UFL Playoffs and Future League Success

We sit down with UFL writer Abdul Memon to judge what worked this season, what still looks shaky, and why this spring league might finally have real staying power. We also preview the playoff matchups, debate expansion cities and stadium strategy, and end with a bigger idea for how the UFL could feed the NFL. 

• Abdul’s path from football fan to UFL Substack writer 
• On-field improvements like scoring, pace, and the tweaked kickoff return rule 
• TV ratings trends across ABC, ESPN networks, and Fox 
• Why the merger helps the league’s long-term business outlook 
• Attendance problems in returning markets and why new markets pop 
• Local marketing ideas like showing up at other pro sports games 
• Sales staff, partnerships, and the work that actually moves tickets 
• Expansion targets, stadium capacity sweet spots, and building rivalries 
• Calendar risks for cold-weather cities like Michigan 
• Houston relocation chatter and why it is complicated 
• Orlando’s playoff venue scramble and what the league should have done earlier 
• Playoff breakdowns, turnover math, and championship picks 
• Which UFL players might earn NFL camp looks 
• A possible UFL and NFL partnership tied to futures contracts and player development 

Go ahead, like, go ahead, subscribe, leave a comment in the comment section while you're at it. 
Don't forget we do have merch. There's a link in the bio. Hit that merch. 
In the comment section, do me a favor. You got Orlando Storm, you got the DC Defenders, you got the Louisville Kings, and you got the St. Louis Battleware. Who do you think will win it all this year in the UFL playoffs? 

https://substack.com/@abdulmemonfootball?r=7gledf&utm_medium=ios&utm_source=profile

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Transcript

Welcome And Playoff Weekend Setup

SPEAKER_01 0:02

Welcome, welcome, welcome to another episode of From My Perspective. This is a very special episode of From My Perspective. I'm your boy Dion. Go ahead, like, go ahead, subscribe, leave a comment in the comment section while you're at it. Don't forget we do have merch. There's a link in the bio. Hit that merch. But again, once again, I'm your boy Dion, joined by the man the myth, the legend himself, Captain Hader Q. How you doing on this special episode edition of From My Perspective?

SPEAKER_00 0:26

And what do it is joining on the guys? Your boy, Mr. Bell. I can't say your name up on the spot. My name is the mind. Hey man, I'm doing good. I'm uh I'm excited for this conversation we're about to have.

SPEAKER_01 0:37

Yeah, we're about to have a very good conversation. If you live under a rock and you're not a sports fan, it's UFL playoff weekend. And Q, you know, he did his thing. He found us a UFL writer. We have Abdul, a UFL writer, here to have a conversation with us about not just the UFL playoff, but the UFL as a whole. Abdul, how how how you doing today, sir? Hey, I'm good. How about you guys? I'm

How Abdul Started Covering UFL

SPEAKER_01 1:04

doing great. Before we get started, I gotta ask you, how did you get into being a writer for the UFL?

SPEAKER_02 1:10

Yeah, so um last season I was like commenting, just having fun. Um, you know, just talking about like the business side of it. Um, I always had like a like knowledge of like kind of like watching the games and all that stuff through NFL, college, and all that stuff. I love football. So, you know, like this season I thought, hey, why not try uh writing for a sub stack? Um just growing it from there and just um just covering the league uh from my perspective uh on and on the on and off the field.

SPEAKER_01 1:40

Uh uh, I'm gonna give it off to Q. Q, go ahead and uh take it away for

Season Review Scoring And Rule Changes

SPEAKER_01 1:45

us.

SPEAKER_00 1:45

All right. Well, I guess my first question would be just what is your general overall thoughts of this season? Do you feel like it was a success?

