Thanks to DBusiness for this:
When the Michigan Panthers — 1983 champions of the original USFL — kick off their 2024 football season at 4 p.m. Saturday at Ford Field in downtown Detroit, it will be doing so in a new league, the United Football League or UFL.
The UFL is the result of a merger between the two-year-old resurrected USFL and the XFL, the brainchild of former WWE Chairman Vince McMahon. The XFL was rescued from bankruptcy court by wrestler, actor, and entrepreneur Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, his ex-wife and still business partner Dany Garcia, and Redbird Capital in 2020.
Last spring, the leagues competed head-to-head with varying degrees of success. A merger, taking the best teams from each league, took place in January. The Panthers made the cut, along with the Birmingham Stallions, Houston Roughnecks, and the Memphis Showboats from the USFL. XFL teams joining the UFL are the Arlington Renegades, D.C. Defenders, San Antonio Brahmas, and the St. Louis Battlehawks.
Each team will play a 10-game regular season schedule. Unlike last year when the Panthers and the former Philadelphia Stars shared Eastern Michigan University and Ford Field for practice and home games, each UFL team will have its own home stadium. All teams had a joint training camp in Arlington, Texas.
“The sell for the fans is going to be just exciting football, passionate football, hard-nosed football,” Johnson said on ESPN College Gameday last fall and in several other interviews. “But also, we’ve talked about this before, I gotta say it. Fifty-three men on an NFL roster. I was always number 54. The chip that I put on my shoulder is the same chip that all these players have.
“Every play matters. They got one shot. So, imagine if you’re number 54, someone comes along and says, you got a shot. You want to make it to the NFL? You got a shot now to continue to develop, to continue to expand your game-tape and your experience, and let’s do it in the UFL.”
The 2023 season was the Michigan Panthers’ second season in the renewed USFL, their first playing at Ford Field, and their first under head coach/general manager tandem of Mike Nolan and Steve Kazor. They improved on their 2–8 record from the previous season and reached the playoffs with a 4-6 record where they lost to the Pittsburgh Maulers in the USFL North Division Championship Game in overtime.
One of the Panthers’ players to watch is wide receiver Dezmon Patmon who has played four season in the NFL with the Colts and Bills.
To purchase tickets for home Panthers games, which start at $22 and go up to $150, visit here.
Homepage
https://www.theufl.com/teams/michigan
Michigan Panthers Schedule
March 30, St. Louis Battlehawks, 4 p.m., Ford Field, Detroit
April 7, Birmingham Stallions, noon, Ford Field, Detroit
April 14, Houston Roughnecks, noon, Ford Field, Detroit
April 20, San Antonio Brahmas, 7 p.m., The Alamodome, San Antonio, Texas
April 28, Memphis Showboats, 3 p.m., Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium, Memphis, Tenn.
May 5, Arlington Renegades, 1 p.m., Ford Field, Detroit
May 12, D.C. Defenders, Audi Field, Washington, D.C.
May 18, Memphis Showboats, 4 p.m., Ford Field, Detroit
May 26, Houston Roughnecks, 2:30 p.m., Rice Stadium, Houston
June 1, Birmingham Stallions, noon, Protective Stadium, Birmingham, Ala.
