ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Mike Repole isn't daunted or discouraged by the long odds facing pro spring football as a business model.
The sports business entrepreneur is simply wired a bit differently, and wants to show it as the newest investor in the young United Football League.
“If you told me something was a 99% chance, I’d have no interest,” said Repole, who is in charge of the UFL's business operations. “But if you tell me it was a 1% chance, I’d be
super excited by it. That’s how my mind works.”
The league is set next year to join the USFL from the mid-1980s as the longest-running spring league at three seasons, with plenty of failed attempts since then. And the UFL is making some changes.
The league announced Tuesday that three of the eight teams are changing cities. Orlando, Florida, is in along with Columbus, Ohio, and Louisville, Kentucky. San Antonio, Detroit and Memphis, Tennessee, are out.
Those three moves are part of a larger strategy to get into smaller stadiums. All three of the new venues are soccer stadiums with capacities of about 20,000 or smaller.
The remaining Texas teams are changing names and stadiums.
The Arlington team is now the Dallas Renegades and will move from the former home of baseball's Texas Rangers to the Major League Soccer home of FC Dallas in nearby Frisco. In Houston, the Roughnecks will become the Gamblers and play in that city's MLS stadium instead of the University of Houston's home field.
“It’s going to feel real, real different, and it’s going to show better on TV,” Repole said. “The sound is going to be better, and the experience and the engagement is going to be better.”
League headquarters will remain near Arlington's Globe Life Park, the stadium the Renegades are leaving, and the hub model of all eight teams practicing in the Dallas area during the week won't change. However, Repole says some players will spend more time in their host cities to try to boost fan engagement.
The other three existing markets are St. Louis, which has been the league's attendance darling; Washington, D.C.; and Birmingham, Alabama.
Repole, who co-founded Vitaminwater, Smartwater and BodyArmor and sold those brands to Coca-Cola, is encouraged by the UFL's ratings, saying they compare favorably to regular-season games in the NHL, NBA and MLB.
The 56-year-old is all in on the UFL as a developmental arm of the NFL. There are several success stories among the reincarnated versions of the XFL and USFL, which merged to form the UFL in 2024.
Two of them are playing for the Dallas Cowboys. Brandon Aubrey has become one of the NFL's best kickers, and receiver KaVontae Turpin was an All-Pro kick returner last season.
There is no formal developmental link between the NFL and UFL, and Repole doesn't think there needs to be. The UFL reportedly went through some labor unrest last season, and Repole's developmental vision touches on that topic.
“If they have the drive and the passion and they want to make the NFL, and that’s their dream, then we want to help them,” Repole said. “But if they’re looking for, ‘Hey, where’s my next check, or am I going to play next year?’ then this is probably not the league for you. And if you’re in this league four or five years, you probably shouldn’t be here. You should probably go into coaching or do something else.”
Repole believes the league can sell out stadiums in smaller venues, and he hopes to double the size of the league to 16 teams by the mid-2030s. He gets the skepticism as he joins a group that includes RedBird Capital Partners, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Dany Garcia, FOX and ESPN.
“I think all the stars are aligned for football to be a dominant year-round sport, and we just want to fill the void of spring football,” said Repole, who also owns race horses. “It’s a big investment and it’s a big bet, and the league, the investor group and I are up to the challenge.”
___
AP sports: https://apnews.com/hub/sports
