In the latest spring football effort, nearly all games are set for major networks. Plus: the schedule has been announced for the 2026 FIFA men’s World Cup; ESPN and ABC are set to carry the NFL’s new youth flag football competition.
UFL schedule includes nearly all games on broadcast or ESPN flagship
The United Football League, the result of last year’s merger of the XFL and USFL, announced its inaugural schedule on Monday with all-but-two games set for either broadcast television or the ESPN flagship network. ESPN2 and FS1 will carry just one game each. The heavy weighting of games to broadcast and ESPN is a marked change of strategy for spring football; last season, 21 XFL games aired on either ESPN2 or FX and 15 USFL games aired on FS1 and USA Network.
The new league is set to debut March 30 with a FOX doubleheader of Birmingham-Arlington and St. Louis-Michigan, followed by an ESPN doubleheader the following day of D.C.-San Antonio and Memphis-Houston. The latter doubleheader is set to face the Elite Eight of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament. ABC is set to make its debut the following Saturday with a primetime Arlington-St. Louis game opposite the NCAA men’s Final Four.
The UFL is the fifth-different spring football effort in as many years, following the 2019 Alliance of American Football, the 2020 XFL, the USFL and the second reboot of the XFL. (ESPN PR, UFL 2.5)
2026 FIFA World Cup schedule announced; final in New Jersey
FIFA announced the match schedule for the 2026 men’s World Cup on Sunday, with the final set for the Giants and Jets’ home stadium in New Jersey on July 19, 2026. While the United States, Canada and Mexico will all host games, the quarterfinals, semifinals and final are all set for American cities. Atlanta and Dallas are set to host the semifinals over July 14-15 and Boston, Miami, Kansas City and Los Angeles have quarterfinal matches July 9-11.
Canada and Mexico combine for six knockout stage matches total, though Mexico City has the tournament opener on June 11.
The U.S. men’s national team is set to play group stage matches on June 12, 19 and 25, with Mexico’s El Tri preceding them on June 11, 18 and 24. (MLS 2.4, CBS Sports Golazo 2.4)
ESPN to carry NFL flag football youth championships
ESPN announced Sunday that it will broadcast this summer’s NFL Flag Championships, a new youth flag football competition consisting of two tournaments — one contested between boys under 14 the other girls under 17. A full 30 games (15 from each tournament) will air across the ESPN networks July 19-21, with four on the ESPN flagship, six on ESPN2, both finals on ABC, Disney Channel and Disney XD, and other games on the ESPN YouTube channel. (All games will also stream on ESPN+ and NFL+). Each game is set to last an hour total, meaning 30 total hours of coverage. (ESPN PR)
