The USFL concludes its first season on Sunday. It will have a second season.
Fox Sports CEO Eric Shanks tells John Ourand of Sports Business Journal that the USFL will return in 2023. It’s the first official confirmation that the four-letter league will be back for a second year.
Shanks also said that the eight teams will play in two or four markets in 2023. That will introduce travel costs to the equation, something that was avoided completely in 2022 — with the exception of taking the four playoff teams from Birmingham to Canton.
The league will remain at eight teams, with the expectation that more will be added by 2024. And the league will operate on the same schedule in 2023, with Week One in late April and a championship game on July 4 weekend.
The dynamics change next year with the return of the XFL, especially since the XFL will get started in February. And since it will be broadcast by ABC and ESPN, which ignored the USFL in 2022 and surely will do so again in 2023.