The UFL is flipping two of its eight markets for the 2027 season as it continues migrating toward smaller stadiums that fit managing partner Mike Repole's vision for spring football, the league announced Wednesday.
The new markets are in Rhode Island and Colorado. They will replace Birmingham and Houston, Repole said.
The league also announced its second expansion market for the 2028 season. Utah will join Oklahoma City, announced last fall as a new market, and bring the UFL to 10 teams by then.
All the new markets will play in soccer stadiums. The Rhode Island team's home will be in Pawtucket at Centreville Bank Stadium, a 10,500-seat facility that is also home to Rhode Island FC. In Colorado, the league will play in Colorado Springs' Weidner Field, which seats 8,000 and will also host the Switchbacks FC.
Since taking over daily operation of the league in 2025, Repole has consistently said he prefers the size of soccer stadiums -- both for overall atmosphere and for better images on television broadcasts.
"With these venues, I'm seeing some college football teams that are building smaller venues," Repole said. "And then I watch the USC games [at the Los Angeles Coliseum] and whenever they show it, it was half empty. You watch baseball and you see the Florida Marlins, and it looks like a softball game instead of a baseball game. If you're a top college team and you're a top NFL team, they use big venues. Otherwise, people are downsizing to smaller venues. It's been great for us. It's worked in the markets we've put it out."
Last season, the UFL moved into three new markets: Louisville, Orlando and Columbus. All three utilized soccer-style stadiums with capacities of 20,000 or below.
In 2028, Utah will play at America First Stadium in Salt Lake City, a 20,000-seat stadium that has housed Real Salt Lake City and the Utah Royals. It will join Colorado as the first UFL teams in the Mountain time zone.
"There is no doubt that we are definitely spreading out our geography a little bit," Repole said. "And so it was definitely something we looked at. But these markets also checked the boxes of the right venue and the right fans."
Repole told ESPN he plans to add two more markets in 2030 and have a total of 16 by 2034.