SPEAKER_02 1:53

Um, so on the field, I think it was uh was a success. Um when you look at like total points, yards, um, like fourth down conversions attempts and punts, like that went down, but everything else went up. And kickoff return rule uh with like the kickoff retool return rule, they kind of tweaked it for more return yards. That happened as well. So I think overall the league is like uh satisfied with like with the more scoring. There was a lot more action compared to last season. Um, I know like there's a couple of low-scoring games where like there's just so many punts going on back and forth, and um, yeah, it was kind of boring. Uh, but that with these new rules that Micropoli created, um, it created a lot more action, a lot more um, a lot more fun and exciting plays. So overall on the field, uh, it was a success, I believe. And then off the field, it's kind of like um like a yes of a success for one part, and then not so much of a success for another part for the TV rating specifically. I think it was this uh was a success. Um, when you look at like Disney ratings, for example, um like ABC was up 14% um from last season, and then like the ESPN networks, they're up eight percent um with like ESPN, ESPN 2, ESPN Deportez, and NFL network. And I I think that ESPN was up double digits with those percentages combined. So I think overall with Disney that was a very big success. Um, Fox was okay when you look at like the Nielsen TV ratings. Um, they were implemented from last season to this season with like the implemented big data, which like counts better for TV ratings. And like some sites that I followed for sports media, they said like six to eight six to eight percent of an decrease, increase should be like what's what the big data would uh be what's implemented. And Fox was four percent, so it was technically not like somewhat of a decrease, but I still think with the increase of uh of a four percent, um, it's not too bad. And then oh, sorry, I had one more thing. Uh so like that was a good thing. The attendance, it wasn't the greatest. Um, you had five teams that technically came back, um, Birmingham, DC, Dallas, Houston, and St. Louis, they're all down in attendance. Um, but the three markets, the the three new markets, Louisville, um, Columbus, and Orlando, they all were did really well with uh attendance. So um with Mike Rapoli coming in, um this is his specialty. This is what he's brought in to be as a new uh as a co-owner, is to bring in the marketing, bring in the sales staffs, and try to grow this fleet through uh grassroots uh local marketing and sales.

SPEAKER_01 4:38

Cool.

TV Ratings Money And Staying Power

SPEAKER_01 4:39

Uh uh quick question for you though, sir. The UFL seems like it has a it has very staying power. In the past, spring football has it seemingly fails every year, though they try, fail a couple years later, a new one tries it. But we actually, this is actually a merger from two spring football leagues together. Why does this seem like it's different than the other spring football? Why does this one seem like it has staying power?

SPEAKER_02 5:04

Yeah, so I think a couple reasons, just like uh with Fox and Disney, they decide like, hey, let's like instead of us like having two separate leagues, let's just combine. Um, it's probably better for their bottom line specifically. Um, and then um yeah, I think for staying power, I would say, you know, just with that, like those two reasons that um with those two networks, um Mike Rapoli did has done a good job with national marketing. He's been on the Pat McApee show, he's been on a lot of other like big network shows, which is really good to see. He's doing a good job promoting the league. And then um, you know, people love football, and um like with the ratings, uh actually for like uh ABC, for an example, like they did 941,000 viewers for their 10 games, and the NHL did 1.1 million for their 16 regular season games on ABC. So um, and they're and they're getting paid all like a $500 million, or I think it's like $400 uh million dollars for their TV rights. Obviously, it includes like other like out-of-market games for the ESPN network and all that stuff. So um I I think there's a good amount of staying power just um from the TV rings perspective, and it doesn't cost too much compared to like all the other leagues. Um, so it's it's a good like you have these good solid ratings, and you have to don't have to pay as much as like for another league like um like the NHL, MLB, Premier League. Because there's uh there's a lot of like leagues that are like coming up here with TV rights um in the next couple of years, and then the big fish is the NFL. They're gonna take a lot of money for the N for um for their TV rights. So um, so with all that like combined, and then with like the ratings for the UFL, um, they just gotta do a little bit more uh national marketing. Obviously, I mentioned the local marketing too, but um, with all that, that should do well. Um, it should give more staying power for the league.

