Birmingham-based USFL in merger talks with XFL, according to multiple news reports

Birmingham Stallions won the South Division Championship at Protective Stadium (Pat Byington/Bham Now)

According to Axios and Sportico, the United States Football League (USFL) and XFL are holding discussions about a possible merger of the two American football minor leagues. 

Birmingham-based

City Walk lights after a Birmingham Stallions win. (Pat Byington/Bham Now)

The USFL is headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama and is home to the Birmingham Stallions, winner of the league’s first two championships. The XFL is headquartered in Arlington, Texas and is owned by Dany Garcia and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. 

The two leagues are different in several ways. 

For example, the XFL season runs between February to early May. The games were broadcast on ABC, ESPN, ESPN2 and FX.

On the other hand, the USFL begins their season in April and ends in late June. They also use a hub model with eight teams playing in 4 cities. In their inaugural season, the USFL played the entire regular season in the Magic City. 

Birmingham Stallions Head Coach Skip Holtz at the USFL Championship trophy presentation in downtown Birmingham (Nathan Watson/Bham Now))

In the first two seasons, USFL games have been shown nationally on both FOX and NBC.

Ownership of the leagues are also substantially different. FOX Corp. owns the USFL while  Dwayne Johnson and his business partners Dany Garcia and Redbird Capital run the XFL.  

What’s next

Is there going to be a merger? Who knows? But in an update to the Axios story, the XFL sent out the following statement to the publication: 

“We will not comment on rumors and speculation,” the XFL said in an emailed statement to Axios.

Pat Byington

Longtime conservationist. Former Executive Director at the Alabama Environmental Council and Wild South. Publisher of the Bama Environmental News for more than 18 years. Career highlights include playing an active role in the creation of Alabama's Forever Wild program, Little River Canyon National Preserve, Dugger Mountain Wilderness, preservation of special places throughout the East through the Wilderness Society and the strengthening (making more stringent) the state of Alabama's cancer risk and mercury standards.