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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