SPEAKER_00 7:01

Let

Local Marketing That Fills Seats

SPEAKER_00 7:02

me ask this. We talked about marketing, marketing is very important for a league that's trying to grow. What do you think there's anything that it should have done differently as far as marketing nationally and locally that you have?

SPEAKER_02 7:19

Yeah, so one thing I noticed, um, it was just for like Louisville, for example. They were at like this uh those soccer games, like uh for Louisville FC FC, and then um I think it's racing Louisville, if I'm not mistaken.

SPEAKER_01 7:31

Yep, you're right, correct.

SPEAKER_02 7:32

Yep. So yeah, they're at those events, like though those are sports fans. It's really easy just to connect with them, be like, hey, we're we're we're a league here. Um we have foot, like we play five games here, it's not too many uh compared to like a baseball or NBA. Um, so uh like just keep doing that. Just keep like, for example, like Houston, go like Rockets games, Astros games. Um just try to find local sports, like sporting events, and just try to like be there so that way people know who you are specifically. Um one thing too is um like I think they should do more on sales as opposed to just marketing itself. Um, like a big like a great example is um the NWSL, the DC um team, they play Audi Field. Um, the owner of the um of the DC team, they uh have 16 people on their sales staff. Like that's a lot of people. And with that, um, they've increased their attendance. I think it was like a couple years ago, it was 5,000. Now they're at like 15,000. So um if it just requires that investment um and just getting people out there and just doing like really good sales work and just uh finding like corporate partnerships. I know the league's been doing that too. That's been uh a very good positive as well for um staying power and sales and marketing as well.

SPEAKER_01 8:51

So I guess getting on the stand power, keeping staying on the staying

Expansion Cities Calendar And Stadium Size

SPEAKER_01 8:56

power aspect of it. They are one thing they are doing, they are starting to expand. We already know that OKC, uh Oklahoma City, they're getting a team fair soon, I believe in 2028. I believe. Uh outside of OKC, I have a couple ideas. I want to I want to throw bias. Uh obviously St. Louis, they do very well. Their attendance was a little bit down, but for the most part, they do very well. And for obvious reasons, I'm old enough to remember when the Rams used to be the St. Louis Rams. So I that's no surprise in why the St. Louis they ride pretty hard for the St. Louis Battlehawks. What are your thoughts on also not just I feel like they need to attack the West Coast, but attacking some of those markets like teams that went away, San Diego or Oakland, what about two of those teams, those two areas, especially since I feel like they need to start getting to the West Coast a little bit more.

SPEAKER_02 9:49

I agree. Um, one thing about the expansion discussion is um when will like because Mike Ripoli has mentioned that to mention about like to I guess St. Louis knew like the post-dispatch. Um he wants to move the calendar up um to where the season starts like around mid to like early to mid-February. Um if he does the Super Bowl, okay. Right, correct. Yeah, he even mentioned like, hey, I want to play during like the bye week of the Super Bowl. I'm like, oh man, that's a that's kind of a that's kind of a uh crazy uh opinion right there. But um I I I get it. You know, it is get it does get kind of boring during that weekend. So um, but no, like if he does do that, I think it's still San Diego's still fine. Like you mentioned, Oakland's. Um I know Sacramento's uh building a new soccer stadium that's 20,000 capacity. Um that's one also uh one other big thing about um what micropul is trying to do is just try and find like soccer stadiums that are in that like 10 to 25k. I think like 10 to 15k is perfect, like perfect for this league. Um if you have to go a little bit higher, that's that's fine, but not farther than 25k. Um, so like a couple options. Um he mentioned to Pat McAfee, Albuquerque. Um they are like in plans of opening a stadium uh or uh building a new soccer stadium that's around like 10,000 capacity, which is perfect. Um, it's a non-NFL market. And during that February to May, that's perfect for weather as well. Um so I I think that's a home run right there if if that stadium gets built. And it said 2028. So I if like um if he moves the expansion by like a year or two, and he says, hey, this is the reason, I think everyone's gonna be understanding of that too. Um another couple ones I think would be good are New Orleans. I know it's an NFL market, but they are um they are like reconfiguring an old baseball stadium to like a 10,000 seats like multi-purpose stadium. Um unfortunately, uh, I I did speak to uh one of the people that like are that's like running like that operation, and he said that uh the the UFL has not had any conversations, and that was been a couple months ago. So unfortunately, like I think that'd be a great market. They had the breakers and the USFL. Um then they do a really good job at like local TV uh market ratings for the past couple of UFL seasons. Um, so I I really would like to see New Orleans um in with and obviously the weather too with uh the early to mid-February kickoff to mid-May. And then lastly is actually Jacksonville. Um I would like to see that one, and that's because they are building a soccer stadium, so uh it's a 15,000 seat stadium. And another thing is that Orlando and Jacksonville are two hours apart, so you can build a really nice rivalry, and that's what this league needs. It's like good, like regional rivalries. And with that with the two-hour difference, like fans from Jacksonville can come down to Orlando for a game, and then the vice versa, Orlando comes to Jacksonville for a game, so that'll help boost attendance on top, like with just not just like the local fans, but like fans that like travel to these games too.

