New Headline: "UFL Embarks on Grand Expansion with Spectacular 32-Tiered Victory!
Repole pursues big plans for spring football by making big noise. Will anyone listen?
When billionaire entrepreneur Mike Repole acquired a piece of the UFL last year, he immediately articulated a bold goal: Sixteen teams by 2035 . Repole has an even bolder vision for the spring league. In a new interview with Ben Fischer of Sports Business Journal , Repole says he wants to eventually get the UFL to 32 teams .
Of course, Repole also hopes to make apparel company NoBull bigger than Nike, so he's no stranger to confidence that crosses the line of delusion. Some would say that's the spirit the struggling UFL needs. Last year, viewership for the UFL plunged by 20 percent.
Attendance was down five percent. One of Repole's first orders of business was to move teams into smaller venues, in order to reduce the awkward images of wide swaths of vacant stands. Nothing makes a viewer ask "why am I watching this?
" like a sea of endless seats with no asses in them. Repole, per Fischer, even floated the idea of moving the popular St. Louis Battlehawks from the former home of the Rams into an MLS stadium.