Spring football returns this weekend, and NFL fans may have a few more reasons than normal to tune in. NFL owners this week just approved a major revamp of the league’s kickoff format, which was first used in the old XFL—one half of the new United Football League that was born out of a merger with the USFL.

Interestingly enough, that kickoff format won’t be used this season in the UFL, which opted for a more traditional-looking setup as it decided which of the two leagues’ old rules to use for that play and others. However, the UFL will still deploy several ideas that go against the grain of traditional football—and could ultimately end up being adopted by the NFL.

Most notably, during the fourth quarter of UFL games, if a team is trailing (or tied) after scoring in the fourth quarter, it will have an alternate option to an onside kick by electing to retain possession with a fourth-and-12 play from its own 28-yard line (both the XFL and USFL had similar rules). Just this week, NFL owners voted against adopting a similar rule that would have been a fourth-and-20 play from a team’s own 20-yard line. Will the NFL be watching the UFL’s implementation? “There will be another date and time for that discussion,” Falcons executive and competition committee chairman Rich McKay said of onside kick alternatives. “There’s no question the traditionalists don’t like that discussion.” 

Other interesting wrinkles for viewers to keep an eye on include:

• Punts that go out of bounds inside the 25-yard line will be considered a touchback in an effort to encourage more fourth-down attempts.
• No extra-point kicks will be allowed after scoring touchdowns. Instead, teams will conduct one offensive play for one, two, or three points from varying distances.
• Teams can attempt two forward passes in a single play, as long as the first one isn’t caught past the line of scrimmage.

Additionally, the UFL is counting on technology—not the human eye—to accurately spot balls. The NFL has said it is testing an electronic system to measure first downs, which could be utilized as early as 2025. Optical tracking company Bolt6, which was used in the USFL, is the partner for the UFL.

ESPN, Fox Join Forces

In 2023, the XFL’s regular season averaged 622,000 viewers across ABC, ESPN, and other Disney platforms, narrowly beating out the USFL’s 601,000 average audience across Fox, FS1, NBC, and USA Network. (Both leagues had 10-week regular seasons.) But now NBC Sports is out, and longtime rivals ESPN and Fox, the latter of which owns half of the UFL, are hoping the new synergy leads to viewership success all around. This weekend, Fox is carrying Saturday’s doubleheader while ESPN has Sunday’s, and the broadcasters will show games each week for the rest of the season. 

Fox and ESPN work together around plenty of other sports like the NFL, MLB, and college football, but it will be particularly interesting to see how the UFL partnership plays out given Fox’s 50% ownership and, of course, the continued controversy around the broadcasters’ joint sports streaming venture with Warner Bros. Discovery.

Cashing Checks

In 2024, the minimum NFL player salary will be $825,000. For spring football players, that would be like winning the lottery. This year, active UFL players will earn $5,500 per week, or $55,000 if they end up playing the entire season (plus small stipends for training camp and housing, as well as potential playoff bonuses). That’s pretty similar to recent iterations of other spring leagues:

• USFL, 2022–23: $5,750 per week ($57,500 per season)
• XFL, 2023: $5,000 per week, $1,000 bonus for each win (up to $60,000 per season)
• XFL, 2020: Up to $4,749 per week (season canceled after five games due to COVID-19 pandemic)
• Alliance of American Football, 2019: $7,000 per week (league folded after eight weeks)

Friday marks the final episode of Good Morning Football before NFL Network’s flagship show goes on a spring and summer hiatus ahead of relocating from New York City to NFL Media’s headquarters in Los Angeles.

The announcement of GMFB’s changes several weeks ago sparked confusion and uncertainty about its future, particularly for its tight-knit cast of Jamie Erdahl, Peter Schrager, Kyle Brandt, and Jason McCourty. The future format of the show—and all talent minus Erdahl—remains unknown, two sources tell Front Office Sports. “I will see you from L.A.,” Erdahl said last week during her final broadcast before going on maternity leave. 

There have been personnel cuts at NFL Media related to the relocation of the show, the two sources say. And the changes for GMFB also coincide with a reported 60 NFL employees accepting a buyout offered to 200 people, per Sports Business Journal. Erdahl Erdahl was visibly emotional in her three-minute goodbye-for-now monologue, saying, “This is a very hard time for many people affected by this decision to move the show. And all I can hope is, for the people making these decisions, our executives at the NFL, our coaches, to not make these changes lightly and to do so with the best intention.”

Similarly, Schrager’s final broadcast also came last week, but he was more coy. “We’re going to be taking the show elsewhere and we’ll see what happens,” he said. “But I just wanted to appreciate my time in New York and the crew and the people—a lot of those folks won’t be making the trip—but we do love them.” Schrager lives in Brooklyn but travels to L.A. weekly for the Fox NFL Sunday pregame studio show, so perhaps a part-time role on GMFB would be more feasible than a full-blown relocation. “It’s not the last that you’ll be seeing me talking football, or the last that we’ll be talking football together. It’s just the end of an era,” he said.

Brandt and McCourty have still been heading up GMFB alongside guest hosts. And while Brandt was bullish about the show’s future the day after news of the move broke, he has not specifically said he will move to L.A. full-time. McCourty is the newest member of the cast, joining last summer. NFL Media said GMFB would be expanded as part of the move to include a two-hour syndication of the show. But things will likely look very different for the program that has started at 7 a.m. ET each weekday and is now moving to the West Coast.

As international stakeholders look to attract the NBA beyond North America, foreign money has been pouring into the league in new ways, too. Last year, the Qatar Investment Authority purchased a 5% stake in Wizards parent company Monumental Sports & Entertainment worth about $200 million.

Monumental CEO Ted Leonsis has predicted more teams will embrace sovereign wealth funds, among other alternative investment entities, and Tatum agrees. “There’s no doubt that those conversations are happening with our clubs and potential investors around the world,” NBA deputy commissioner Mark Tatum (above) tells Front Office Sports.

After the first edition of the league’s In-Season Tournament, the competition was rebranded as the Emirates NBA Cup, as part of a deal (financial terms unknown) with the state-owned airline controlled by the Investment Corporation of Dubai. Tatum says the NBA had its pick of potential sponsors, though: “There were several partners who were willing to invest significant amounts of money to associate with that property.”

Watch List

The NBA is also hoping its worldwide growth helps it cash in on new media-rights deals, with 75% of the league’s viewership coming from outside the U.S.

“We lined up all of our international deals to be able to go to market for a streaming platform, with a truly global proposition to be able to offer up NBA basketball,” says Tatum, who hinted at some big changes on the horizon. “I think you’re going to see, in our new partnerships coming out of our discussions that we’re having now, a new way of presenting the NBA property on a digital basis.”