United Football League: Rules, announcers, how to watch and stream

Another year, another spring football league hoping to exist beyond a couple of seasons.

Say hello to the United Football League, a new league formed out of the merger between the XFL and USFL that will debut Saturday on Fox.

Similar to the AFL-NFL merger in 1970, the UFL will have two conferences comprised of four teams each from the previous two leagues — the XFL conference and USFL conference. Some teams will likely be familiar to football fans, including the Birmingham Stallions and Arlington Renegades, who will kick off the UFL Saturday at 1 p.m. on Fox.

Sadly, the Philadelphia Stars — the city’s successful USFL team brought back during the league’s 2022 reboot — didn’t make the cut. But if all goes well, the league hopes to increase the number of teams to 12 next year and 16 in 2025, according to former New Orleans Saints coach Gregg Williams, who is coaching the DC Defenders.

Quarterback Case Cookus, who led the Stars to the 2022 USFL championship game but broke a leg during the game, is playing this season for the Memphis Showboats.

While many players’ names won’t ring a bell, the UFL sports a number of former NFL and NCAA coaches Eagles fans will recognize. That includes former Birds quarterback coach John DeFillipo, who is taking over as the head coach of the Memphis Showboats after having coached the USFL’s New Orleans Breakers, who didn’t make the cut.

Former Dallas Cowboys head coach Wade Phillips is coaching the San Antonio Brahmas, while former Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops is back coaching the Arlington Renegades. Former NFL tight end Anthony Becht is back for his second season as head coach of the St. Louis Battlehawks.

The UFL schedule consists of 10 weeks. The two best teams in each conference will face off in the playoffs on June 9, with the winners advancing to the UFL Championship on June 16.

Here’s everything you need to know to watch and stream this weekend’s UFL Week 1 games:

Curt Menefee, who has hosted Fox NFL Sunday for 17 years and cohosts Good Day New York on Fox 5, will be the network’s top play-by-play voice of the UFL. That seems appropriate, since Menefee was also the lead announcer for its USFL coverage the previous two seasons.

Rejoining Menefee will be Joel Klatt, Fox’s lead college football analyst. Former NFL quarterback Brock Huard will handle sideline reporting duties.

Fox’s second crew features play-by-play announcer Kevin Kugler, who has called his fair share of Eagles games since joining the network’s NFL coverage in 2020. Joining Kugler in the booth will be former Michigan quarterback Devin Gardner, with former Denver Broncos tight end Jake Butt reporting from the sidelines.

Former Eagles quarterback Mark Sanchez, who joined Fox as an analyst in 2021, will also call some UFL games.

Over at ESPN, Mike Monaco and Lowell Galindo will be the lead play-by-play voices. They will be joined by a group of analysts that includes Tom Luginbill and former NFL linebacker Sam Acho.

In addition to sideline reporters Stormy Buonantony and Kayla Burton, ESPN will also have analysts Cole Cubelic and Harry Douglas on the field. ESPN learned from 2018′s Boogermobile fiasco and won’t drop them into a bulky cart moving up and down the field.

Like its predecessors, the UFL will look and feel like an NFL game. But league officials carved out some notable differences in their rule book that will look familiar if you watched XFL or USFL games last year.

For starters, teams will have three extra-point options following a touchdown — one point for a field goal from the 15-yard line, two points for a play from the 2-yard line, and three points for a play from the 10-yard line.

Overtime will end with a best-of-three, soccer-style shootout, with teams trying to score from the 2-yard line. Each successful score earns two points, and the team with the highest score after three plays will be the winner. If the score remains tied, teams will get one shot each in a sudden-death approach until there is a winner.

Despite the NFL changing its kickoff rules largely based on what the XFL did last season, the UFL will stick with a traditional kickoff for its inaugural season. It will more or less look like what the USFL did during its two seasons — kickoff will be from the 20-yard line, which all-but-eliminated touchbacks.

Teams can still attempt an onside kick, but will also have the option of running a fourth-down-and-12 play from their own 33-yard line. If the team makes the first down, it keeps the football. If it fails, the defense gets the ball.

As far as punts are concerned, if a punt goes out of bounds inside the 25-yard line, it will be considered a touchback, with the receiving team getting the ball at the 25-yard line. It’s an effort to encourage fourth-down attempts and eliminate so-called coffin corner punts that can pin a receiving team close to their own end zone.

The UFL is also bringing back a rule that was part of both the XFL and USFL allowing two forward passes on one offensive play, as long as the ball doesn’t cross the line of scrimmage before the second pass is attempted.

Outside of Quizzo champs, fans likely won’t remember many of the former Eagles players who will take the field for the UFL, since most were relegated to the practice squad and never played a down with the team.

Probably the most recognizable will be wide receiver John Hightower, whom the Eagles took in the fifth round of the 2020 NFL draft. Hightower played 13 games that season and had 10 catches, but during the weird COVID season’s final eight weeks, he was plagued by dropped balls and ended up on the practice squad. He later landed with the Chargers, but was cut prior to the start of last season and will suit up for the D.C. Defenders.

There’s Arlington Renegades wide receiver Deontay Burnett, who made a total of three receptions in two games with the Eagles in 2020. His teammate, linebacker B.J. Bello, played in three Eagles games in 2018 before being waived by the team in June 2019.

Defensive tackle Marvin Wilson had three tackles for the Eagles in the final game of the 2021 season, but ended up on the practice squad in 2022 and was ultimately cut ahead of last season.

Houston Roughnecks quarterback Reid Sinnett spent the last two months of the 2021 season on the Eagles’ roster, but never took a snap. He ended up on the practice squad and was released just before the start of the 2022 season.

Birmingham Stallions wide receiver Deon Cain had two stints with the Eagles. While he showed flashes during the preseason, he ultimately ended up on the practice squad in 2022 and was released prior to the start of the 2023 season.