On Thursday, The New Orleans Breakers named John DeFilippo, their new head coach. He replaced Larry Fedora, who stepped down in September.
The new coach was a guest on The Football Playbook with Ric Serritella and dropped this massive tidbit of information about the USFL’s plans for the 2023 season.
“Two teams will be based in Birmingham. Two teams will be based in Memphis, more than likely. Then four will be in Detroit. Thats the plan for right now. So the four northern teams will be up there.. what I was told is it will be a lot less congestion with all teams in one place. “
So this means the Generals, Stars, Panthers, and Maulers would play in Detroit. The Stallions and New Orleans Breakers would play in Birmingham. The Showboats and Houston Gamblers would play in Memphis. However, the Gamblers and Breakers could flip cities. This arrangement could also mean some teams might go away. As the rumor of the Tampa Bay Bandits.
DeFilippo also mentioned the league will get started the third week in March. More than likely, he is referring to training camp. The 2022 season kicked off on April 16th.
Where does this news leave Birmingham? The Jefferson County Commission and the City of Birmingham paid half a million each, and the GBCVB gave $2 million to help bring the USFL to the city. The thought was this was a three-year deal. It took a long time and a lot of work to get the deal done.
Fox Sports CEO and Executive Producer Eric Shanks told Sports Business Journal (SBJ) after the 2022 season that Birmingham will remain the headquarters for the second season of the USFL.
“Next year, it will still be eight teams, but they will play in multiple cities, so we’ll get more home markets involved.”
Shanks also told SBJ that the league intends to add additional teams in 2024. It looks like this is all part of the ongoing plan for the USFL.
DeFilippo talks about getting a call about the league from Daryl Johnston, how he plans on coaching the team, assembling his coaching staff, HUB Football, and more.
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3 Comments
3 Comments
4th&long
November 11, 2022 at 10:27 pm
While not happy about the much larger TB > Memphis city move it looks like it allows the league to travel by bus between Birm and Memphis allowing more than double the home games and to build another local presence. How big not sure as Memphis is small.
Detroit over a Philly isn’t Ideal but Detroit is a good sized market at least and perhaps chosen fpr proximity to Memphis and Birm.
I had commented on another article that I like the idea of adding teams now while it works in a hub environment. This would allow to pick up TV markets in the Denver area as well as the surrounding areas. This would also not leave the whole west to the XFL. It would be less expensive now as everyone would be in a hub environment, meaning you have less travel and stadium costs, while showing the public you are building responsibly, but building towards something. Plus I think you would need to start working on a stadium deal in Colorado if that is where the league decided to add. Either way I like the idea of a second hub in Memphis. People will support a franchise there. As far as the North goes I would have preferred to see it in New Jersey, but hopefully the community in Michigan will help support the league the way Birmingham has. By the way, I think Birmingham will improve in attendance and Memphis will be better than Birmingham was last year. Overall, I like where the league is headed. If you added Denver you could keep Tampa Bay or dare I say add the San Diego Invaders.
If the Stars and Generals play in Detroit then how do you get the Philadelphia and New York markets which are big markets involved each week. The first year was ok I watched the stars but I would not go to Detroit to watch a game
4th&long
November 11, 2022 at 10:27 pm
While not happy about the much larger TB > Memphis city move it looks like it allows the league to travel by bus between Birm and Memphis allowing more than double the home games and to build another local presence. How big not sure as Memphis is small.
Detroit over a Philly isn’t Ideal but Detroit is a good sized market at least and perhaps chosen fpr proximity to Memphis and Birm.
Ken Granito
November 13, 2022 at 10:29 am
I had commented on another article that I like the idea of adding teams now while it works in a hub environment. This would allow to pick up TV markets in the Denver area as well as the surrounding areas. This would also not leave the whole west to the XFL. It would be less expensive now as everyone would be in a hub environment, meaning you have less travel and stadium costs, while showing the public you are building responsibly, but building towards something. Plus I think you would need to start working on a stadium deal in Colorado if that is where the league decided to add. Either way I like the idea of a second hub in Memphis. People will support a franchise there. As far as the North goes I would have preferred to see it in New Jersey, but hopefully the community in Michigan will help support the league the way Birmingham has. By the way, I think Birmingham will improve in attendance and Memphis will be better than Birmingham was last year. Overall, I like where the league is headed. If you added Denver you could keep Tampa Bay or dare I say add the San Diego Invaders.
Charles bast
January 3, 2023 at 6:48 pm
If the Stars and Generals play in Detroit then how do you get the Philadelphia and New York markets which are big markets involved each week. The first year was ok I watched the stars but I would not go to Detroit to watch a game