UFL plans to expand to 10 teams in 2028, including Oklahoma City

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — The United Football League will add an expansion team in Oklahoma City to begin play in the spring of 2028, the league announced Thursday.

The team will play in a downtown multipurpose stadium that is scheduled to open that same year with a capacity of just over 10,000.

League co-owner Mike Repole said the NBA champion Oklahoma City Thunder’s success and the state’s support for the Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Tulsa college football programs made the destination an easy choice. The league considers Oklahoma City “one of the most glaring vacancies on the professional football map.”

Repole said the fact that the announcement is being made two years ahead of time speaks to his confidence in both the league’s direction and the Oklahoma City market.

“We’re excited by this,” he said. “The United Football League is here to stay. Football is king right now and we’re going to build a really great spring football league that people are excited about, and by the time we get to Oklahoma, we’ll be another season in and you guys are going to be really excited about what we have as a league by 2028.”

Repole said the playing facility is the only hangup. Echo Investment Capital, an OKC-based multistrategy investment firm, will manage the new stadium when it opens. Groundbreaking is set to take place in June.

“I think Oklahoma and Oklahoma City is going to be a great market,” he said. “You guys know your football, you love your football and I wish the stadium was built yesterday because I would have been there already.”

The league that counts Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson as a co-owner kicked off its spring season last month with eight teams. Repole said the UFL will add at least one more team before the start of the 2028 season to bring the total to 10.

“Oklahoma City welcomes the UFL to our championship city” Oklahoma City Mayor David Holt said in a statement. “We love sports and we love football, so we think this should be a great fit. We have always said that the MAPS 4 Multipurpose Stadium opens up new opportunities for our city, and this is a perfect example. We look forward to the UFL’s arrival in 2028.”

Because of the UFL’s connection to the former United States Football League, it owns the rights to the Oklahoma Outlaws name — the USFL team that played in Tulsa in 1984. Repole said that name is a possibility, but others also will be considered.