USFL Reveals 8 Teams for League's Return in Spring of 2022

The United States Football League will return in April 2022, and the league announced the eight teams set to compete in the inaugural season:

According to The Athletic, the Michigan Panthers, New Jersey Generals, Philadelphia Stars and Pittsburgh Maulers will compete in the North division while the Birmingham Stallions, Houston Gamblers, New Orleans Breakers and Tampa Bay Bandits will be in the South division.

Despite the regional names, all teams will complete a 10-game schedule in the same location, which is yet to be announced.

The top two teams in each division will earn a spot in the playoffs, setting up a championship between the two semifinal winners.

This iteration of the USFL does not have any ties to the original league, which ran from 1983 to '85, but each of the new franchises shares a name with a team that competed in the previous version. 

"These eight teams form the core of our initial league membership and will represent an exciting brand of professional football coming this spring," USFL president of football operations Brian Woods said in a statement. "We look forward to the start of our inaugural season."

Jim Kelly played for the Houston Gamblers before his Hall of Fame career with the Buffalo Bills. Herschel Walker was a league MVP with the New Jersey Generals.

Steve Young, Reggie White and coach Marv Levy were among the other notable figures in the original USFL.

The USFL is the latest league attempting to build a following in the spring. The AAF ran in 2019 until filing for bankruptcy and abruptly ending its campaign. The XFL started its second run in 2020 before the season was canceled amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Fox Sports' Colin Cowherd provided a breakdown of the new USFL in Monday's team announcement:

Fox Sports owns the league and will serve as the broadcast partner when play begins in 2022.