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The UFL’s labor drama is nearly over.
The spring football league and its players union have agreed to a new collective bargaining agreement, ending negotiations that started late last year.
The deal is still pending approval from the UFL’s board, but set to be retroactive to the start of training camp and will go through the 2026 season. The UFL’s board consists of Fox Sports CEO Eric Shanks (the network owns half the league) and fellow co-owners Gerry Cardinale of RedBird Capital Partners, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and his ex-wife Dany Garcia.
Players went into talks seeking year-long healthcare and a pay raise from the $55,000 minimum salary. The new CBA raises the minimum salary to $62,005 for players who participate in all 10 regular-season games, and the minimum salary will increase to $64,000 for the 2026 season.
In addition to the four months of in-season coverage they were already receiving, players will now get three months of offseason coverage plus five months of subsidized COBRA for eligible players and their dependents, according to a union release.
“UFL players are not millionaires. Like many Americans, they are simply hard workers looking for fair pay and healthcare from an employer who can afford it,” said Harry Marino, president of Sports Solidarity and the UFL’s lead negotiator in a release. “We are gratified to have ultimately reached a fair agreement that will benefit all parties.”
Marino is a lawyer and former minor league baseball player who played a significant role in unionizing minor league baseball in 2022. He left the MLBPA in 2023; last year, agent Scott Boras accused him of attempting a “coup” in the union. He returned to Sports Solidarity after MLBPA chief Tony Clark rejected requests to make him the players’ lead negotiator.
The tension between both sides goes back months. A lack of progress in talks prompted the UFL’s 24 quarterbacks to skip a preseason camp in Texas, which led the league to improve its offer.
That offer led players to report to training camp, but they still wanted more. A source with knowledge of the negotiations previously told FOS that the sticking point between the league and the union was healthcare. Players either wanted year-round health insurance or enough of a salary increase to afford to pay for their own coverage.
Players were debating a strike leading into the season opener, with Fox prepared to run reruns if it led to game cancellations. They also wrote an open letter to Johnson, asking him to step in and end the labor tension.
UFL president Russ Brandon previously told FOS that the league was thinking about its long-term future when negotiating with the union.
“We’re a start-up,” Brandon said. “There’s a reason these leagues have never seen two or three consecutive years and we’re hoping to change that.”
Among other benefits the players negotiated were bonuses that include $500 for being named Player of the Week, $5,000 for Players of the Year, $7,500 for UFL MVP, and $5,000 for all players on the UFL title-winning team. Roster sizes will also increase from 42 to 43 players and training camp invitees will increase from 58 to 64.
The UFL is entering its second season after the USFL and XFL merged. The league is the latest attempt to establish a spring football league after the short-lived Alliance of American Football shuttered in 2019.
The UFL drew promising ratings in its inaugural season with an average of 816,000 viewers tuning in to the league’s 40 regular-season games with six games reaching over 1 million. But this season’s ratings are down 33% three weeks in.
Editors’ note: RedBird Capital is the parent company of RedBird IMI, the majority owner of Front Office Sports.