SPEAKER_01 12:55

All right, do you do you think do you have an ideal number of where you think they need to get to for like you know, is it 15 teams, 20 teams? What what's the number you

How Many Teams Should UFL Add

SPEAKER_01 13:04

think they probably should try to get to?

SPEAKER_02 13:05

I would say I uh let's just get to 10 first. Um and then um let's see what the rosters look like too, because um, I think the talent was actually pretty good for this league for these eight teams. I would like to see 10 and just see what the talent like disparity is between all 10 teams. Um, but the if it does look good still, I think uh 12, like just incremental like two like two teams uh every like couple of years. I know that's what Micro Bully wants. I think that's a good idea too. Um, but just not too fast because uh obviously there's a lot of financials uh when it comes to like uh getting these expansion markets done. And also you gotta like make sure you take uh take good care of your like current markets as well, because the uh obviously the attendance wasn't that great. So um if you can just build these eight markets with the attendances and then while also expanding, I think this could le could like obviously have like staying power, but like have like it could be like home run basically for uh football and spring.

Michigan Weather And Market Fit

SPEAKER_00 14:04

Let me ask you being from Michigan There was a lot of in the groups in the UFL groups about Michigan losing their team. Michigan people feel like they deserve their team back. You feel like Michigan deserves their team or a team?

SPEAKER_02 14:28

So it depends obviously with the calendar. If the calendar is the same, I think uh Michigan should come back. Like the late like late March, like early April to like mid-June is perfect here in Michigan. Um, you don't get too many like hot weekends here, so um, it's perfect for like going to a game. And they're building that uh there's another soccer stadium being built here. Um that's gonna be done by next year. So like in 2028, obviously, like the Panthers could come back with a new stadium and all that stuff. Um, it just depends on the schedule. Like, if it's a calendar, if they do that early mid-February, like like start date. That's that's bad. It's it's it's really rough um here in Michigan. Uh there's a lot of snow, it's very cold, and like it does it is minor league football, like no disrespect like to the like people, like the players that are playing in this league. I've but like it is really hard to like try to get like like the casuals to want to come to a game in Michigan if it's like in February for these kind of like athletes. No offense, not not to be uh rude to them.

SPEAKER_00 15:40

So for a T V I mean moving the season up to that you know, that week in between the Super Bowl. TV wise is a good idea.

SPEAKER_02 15:49

Oh, it's a fantastic idea.

SPEAKER_00 15:54

I know depending on where they're playing at, I don't think that's the best of ideas.

SPEAKER_01 15:58

As a little native, it's it's pretty rough in February.

SPEAKER_02 16:03

I remember the storm this year, it was like early mid-February, it was like an ice storm, like it just hit like the whole south and like middle part of the country. I know that.

