Although the UFL playoff seeding is far from decided, with three weeks of play remaining in the regular season, the 2025 United Football League postseason could become a competitive disadvantage for its top two regular-season teams.
UFL Playoff Picture/Home Field Uncertainty
With three weeks left in the 2025 regular season, the Michigan Panthers (5-2) and DC Defenders (5-2) are atop the USFL and XFL Conferences, respectively, in prime positions to earn the right to host their conference championship games on Sunday, June 8.
The Defenders are tied with 5-2 St. Louis in the XFL conference but hold a tie-breaker edge due to a head-to-head 27-15 victory in Week 3.
Although they share matching 5-2 records with Birmingham, Michigan, is technically in second place entering Week 8 due to an early-season loss to the Stallions. The Panthers will face the Stallions in a crucial rematch in Week 9 at Birmingham, which could be a determining game for the regular-season USFL crown.
If the Defenders and Panthers win their conferences. In that case, home venue uncertainty threatens to strip both teams of home-field advantage, with Audi Field booked for other sporting events and Ford Field’s availability in serious doubt.
In D.C., the Defenders face an immovable roadblock. Audi Field is hosting a National Women’s Soccer League clash between the Washington Spirit and North Carolina Courage at 4:00 PM ET on June 8, smack-dab in the middle of the UFL’s 3:00 PM and 6:00 PM ET conference title games that Sunday.
The Panthers’ situation in Detroit is murkier. Ford Field has no public events listed for June 7–8, but inquiries to the venue’s ticket office yielded no answers, leaving the Panthers’ playoff plans hanging.
Whether it’s a private booking, maintenance, or an unannounced event, Ford Field’s silence spells trouble for Michigan’s home game hopes. An issue that nearly came to a head last season, where Ford Field would not have been available for the Panthers, had they edged out Birmingham for the USFL regular season crown in 2024.
Hopefully, Ford Field and the Panthers can reach a resolution in time if Michigan wins its conference. Of all UFL teams, the Panthers have shown the most progress at the box office.
The UFL’s backup plan will cause controversy: if the Panthers and Defenders win their conferences, they’ll be listed as “host” teams but play at the second-place teams’ venues. That could send Michigan to Birmingham or Houston and D.C. to St. Louis or Arlington.
A less-than-ideal reward and an unfair advantage for a regular-season conference winner. It also risks alienating fans in Michigan and DC.
The league hasn’t floated neutral sites or other fixes, and with Ford Field’s status unclear, the Panthers face a ticking clock. The Defenders, meanwhile, are all but locked out of Audi Field. Both teams are battling for a shot at the UFL Championship on Saturday, June 14, but this venue fiasco could force them to fight on their rivals’ turf.
With the UFL 2025 Title game scheduled to take place in St. Louis for a second straight year. The Battlehawks getting potentially two consecutive home playoff games could taint the process of crowning a rightful champion. One of the many roadblocks to the UFL’s plans to expand is finding the right venue partners who will prioritize the league and its teams.
League insiders have indicated that they have contacted Audi Field and Ford Field a year in advance to book a potential playoff game, but the venues have not been cooperative in making any accommodations.
Because the UFL is perceived as a third—or fourth-tier sports league/product, prominent venues that host multiple sports league teams and events prioritize them in that order.
Furthermore, because the UFL is in its incipient stages, it can’t dictate venue scheduling, and the idea of neutral sites for the second-place teams is to maximize profit. After all, from a business standpoint, it makes sense to let the visiting team host to bring in a few thousand fans rather than play at a more traditional neutral site, where only traveling fans could show up on short notice.
The UFL’s ongoing issues are typical of a young league. Hopefully, the league will grow into its own and find better partners down the road where they can do the choosing rather than the begging.
5 Comments
by Rob
“… two consecutive home playoff games could taint the process of crowning a rightful champion.”
Were you saying that when Birmingham was winning multiple championships playing at home in the USFL? Or do you still kiss their butt as repeat champs?
by Mike Mitchell
Lol. Silliness.
Implying that if St. Louis doesn’t win the conference in the regular season. That them having back to back playoff games without earning the right will definitely ruffle feathers for some.
As far as Birmingham goes, as great as the Stallions are and remain. It was a competitive advantage having almost every game at home. But Canton was a neutral site.
by Rob
STL is still in control of their own destiny as far as earning it… but even if they don’t, I would argue that the fanbase has earned every bit of deference or preference or whatever you’d like to call it… the league wins with an STL playoff game in nearly every way. The optics of the conference winner not hosting will be erased by the optics of full stands and a loud atmosphere on in front of a national audience
by Mike Mitchell
I love the STL fan base. I have been on multiple St. Louis outlets and media stating recently and since 2020.
The Battlehawks are the best thing about the league. As someone who is a fan of any particular team. I don’t have a stake in the game or any bias. I am just rooting for the league to succeed.
You are right in that STL and Birmingham can erase any potential controversy by winning their conferences outright. And they might. But In any conventional league, the team with the best record in a division or conference shouldn’t be playing on the road against a second place team.
The rationale for a young league like the UFL is business related.
by Motor City Prowler
Ford Field has a concert on June 10th for Kendrick Lamar and I was told that they need 48 hours to assemble the stage and lighting for that event