Running off at the typewriter. …
Spring football is coming back to Orlando — again!
The United Football League announced earlier this week that Orlando is getting a new team, the Orlando Storm, set to debut in the spring at Inter&Co Stadium, the 25,000-seat home of Orlando City. The move brings professional spring football back to Central Florida — and with it, the tired old question: Can spring football ever work in Orlando?
Let’s settle that one right now. Yes, it can.
Because it already has.
The problem isn’t Orlando. It never has been. The problem is the leagues that keep blowing it.
Every time one of these start-up football leagues crashes and burns, the critics point fingers at the city. “Orlando’s not a football town,” they say. That’s nonsense — and history proves it.
In 1985, the Orlando Renegades of the old USFL averaged about 26,000 fans per game, but the league folded after Orlando’s first season. In 2001, the Orlando Rage of the first XFL averaged 25,000 fans per game, and were poised for success before that league folded after one season.
Even the Orlando Apollos, coached by Steve Spurrier in the Alliance of American Football, were a hit. They averaged 20,000 fans per game and were leading the league when the AAF ran out of money halfway through its first season.
See the pattern? It’s not that Orlando doesn’t support spring football — it’s that some of these fly-by-night leagues keep launching without enough money, vision or patience to stick around.
This time, though, things might finally be different. The UFL isn’t running on fumes. It’s majority-owned by Fox Sports, which holds a 50 percent stake, and has national TV contracts with Fox, ESPN, and ABC — real networks, real exposure. Add in investors like Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, his ex-wife Dany Garcia, RedBird Capital and Impact Capital — the firm run by Orlando resident and billionaire entrepreneur Mike Repole — and suddenly this doesn’t seem like another short-term fling.
Repole, who made billions by building sports beverages such as Vitamin Water and Body Armour into brands, says he’s ready for the skeptics.
“People told me you couldn’t compete with Gatorade,” he said. “Now they’re saying spring football can’t work in Orlando. Good. I love proving people wrong.”
He’s also helping change the model. Instead of hiding 20,000 fans inside a cavernous stadium like Camping World, the new team will play at Inter&Co Stadium — a tighter, livelier venue that hopefully will look and feel full.
So no, Orlando hasn’t failed spring football. It’s spring football that’s failed Orlando — over and over again.
This time, the UFL is hopefully bringing real money, real partners and a real plan. And if they finally get it right? Orlando will be ready — just as we’ve always been. …
Short stuff: Did you see where Auburn is moving its 2026 home game with Baylor to Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta as part of an arrangement to provide NIL opportunities for Tigers players — a first in college football for neutral-site games. Translation: The home-field advantage now belongs to whoever pays players the most money. It’s pretty sad that Auburn is selling out its fans, season-ticket holders and local businesses just because they want more money to pay players. … Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence scored the game-winning 1-yard touchdown against the Chiefs on Monday night by taking the snap, getting his foot stepped on by one of his linemen, tripping and falling to the ground, stumbling to trying to get back up and finally getting back on his feet and scrambling for a score with 23 seconds remaining. It is believed to be the NFL’s first Trip-Six – or maybe the Stumblerooskie! … But, seriously, could we be headed for a Jags-Bucs Super Bowl? … Meanwhile, could we be headed for a Dolphins-Saints Stupor Bowl? …
Who will end up having a more embarrassing out-of-their-element coaching tenure — Urban Meyer with the Jaguars or Bill Belichick with North Carolina? I vote for the Urbanator. … The only thing better than the Yankees getting eliminated from the playoffs is knowing they spent $300 million to do it. … A police affidavit alleges that 38-year-old former NFL quarterback and current Fox Sports NFL analyst Mark Sanchez — smelling of alcohol — accosted a 69-year-old truck driver who backed into a hotel’s loading docks in downtown Indianapolis last weekend. The confrontation prompted the truck driver to pull out a knife to defend himself. Sanchez was pepper-sprayed and stabbed multiple times during the altercation. Sanchez, it seems, has gone from the perpetrator of the infamous butt fumble to a far sadder stumble. … New nickname for the University of Florida’s football coach: Billy “Never Dead” Napier. … Do you get the feeling that — because of his poor health and poor team — this will be Deion Sanders’ last season at Colorado? … Based on Orlando’s sports history, the “Storm” is the perfect name for our new UFL team — because the only thing that returns more often than rain in Central Florida is spring football leagues. … If I were picking an NFL MVP today, Baker Mayfield would be my choice. … Mikey likes: Cincinnati over UCF by 14, Texas A&M over Florida by 11, FSU over Pitt by 14, Chargers over Dolphins by 6, Jags over Seahawks by 4, Bucs over 49ers by 5, Federal Government over American citizens by a mercy rule of political dysfunction.
Email me at mbianchi@orlandosentinel.com. Hit me up on social media @BianchiWrites and listen to my new radio show “Game On” every weekday from 3 to 6 p.m. on FM 96.9, AM 740 and 969TheGame.com/listen