SPEAKER_00 16:13

Well, let me ask you

Houston San Antonio And Austin Debate

SPEAKER_00 16:14

this before we get into the playoffs. Like I said, I'm in these groups and I can see a lot of people talk. A lot of fans that say Houston should move to San Antonio.

SPEAKER_02 16:25

I'm kind like or even Austin as well. Like I've seen Austin. Um so San Antonio, like they have the 8,000 soccer, like the USL team, they have an 8,000 seat soccer stadium. I think that's a little bit too small if they were to like find a way to like just build like 2,000 more seats, and maybe you could see it. Um, I'm I'm pretty sure the Alamo Dome was like pretty expensive. Um, and obviously Micropoli didn't want to be in a 60,000 seat stadium. Um, and I feel I feel for those bad for those bands too. Like um, it was a good like venue, and um, but it was just too big. So so I I say San Antonio is a a no for now. But um for Austin, like I haven't heard anybody from Austin saying, oh, we want a UFL team. That's a like that's like the the thing that's like I'm like uh I don't know if I want to like move everything from Houston with like what we've built. Um I know they just like rebranded the team, they moved the stadium like three different times uh in the past like three seasons. Um so like I think Houston's a better market, despite um um seeing like Austin and San Antonio. Um like the only reason I would like want to move to Austin is because um they have one MLS team while the um the Shell Energy Stadium they have the MLS team and the uh NWSL team. So like for scheduling wise, you could see maybe like, oh, they have one team. It's like you can have more um open dates. So that's the only reason. But outside of that, I would just stay in Houston.

SPEAKER_00 18:03

Okay. Uh we gotta

Orlando Playoff Venue Confusion

SPEAKER_00 18:05

get to the playoffs. Like I said, it's playoff weekend. But before we get to all the field, let's talk about off the field. There was a little situation with an Orlando storm in finding a location to play this playoff game. It was even mentioned that they were gonna play in Columbus, and then they did find a BU again in uh Daytona. What's your thoughts on that situation? Is that the league's fault?

SPEAKER_02 18:32

So I'd say it's the the league that had get deserves credit for finding a venue um that's near Interco. I know it's 45 minutes, um, but you'll get a lot of storm fans that'll travel for a playoff game. Um, this happened with uh the WNBA um and the Valkyries. They had um their playoff game moved from where they play where like with uh Warriors play. Um they had a play where the Saints A Sharks play, which is 45 minutes, and that was because of tennis uh being played indoors. Uh so with all that, they do deserve credit for finding a venue in short time, but at the same time, they do deserve blame for doing this like in such short like time when they knew this like for months. Like, have a plan for like a like you had you knew this for a couple months, have a plan, have like this, all this done in like a couple months ago, and then you have announced it like that, like like a few days ago, and everyone would have been happy. It's like oh that no one would have been like there would have been no backlash, and like uh and everyone would have been understood. Like, everyone would understood, like, hey, uh we have this like soccer match between England and Costa Rica, they they got it, um, but we had to play in Daytona. Everyone's like, okay, that's fine. Um, but they had to announce Columbus and then and then had to do all this work to get it to Daytona. I don't know if that was just a Ripoli marketing thing. I didn't like it, uh, because there's some DC fans um they were pretty mad because they bought tickets to Columbus, now they have to get like refunds and all that stuff. Um I think it might be some Orlando, like uh there might be like a couple Orlando fans that did the same thing too. So they had to work on all that and getting refunds and uh yeah, good luck to them. But um, yeah, they they should have done this months ago and and and got this all done in uh short period of time. They if they were able to get this in a short period of time here, they could have done this months ago. That's that's the blame I give them.

SPEAKER_00 20:21

That's a record. Yeah. Oh if I was the fan that bought that ticket and then you want me to switch my phone from uh Ohio to Florida? Yeah, I'm not gonna I'm not gonna be the happiest of campus. I'm not I'm just not gonna be neither. Oh what you think? When you think about all over the games,

Matchups MVP Talk And Title Picks

SPEAKER_00 20:45

what what what's what do you give us as far as possibility of winning this playoff game?

