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The start of the United Football League’s second season could be in jeopardy if labor talks don’t improve, a source familiar with negotiations told Front Office Sports.
Training camps opened league-wide Monday with all 24 rostered quarterbacks in attendance a week after skipping a preseason workout camp in Texas. The signal-callers skipped the camp over negotiations between the union and the UFL with players seeking increased compensation from the reported $55,000 base salary they got for the 2024 season. All active UFL players make the same amount of money, while inactive players make roughly $2,500 a week.
The quarterbacks’ actions led the UFL to make a new proposal, which was enough of an improvement in health care and player salaries to get players to training camp, according to a source familiar with the negotiations. The players want to see the league further improve its offer, which is why a new collective bargaining agreement remains unsigned as of Tuesday morning.
The source described relations between the league and its union as “shaky” with players prepared to take more labor actions during training camp if the UFL remains “dug in” to its current offer, which could impact the start of the season.
The UFL is slated to open its season March 28 between the St. Louis Battlehawks and the Houston Roughnecks at TDECU Stadium, the home of the University of Houston Cougars.
The UFL and its players’ association have been in talks since December on a labor agreement, but a recent offer from the league on Feb. 21 came with a minimal increase in player wages from last season, a source previously told FOS. The UFL also doesn’t provide players with year-round health-care, which players find unreasonable given the inherent health risks of playing football.
The Feb. 21 offer prompted UFL quarterbacks to sign a letter addressed to league president Russ Brandon and vice president of football operations Daryl Johnston that called the offer “unacceptable and insulting.”
While the UFL has returned with an updated offer in recent days, it hasn’t been enough in the eyes of players. A UFL spokesperson referred FOS to its previous statement on labor relations.
“The United Football League continues to negotiate in good faith with the players union to finalize a Collective Bargaining Agreement, which will be beneficial both to the players and the league,” the UFL said in a statement last week.
The UFL is entering its second season after merging with the XFL. Fox, which airs the games, owns half the league, while RedBird Capital, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, and Dany Garcia, Johnson’s ex-wife, own the other half.
In 2024, the UFL drew strong ratings for a non-NFL spring football league, with average ratings around 816,000. That was an improvement on the two entities that merged to form the UFL: the USFL and XFL.
Editors’ note: RedBird Capital is the parent company of RedBird IMI, the majority owner of Front Office Sports.
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