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The UFL, or United Football League, is currently sweeping the nation in popularity, reinvigorating the love and appreciation for some of America’s pastimes; also allowing viewers to continue watching their favorite near year-round. The UFL, being played in the Spring, is a merger of the XFL, Xtreme Football League, and the UFL, the United States Football League. The UFL has been promoted by various popular celebrities and endorsed by many popular companies, bringing importance to it as a sport.
“I think it’s cool. I think that The Rock being involved puts it in a major spotlight, maybe one that would be greater than a normal secondary football league. I also think that how they’re not just copying what the NFL does, such as the kickoff change, is also really cool,” Landon Rice, an avid football fan and sophomore at West, said.
The importance of the UFL was typically overlooked by the popularity of the NFL, however, since the merger and season difference the popularity of the UFL has greatly increased, to many fans of the sport, football can be more than just a game, it can also be an important mixture of comradery, sportsmanship and challenge.
“Football is something that you can always count on throughout the year and through that is an adventure. For example, [University of] Michigan just won the National Championship. I think it’s about the ups, the downs and the inner stories,” Rice said.
The head-turning factor when the sport is played is having an unusual and unorthodox schedule in comparison to the much larger and famous NFL.
“It is unusual because [football is] stereotyped as a fall sport and training is usually conditioned to be practiced throughout the spring and summer to play in the fall,” Owen Wohlfert, a sophomore member of the Traverse City West Boys Varsity Football team said.
The UFL has proven to be more than just important to fans to watch as a pastime, it’s also important to the players and coaches.
“I think that [minor football leagues] are pretty important because they give athletes a chance to be seen, giving people in the NFL a chance to see them and then hire them,” Wohlfert said.
The UFL gives every player the ability and opportunity to hone their particular set of skills in preparation for their season.
“I think the importance [of minor league football] is to give the people who are not in the NFL opportunities and allow them to show their skills of what they can do and potentially get picked up by the NFL, so it’s a big deal for them to still show their skills of what they can do,” James Wagner, coach of the Traverse City West Boys Varsity Football team, said.
The UFL strives to captivate people in areas where football is atypical to be practiced in their area, bringing them an increase in profits and attention during a time when football would be shown much less nationwide.
“If there’s a Detroit UFL team and Lions team then everyone’s going to gravitate towards the Lions, but if there are other places, like a place that does not have a football team, let’s say in Memphis, then I think that those places could stay around much longer as the fanbases will then gravitate towards the places that they have,” Wagner said.
