The United Football League (UFL) is about to kick off its inaugural season with Week 1 games starting March 30, 2024. If you are wondering where the USFL and XFL have gone for the spring, it is this new league as they merged into one and are calling it the UFL.
As always, you can bet on the UFL games and who will win the 2024 UFL Championship at top-rated sportsbooks.
To get you prepared to bet on the 2024 season, we have included vital information for a league that is hoping to take these teams to the next level after encouraging 2023 seasons in separate leagues.
Which Teams Are in the UFL?
There are 8 teams in the UFL. To keep some consistency from their past, there are 4 teams each from the XFL and USFL. They have been separated into their own conference to help build the rivalry between these brands of football.
USFL Conference:
- Birmingham Stallions
- Houston Roughnecks
- Memphis Showboats
- Michigan Panthers
XFL Conference:
- Arlington Renegades
- D.C. Defenders
- San Antonio Brahmas
- St. Louis Battlehawks
You might have noticed that the Houston Roughnecks are using the name of last year’s XFL team, but they are retaining the coaching staff and many of the players from the USFL-based Houston Gamblers.
The 2024 UFL Schedule
If you are looking to bet on the UFL this season, you should know how the schedule works in case you want to watch the games too.
Starting with Week 1 on Saturday, March 30, there will be 4 games each weekend for the next 10 weeks. There are no bye weeks, and the weekend schedule will usually consist of 2 games on Saturday and 2 games on Sunday.
The 10-game regular season for each team will conclude on June 2. A total of 4 teams will qualify for the postseason, which will have its championship game on June 16, 2024. You can catch the UFL games live on the ABC and ESPN family of networks, in addition to Fox and FS1.
Sportsbooks will soon have weekly betting lines available for each game, including the moneyline, spread and total.
UFL 2024 Championship Futures
In addition to the traditional game bets for each UFL game, you can always bet on who will win the 2024 UFL Championship. These are the current odds offered at top-rated sportsbooks for that market:
- Birmingham Stallions (+300)
- St. Louis Battlehawks (+350)
- D.C. Defenders (+380)
- Arlington Renegades (+475)
- Houston Roughnecks (+650)
- Memphis Showboats (+800)
- Michigan Panthers (+1300)
- San Antonio Brahmas (+1400)
Technically, the Kansas City Chiefs are not the only professional football team seeking a 3-peat this year. The Birmingham Stallions won the USFL Championship Game in 2022 and 2023, and they are favored to win it all again this year under coach Skip Holtz in the UFL. That would be a 3-peat of its own nature if the Stallions can pull it off again.
However, the next 3 closest teams in championship odds are all new challengers to them from the XFL, including the Arlington Renegades, the defending XFL champions. The Renegades and Stallions open the season in Week 1 as a meeting of the league’s champions from last year.
Key Rule Changes in the UFL
Combining different leagues means a new set of rules that will borrow from both while also emulating the NFL the best it can to still look like professional football. Yet, that also means there are some changes that could improve scoring, which could lead to overs being more favorable bets for the totals this season.
Here are some of the rule changes worth highlighting with totals in mind:
- Receivers have to get both feet inbounds for a completed catch, replacing the XFL rule of 1 foot counting.
- Defensive pass interference penalties are 15 yards or the spot of the foul, whichever is shorter. No huge yardage penalties in the UFL like the NFL could have.
- Kickoffs are going to be similar to the NFL, but by coming from the 20-yard line, there could be much better starting field position, which should increase scoring.
- Starting in the 4th quarter, teams can replace a traditional onside kick for a 4th-and-12 attempt from the 28-yard line to gain another possession. This is a fair compromise to what the XFL and USFL were already doing.
- Overtime is following the XFL method, which is a best-of-3 shootout for 2-point conversion attempts from the 5-yard line.
- For extra points, there will no longer be any kicking options for a single point like the USFL did. Instead, it will be the XFL way with conversions worth 1, 2, and 3 points from different lines of scrimmage.
It’s Still Football
At the end of the day, the UFL is still football.
You have to trust the teams that are better off in the areas of coaching and quarterback to usually prevail. In the UFL, that should be teams like the Stallions, Defenders and Blackhawks this year.
You have to acknowledge which teams are playing good defense consistently, and which teams are really struggling on offense and providing a balanced attack with the run.
We’ll find out plenty about these teams quickly as they look to separate from each other in the new UFL. But for the early portion of the season, it may be best to lean on the handicappers with the favorites covering the spreads, and the unders could be the right move early as these teams adjust to playing in a new league with fresh rosters.
