USFL and XFL plan to merge

Hope springs eternal, but perhaps not for professional football in the spring.

The USFL and XFL, two football leagues that were revived in recent years in an effort to shore up the sport during the NFL’s off-season, have decided to merge.

The new entity “will create best-in-class operations based on recent seasons for both leagues,” the two sports groups said in a brief statement on Thursday, noting that more details about the new organization would be released at a later date.

The USFL is backed by Fox Corp., and its games are broadcast on both Fox and NBC entities, while the XFL is controlled by Redbird Capital, Dwayne Johnson and Danny Garcia. Its games have been released on platforms supported by Disney.

There’s good reason to care more about football. They are the most watched programs on linear television and command the highest advertising rates in the medium. Television networks, which owe the NFL billions of dollars in rights fees it seeks, could gain some leverage if they could turn to a competing league at a different time of year to offer a similar product.

Media companies are also testing their own sports innovations, hoping original events will attract viewers without having to pay big bucks to league partners. For example, WarnerMedia has had some success with “The Match,” a popular golf tournament that attracts professionals and athletes from other sports.

But launching a sustainable counterpart to the NFL wasn’t easy. In recent years, the Alliance of American Football gained early traction with broadcasts on CBS and elsewhere before collapsing under fragile finances. WWE leader Vince McMahon initially supported the latest version of the XFL that was halted due to the coronavirus pandemic and bankruptcy before Redbird, Johnson and Garcia attempted to do so.

Both new leagues have a past that is not so storied. McMahon originally launched the XFL in 2001. It only lasted one season. The original NFL ran for three seasons, from 1983 through 1985.