{"id":393315,"date":"2026-07-31T11:13:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-31T11:13:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/393315\/"},"modified":"2026-07-31T11:13:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-31T11:13:09","slug":"ufl-leaves-houston-adds-oklahoma-city-in-expansion-plans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/393315\/","title":{"rendered":"UFL leaves Houston, adds Oklahoma City in expansion plans"},"content":{"rendered":"

HOUSTON \u2013 The United Football League<\/a> is reshaping where it plays, announcing Thursday that it will no longer operate teams in Houston and Birmingham \u2014 a move that affects the Houston Gamblers and Birmingham Stallions \u2014 as it pursues a longer-term plan built around markets it believes can sustain spring football.<\/p>\n

UFL leadership said two replacement markets will be announced for the 2027 season. The league also reiterated a push to grow to 10 teams by 2028 \u2014 a plan that includes adding Oklahoma City \u2014 and a longer-range goal of reaching 12 teams by 2030. Officials said strong interest from prospective cities could move that timetable up to 2029.<\/p>\n

Co-owner Mike Repole stressed that the departure from both markets is not meant as a critique of local support.<\/p>\n

\u201cDeparting a market is never easy and this decision is not a reflection of the dedication shown by players, coaches, fans, local partners, or civic leaders in Birmingham or Houston,\u201d Repole said.<\/p>\n

In Houston, Repole pointed to instability around branding and venue decisions as factors that hindered momentum for the Gamblers. While calling Houston a strong sports market and praising the league\u2019s relationship with Shell Energy Stadium, he said the league did not provide the consistency the market needed, citing shifts that included venue changes and team-name changes.<\/p>\n

In Birmingham, Repole said the challenge came down to facility scale. In a separate statement, he described the issue as \u201c100% due to the wrong sized venue,\u201d arguing that the stadium\u2019s size made it difficult to translate attendance into the kind of atmosphere the league believes is necessary for spring football to thrive. He added the league has told local leaders it would be open to returning if a better stadium option becomes available.<\/p>\n

The league said season ticket holders will be refunded automatically within 7-10 business days.<\/p>\n

The announcement comes as the UFL says it has been evaluating cities across the country that want a spring pro football team. League officials credited the 2026 season with improved performance indicators and increased interest from markets, while emphasizing that future decisions will be guided by a three-part framework Repole said has used since the league\u2019s start: \u201cthe right market, the right sized venue, and a passionate fan base.\u201d<\/p>\n

The UFL currently fields eight teams and is backed by an ownership group that includes Repole and Impact Capital, RedBird Capital Partners, FOX, Dany Garcia, Dwayne Johnson, and ESPN.<\/p>\n

Houston Sports Daily<\/p>\n

More Stories Like This In Our Email Newsletter<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HOUSTON \u2013 The United Football League is reshaping where it plays, announcing Thursday that it will no longer…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":393316,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[138377,300,56,19897,58,57,154,19898,42297],"class_list":["post-393315","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston","tag-birmingham-stallions","tag-football","tag-houston","tag-houston-gamblers","tag-houston-headlines","tag-houston-news","tag-sports","tag-ufl","tag-united-football-league"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393315","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=393315"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393315\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/393316"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=393315"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=393315"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=393315"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}