When Mike Repole, the billionaire cofounder of Vitaminwater and BodyArmor, purchased a stake in the UFL last July, it wasn’t disclosed how much he put in or how much of an ownership piece he was getting. But his track record in building billion-dollar brands was clearly a big part of the appeal for the fledgling spring football league.
“The money was a lot, too,” Repole told Front Office Sports on the latest episode of Portfolio Players.
Repole is now a co-owner in the UFL along with Fox, ESPN, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Dany Garcia, and RedBird Capital. He said he first looked at investing in the league two years ago when it was forming as the merger of the XFL and USFL, but it “didn’t feel right” at that time.
“I started watching it and I watched the quality, which is great, but it looked like COVID games—you know, no fans,” Repole said. “But I kept looking at the ratings … and the ratings were more than like Major League Baseball games and more than hockey games and you know, sometimes basketball games. Some games were hitting a million. I’m like, ‘How is this hitting a million people?’ It didn’t make sense to me.”
NBA and MLB regular-season games have a considerable amount of tonnage, not just for nationally televised matchups but also on the regional sports networks. Their TV ratings rise dramatically in the playoffs. Last year, UFL games averaged 645,000 viewers, a drop of 20% from the previous season. The most-watched game of the 2025 season had 1.35 million viewers, aided by the Indy 500 lead-in.
As he was doing his due diligence, Repole became more attuned to America’s insatiable appetite for football. The NFL is far and away the country’s most popular sport from a viewership perspective. Number two? College football.
“I mean, these bowl games are getting over 10 million viewers,” Repole said, noting he became exposed to SEC fever after moving from New York to Florida.
It’s not just the games. Nearly 14 million people watched the first round of the NFL Draft last year; 7.5 million watched the second and third rounds.
He also believes the recognizable head coaches who have joined the UFL will help bring in NFL fans. “We just hired eight new coaches. AJ McCarron. And [Rick] Neuheisel. And [Kevin] Sumlin. And [Chris] Redman. And Teddy Ginn. Coaches that are so recognizable. And we put ’em in markets that they would connect with.”
Repole relishes the chance to prove the doubters that spring football can succeed.
“I’m also a guy that loves challenges,” Repole said. “If you tell me that it’s got a 99% chance, I’m not interested. [If you] told me it’s got a 1% chance. I’m ready to go. And that mentality is what built me.”
Editors’ note: RedBird IMI, in which RedBird Capital Partners is a joint venture partner, is the primary investor in Front Office Sports.