SPEAKER_01 20:53

Let me high let I gotta hype us up, man. Cam Gills, he made the all-UFL defensive team led by him. We started out, we started out rough while watching pretty much every game. We started out rough. We made that trade for a quarterback, a rare quarterback for quarterback trade that almost never happens. But then somehow our defense just we rolled our defense the rest of the way. Seems like every game we had at least multiple turnovers, and we found our way as the third seed, and then we're gonna be facing the St. Louis uh Battlehawks. I I did you expect that from the uh new one of the newer teams here?

SPEAKER_02 21:30

Oh no, no, no, like when I saw from the game, I was like, oh, this is gonna be raw for Louisville because of the run game. Um, they just were just abysmal with um how they're blocking and just not getting any yards. I remember like third and short, four and short, fourth and shorts, and they just could not like convert a first down running the ball. And then uh Chris Rudman, he he did a great job with uh just getting rid of everyone like on the on the offensive line and just bring in other guys and it. It worked. It was great. Um, you they brought in Donovan West, they brought in uh Juan Bush O'Bay. Um I think they brought in Kellen Diash as well, if I'm not mistaken. Um, but no, like he deserves a lot of credit for like saying, hey, these guys stink. I'm gonna get I'm gonna get some new guys come in. And it it worked. Like it like since week five to now, their first in rush attempts, first in rushing yards, first in yards per carry for running backs. Um, it's just astonishing just to see like the turnaround from what they were uh for the first few weeks to now. It was really impressive to see what they did. Um also like the receivers were kind of banked up too. I remember for the first few weeks, like Tariq Black was out. Winstead, um, he had that great catch um in the game against Birmingham in the first week. And then um, like then like the next play he got hurt, and he was out for a few weeks. So um, yeah, but now with all of them back, all of them healthy, like this, yeah, this offense has been doing a lot better now. And I think that has partially to do with that too.

SPEAKER_01 23:04

Uh so uh what speaking of, let's go talk about another team, the team that had the best record, the Orlando Storm. Uh gotta give credit what credit is due. You know, as a Louisville Cardinal fan as well, they had uh quarterback, Jake Plummer, the quarterback for the Orlando Storm. We watched him, you know, me and Q, we we were very critical of him as a Louisville Cardinal. He he it seems like at times he was iffy, but it seems like he's felt the home with the Orlando Storm and may very well be maybe in conversation for the MVP or or at least offensive player of the year for sure. Uh how how about how you feeling about how the storm, I don't know, even though they gotta not play, get a home game like they earned it, but how do you feel about Storm since they're probably the favorite to win it all?

SPEAKER_02 23:48

They're a very uh perplexing team. Um, if you looked at week nine and week 10 against DC, they got out gained on both games, but they still won. Um but that like you gotta give credit to Plummer and that team for not turning the ball over. Um, I was looking today and um they led the league in like fewest takeaway giveaways, excuse me, with seven. And this uh tied for second was Dallas and Louisville with 10. So they had three less um giveaways compared to like the next best team. So it's a very impressive um operation they have. Uh Becta does uh deserves a lot of credit. Um, just preaching, just not turning the ball over and all that stuff. So um, like the one thing that I'm like worried about, like um Orlando is that their run defense, like the running game on both sides, like the run defense is really bad. Um, they're lasting rush yards and yard uh yards per carry to running backs this season um since week five. And their run offense, it's the worst in the league. Like they're lasting rush yards and yards per carry this season and since week five, too. So um, like they can't run the ball, they can't stop the run, which is surprising because their D-line's really good. Um, but yeah, like it's gonna be an interesting game uh between DC. Um they do a good job running the ball. We saw that in these past two weeks. Um, but they just turned the ball over too many times and just critical mistakes like the pick six uh to Mishi Powell, and then they had the Jason Bean interception on the first play, too, which was with no which was with uh an under throw. So um I'm torn on these games, um, these playoff games, but uh I think Orlando does win this game. Um I had to see it to believe it with Jason Bean if he can actually like if this offense can complete, like just have a good, like overall solid game without turning the ball over.

