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Kevin Seifert
The United Soccer League is planning a sequence of market modifications after including entrepreneur Mike Repole to its funding group and giving him full authority over its enterprise operations.
In an interview with ESPN, Repole mentioned the league will transfer no less than two of its dwelling markets and probably 4 in time for the 2026 season. One of many new markets will likely be Columbus, Ohio, the place the staff will play in Historic Crew Stadium, dwelling of the MLS’ Columbus Crew. The league has not but finalized some other new markets, nor has it determined which markets it should go away. The variety of groups will stay at eight, Repole mentioned.
Repole made clear, nonetheless, that he prefers markets which have smaller stadiums than a number of the faculty services the UFL has performed in for the previous two years. Capability in Columbus will likely be round 21,000. He mentioned that “venue and attendance” are his prime priorities in making a extra vigorous notion of the league.
“The vibe hasn’t been to the place it needs to be,” he mentioned. “You may hear a pin drop when somebody runs 80 yards. That is not so good. No one needs to activate the TV and see 10,000 followers in a 65,000-seat stadium. It is like watching a COVID sport.”
The UFL has discovered attendance success in St. Louis, the place the Battlehawks have averaged almost 30,000 followers per sport in The Dome at America’s Heart. However the the rest of the markets have averaged paid attendance between about 5,000 and 12,000. In 2024, just one staff performed in a stadium with a capability lower than 20,000 — the D.C. Defenders at Audi Discipline. The opposite seven dwelling stadiums had capacities between 40,000 and 65,000.
Repole instructed that an enchancment in game-day environment will elevate the league’s recognition. He mentioned that if he is not capable of drive attendance to a median of 10,000 to fifteen,000 per sport for every staff, “I’ll take all of the blame on the market.”
Repole, who cofounded Vitaminwater, Smartwater and BodyArmor after which bought them to Coca-Cola, will be part of an possession group that additionally contains RedBird Capital Companions, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Dany Garcia, FOX and ESPN. He has laid out a daring imaginative and prescient for increasing to 10-12 groups throughout the subsequent 5 years and to get to 16 groups — half the dimensions of the NFL — inside 10 years.
The panorama of spring soccer has been suffering from failed leagues ever for the reason that AFL merged with the NFL in 1970. However in 2026, the UFL will change into one in every of two leagues to make it to a 3rd consecutive season, becoming a member of the unique USFL (1983-85).
“We’ll be aggressive so far as being nimble and scrappy and gritty and making aggressive strikes,” he mentioned. “If by 2035, if we will not have 16 groups, I’ll take into account it a private failure. That is it. Different leagues did not have the capital that this league has, did not have the media giants that this league has, did not have the entrepreneurs that this staff has.”
The league has run from late March to early June in its two seasons, with a 10-game schedule every season.
Within the quick time period, the league’s eight groups will proceed to follow at one website, probably in Arlington, Texas. However Repole mentioned that can change within the coming years. Within the quick time period, it is doable that groups will spend two or three days of their dwelling market round video games, reasonably than one, to provide gamers and coaches extra publicity to the local people.
“You may’t be an actual league in 5 years and have your D.C. staff in Arlington,” he mentioned.