https://pfnewsroom.com/news/ufl-to-relocate-four-markets-for-the-2026-season/ Out: Michigan, Houston, Birmingham, and Memphis. In: Florida (Orlando/Tampa Bay), Boise (Idaho), Columbus (Ohio), and Kentucky (Louisville/Lexington). Loosely related, there was a proposed spring football league (All-American Football League) that was supposed to start in 2007. Every team was supposed to have ties to major college teams and each player was supposed to be a college graduate. Just before the first season, the league was delayed for a year. Just before the delayed launch, the league delayed again. This happened several times until the website stopped being updated. This league was rumored to have a team play at HCS. I can only imagine the rent at Ohio Stadium be stupidly high, assuming they're even interested this time around. I can't see them play at LDC. Would they want the plastic field at HCS? Where else would be suitable?
Years ago the CFL was working on expanding into the US. A group from Columbus was working on a deal. I could never decide if I thought it was a great idea or if the mere prospect was terrifying.
I heard a guy on the radio this morning say that if this team wants to be successful it needs to have scarlet & gray branding. What a small town mentality.
It was that same mentality that caused outrage, although I'm not sure how much, when it was announced that the city's NHL team's primary color was going to be blue. Both that team and the team that adopted Pittsburgh's colors seem to be doing ok.
i doubt it will last long there's too many sports in the USA. and in Columbus. they should go to smaller market. not one that has the OSU buckeyes football powerhouse. go to Toledo. Columbus could do MLB if anything
Football might work here. IIRC, the Arena League team did ok until the whole AFL went belly-up. I have no idea how they did, considering they were division 2 women's, but we also had the Columbus Comets for over 15 years. I'm not sure how MLB would work, considering we're in the local TV markets for three MLB teams. Would someone have to give up their rights to Central Ohio? Would they want to? It's obviously a different league, but I believe part of the reason why Columbus never got that NBA team was because the Cavs didn't want to give up their TV rights in this part of the state and I'm not sure how that would have happened for people who got both feeds of the then-FS Ohio.
I wouldn't be surprised if there was some interest in bringing the NBA here. Nationwide could definitely use another high-paying tenant.
It was sort of a pet project of Mike Coleman during his final years in office. I wouldn't be surprised if Columbus eventually got one. The Cavs just might have to cope. Other than the LeBron years, it's sort of hard to think of Columbus as being Cavs territory other than through transplanted Cleveland natives.
If the MLS switches scheduling, the Crew would be conducting its "push for the playoffs" and playoffs at the same time locally as: Jackets - Regular season and playoffs Ohio State basketball teams - March Madness Fury - regular season and playoffs UFL - regular season and playoffs Lot o' competition, especially when teams want to charge playoff pricing. Interesting times.
The UFL team in Columbus will likely have more national network exposure than either the Crew or Blue Jackets in 2026. Add some former Ohio State players and a recognizable "name" coach ... and it could work, IMO. The fan experience at HCS may be a different challenge to overcome.
The Destroyers had Chris Spielman for a while. The two obvious names are gigantic elephants in the room and neither of them would ever want the job.
Yes. There's now a European league where some of the old names are being used. https://europeanleague.football/
It's interesting they're calling it European League Football, which makes it sound like a division two...errr...second division association football league. Tis a bit of a joke, but do they have AmeriSnobs over there saying "this is football" the way we have EuroSnobs here? City FootballTeam is American Rules whereas the same city's FC City is association football.
Columbus has OSU football. Doesn't need anything more. Someone should approach it like a tier 2 or minor league of football and go to mid/small markets. Most of those markets have minor league baseball teams. And those fans probably like football. If anything we should try to push for less sports that will take eyeballs from soccer. So soccer can grow more. With VC money going into all levels of sports, now you will have more and more leagues, like the lacrosse pro league and volleyball and softball and flag football and on and on.
Columbus is also growing faster than Cleveland and Cincy. So they should eventually move the Cavs and the Guardians to Columbus.