SPEAKER_01 25:40

Trust me, we we saw him. We didn't believe it those first couple weeks with Jason Bean, man. It was it was some ugly games.

SPEAKER_02 25:48

He did the slide uh against Orlando in week 10. He did the slide like he did uh against Houston with when he was on uh on the Kings. It was like, oh my god, he did it again. Like you can't do that again.

SPEAKER_01 25:59

I I there was one play early in the season. What was it? It was in the two-minute warrant, two-minute drill. You had it's like second down. You have another play, and he just chucked it up into double coverage.

SPEAKER_02 26:11

I'm like, he did like the pick six, it was a cross body throw on third and goal. Just throw it like if it's the one there, just throw it out. You had the field goal, it was

Which Players Could Reach The NFL

SPEAKER_02 26:20

a 10-point swing, and you lost by like six points. So that's that's that's the game right there.

SPEAKER_01 26:23

So these uh these four weeks of um one one thing I've seen uh 50 cent, he is gonna be doing the halftime show, and pretty pretty dope for them getting 50 cent to do the halftime show. Uh I was also looking through the roster, looking through some of the stats. A lot of these guys dream still to make it to the NFL. Whether you believe it or not, whether they want to believe it or not, they want to be in the NFL. Uh, is there anybody out there? I know I only press that I first one that really came to my mind was the kicker for the Louisville Kings, Tanner Brown. I believe he's at least gonna get a mini-camp invite or trainer camp invite, but is there any other player out there that you think might get some type of uh trainer camp invite to an NFL roster?

SPEAKER_02 27:05

Yeah, so for the Kings specifically, like you mentioned, Tara Brown, he definitely does deserve an opportunity. He'll he'll definitely get like an NFL trial kicking competition with some other kicker. Um and for any other players, I like Tariq Black. Um, he played really well when he was uh on the field. Um and then uh Cam Gill, he was a Lynx uh leader in sacks. He has a lot of NFL experience, so I would be surprised if he didn't get a shot back in the NFL too. I think C Rogers needs one more year um of just more seasoning, just more like development. Um if he plays well like um in these playoffs and then plays well in the like next season, I think he should get a good NFL opportunity here.

SPEAKER_01 27:49

Uh are you allowed to uh pick up pick a winner, pick a championship winner for the UFO?

SPEAKER_02 27:54

Is that is that oh I can yeah, I can like yeah, I have yeah, I can make picks.

SPEAKER_01 27:58

Um who who you got who you got winning it all? Obviously, we got uh Storm versus DC. You say you believe in the Storm. Yeah, the Kings versus uh the St. Louis Battlehawks. Who you rock it with?

SPEAKER_02 28:10

So this one's tough too. Um, because Louisville, or yeah, like I mentioned, Louisville's offense, like the run offense is the best, but they're going against uh the best run defense in the league in St. Louis. Uh their best in uh run rush attempts, rush yards, and yards per carry allowed to opposing running backs since week five and since the whole season. So there's a good amount of data just like back that this is gonna be a very good, interesting battle. I'm looking forward to it so much. Um I'm gonna go Kings just because I just don't trust Perez. Um like he's he's had six interceptions and four starts, and his like he was he's very limited in his mobility, and he had seven, like the offensive line had seven sacks against Dallas, and their D-line was kind of like one of the worst in the league. Uh, if you have, and they had seven sacks on you, so it's not great of uh of a showing. Now you gotta go against Cam Gill, and then uh that Louisville defensive line, which is better than uh Dallas's. So I'm gonna go Louisville. Um and then for the championship game, like I mentioned, like the Orlando run defense is really not good. And then you're going against the best run offense, I think, in the league. Uh uh obviously since week five. Um, they should be able to run on this Orlando run uh defensive line on this defense, and that helps uh Chamber Rogers get some uh easy short, third and short opportunities to get first down. So um I'm gonna go Louisville to win the championship, um, which is shocking considering what they started with, and now they're uh they now they're my pick to win it all, which is

A Smarter UFL And NFL Partnership

SPEAKER_02 29:50

crazy.

