to play and advancing one's career.
"If it wasn't for the existence of this league, I wouldn't be playing pro football professionally, and wouldn't be in a position to get more opportunities in the NFL. I have teammates who are making an NFL living solely because this league exists"-- Current UFL player
As a top UFL executive conveyed to me last night, "We might concede and do what it takes to get on the field in 2025, but it may come at the expense of a 2026 or 2027 season".