United Football League: Could Cleveland be next to get a team?

The United Football League (UFL) is winding down its first season as a spring football league. The entity is a combined merger effort between the XFL and the USFL which were each individual leagues operating last spring.

Four XFL and four USFL clubs were chosen to become the UFL this spring. Although attendance has been sparse in certain cities, it is a given that the league will expand into two new cities next year.

The final weekend of games in the UFL is the weekend of June 1-2. The playoffs are June 8 and 9 with the UFL Championship Game on Sunday June 16 to be played at The Dome at America’s Center in St. Louis. The game will be telecast on FOX and broadcast on radio on FOX Sports on Sirius XM.

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Although there are four defunct teams in both former leagues, there isn’t a blueprint to follow that the league must expand into any of those eight former cities. Those cities, stadiums, and fanbases are not sitting around waiting for their team’s return.

This leaves the door wide open for other cities to make their case for a UFL expansion team beginning in 2025.

It is not a given that the next city expansion must be in a place that has an NFL club. Birmingham, St. Louis, San Antonio, and Memphis are examples of this and comprise half the UFL.

Cleveland did not have a franchise in either the XFL or the USFL. The city has had pro football teams other than the Browns, but that was in the 1910s through 1940s with the Panthers, Tigers, Indians, Rams, Bulldogs, and Franklin Athletic Club, plus indoor teams such as the Gladiators, Fusion, Saints, and Thunderbolts.

The UFL has been fairly successful this spring. Now, there is talk about expanding to two cities next season and eventually becoming a 20-team entity with gradual expansion.

Right off, Northeast Ohio is being discussed as one of the expansion possibilities. The idea is that Cleveland and nearby Canton can share a team.

Most UFL teams don’t play in NFL stadiums because the fanbase isn’t large. But the UFL is banking on the arenas that their member teams play in will fill out in the coming years. So, a club such as the DC Defenders which play their home games in Audi Field, an MLS stadium built to house 20,000 fans, is plenty for now. It makes zero sense to host games in a 70,000-seat venue and only one quarter is sold.

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Cleveland does not have an MLS team with the closest team the Columbus Crew owned by Jimmy and Dee Haslam, who also own the Browns. The Crew won their third MLS Cup last season.

The City of Cleveland is in line to be awarded a National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) franchise as the league’s 16^th club although they have not been officially named. MLS Next Pro league has also expressed an interest. Cleveland Pro Soccer, an owner’s organization formed to pursue getting an NWSL franchise or an MLS Next Pro club, has worked diligently on both projects.

With the expansion of the NWSL and MLS Next Pro still in doubt, this means a stadium built for either franchise has not been built yet. These stadiums are perfect for the UFL game and an enticement while discussing expansion cities.

Canton already has an outdoor setting ready for the UFL. Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium has a capacity of 23,000 and is easily accessible to Interstate 77 straight into Cleveland.

Venues suitable for discussion about a UFL club playing in Cleveland are Progressive Field (35,000) and Classic Auto Group Park in nearby Eastlake (10,000), George Finnie Stadium on the campus of Baldwin-Wallace University in Berea (7,740), East Cleveland’s Shaw Stadium (10,000), DiSanto Field on the campus of Case Western Reserve University (2,400), and Robert Boulton Stadium in Parma (11,423).

The issue with Progressive and Classic Park is they are baseball stadiums with baseball tenants. The spring is when they play their games so it is unlikely they would want to break down one field and carve out another. Or share dates for that matter. Plus, football players are going to tear up a field. Both playing surfaces feature Kentucky Bluegrass, a natural sod, which would take quite a bit of maintenance to get it ready for baseball after a football game.

Too bad League Park and the Luna Bowl aren’t still around.

With the UFL going from eight to 10 or 12 teams, their schedules would increase from 10 regular season games to 12 or 14. This would give six or seven home games of which some would be played in Canton and the others in Cleveland. At first, perhaps the most contests would be in Canton until a suitable soccer stadium is built in Cleveland. Then, the schedule could flip to give Cleveland the most home dates.

There are advantages to both cities. Cleveland has a definite edge in population as the City of Canton is just over 70,000 while Cleveland tips the scale at over 350,000. Canton had USFL ties in that the New Jersey Generals and Pittsburgh Maulers called this city their home last year, plus the 2023 USFL Championship Game was played there.

Yes, the UFL is not the same talent level as the NFL. It doesn’t pretend to be. This league does not pay players anything close as the Canadian Football League pays the second most. It is a developmental league just like they play High-A ball over at Classic Park. The UFL is played in the spring if you still have an inkling to watch the game of pro football on a Saturday or Sunday instead of baseball, NASCAR or golf. And seats are cheap just like in minor-league baseball parks.

Both Canton and Cleveland trace their roots to the beginning of the NFL in 1920, which originally was labeled the “American Professional Football Association” but changed its name to the National Football League in 1922. In that maiden season, Cleveland had the Tigers which played at Dunn Field while the Canton Bulldogs were the NFL’s first dynasty.

In 1924 the Bulldogs merged with the Cleveland Indians and became the Cleveland Bulldogs until 1928. With two strong teams merged into one, the Cleveland Bulldogs won the 1924 NFL championship.

Right now, it is just talk and possibilities. There isn’t any definite source that has indicated that Cleveland/Canton will get a UFL expansion franchise going forward.

But there is discussion going on about it.