SPEAKER_01 29:50

I'm gonna tell you right now, if we win it all, I'm the insufferable on Twitter and social media just in the gym. I I look forward to it. What you got for me?

SPEAKER_00 30:02

One last question before you get out of here. Everybody we talked about the players going to the internet. You have to say there could be a partnership between the UFL and the internet.

SPEAKER_02 30:18

So that's interesting because that's gonna be requiring like the NFL PA um to get something done with that. I would like one thing I would love to see is just like the NFL just have like a cap on like futures contracts because there's a lot of teams that have like 15 to 20 players on futures deals, and I'm like, that's not great. Um, considering that they probably need some development, and this league could give them that. And obviously there's injury risk. I mean, there's gonna be injury risk everywhere, so like you it's better for the game, and it gives like NFL fans an opportunity to watch these players too, because they only can watch them like in three games then in this league, there's ten games. So um, yeah, I think they should find a way to like just have a cap on reserve contracts for like those future reserves contracts, and then just have these guys play in the UFL. Um, and then after the season, they could like NFL teams could just post players. Um yeah, I think that that I think that should be what it that's what should be done, um, in my opinion, because that'd just be awesome as a football fan.

SPEAKER_00 31:26

I think that's a great idea.

SPEAKER_01 31:30

Well, thank you again for uh giving us a look, making us a little bit more wiser about the UFL. And you know, hey, it's a new, it's seems like it's still growing sport with spring football, but it's gonna be here for a long time, I can tell. So glad you could have joined us, Abdul, and give us your knowledge of the UFL. We really appreciate you for joining us, especially on the eve of the uh UFL playoffs. Uh, from the bottom of my heart, I really appreciate you. Uh, Q, you wanna anything else

Final Thanks Predictions And Merch Reminder

SPEAKER_01 31:59

you want to say?

SPEAKER_00 32:00

I just want to tell them thank you. And then uh where can where can we find your your work at?

SPEAKER_02 32:05

Oh, yeah, so yeah, the substacks, Abdul Memon Football. Um, and then uh Twitter's Abdul Memon Foot. Um, I couldn't put football as to make uh they had like a character limit on that, so I'd put Abdul Memon Foot. Um I promise it's not like some like foot fetch. I promise that to everyone on on the whoever watches this.

SPEAKER_01 32:25

Uh you got any you involved in anything else that you want people to know about, or is it just you know strictly UFL?

SPEAKER_02 32:32

Yeah, nope, just strictly UFL. Um, yeah, no. Thank you guys for having me on. Uh, this is a lot of fun.

SPEAKER_01 32:37

Appreciate you. Uh thank you again. Uh well, thank you guys again for joining us for another episode of From My Perspective. Go ahead, like, go ahead, subscribe. In the comment section, do me a favor. You got Orlando Storm, you got the DC Defenders, you got the Louisville Kings, and you got the St. Louis Battleware. Who do you think will win it all this year in the UFL playoffs? If you love it, you're gonna say the Louisville Kings. If not, y'all gonna do what y'all want to do. But I'm gonna I'm hoping y'all put the Louisville Kings. Don't forget there's merch in the bio. If you don't got your Louisville Kings shirt, or you're from our prospective shirt as you're sitting there watching the Louisville Kings face off as against the St. Louis Battlehawks this Sunday. I'm your boy Deion. Q, go ahead and take us home.

SPEAKER_00 33:23

Oh, man, you already know the badge, it's your boy Mr. Bell. A gang A. Me and Deion didn't have to make no bitches because y'all already know what we're doing. So y'all should do the same thing. We're gonna catch y'all on the next one. We see y'all later.