This weekend, the USFL and XFL officially merged to create the UFL. In that process, the leagues cut eight teams. Now, the remaining UFL franchises will be able to fill out their rosters with athletes who were left without a team.
Today, the USFLPA confirmed the news regarding January 5th and January 15th dates as being very important to the dispersal draft process.
USFL Player Allocation will commence on January 5th (Phase 1 – 2), with an open dispersal draft for remaining USFL/XFL players scheduled January 15th. pic.twitter.com/UPGsuVXxg1
— USFLPA (@USFLPA) January 3, 2024
We were also able to get confirmation from a league source that the XFL will be holding their first mini-dispersal draft on Friday.
League source confirms that – as expected – the first #XFL mini-dispersal draft for XFL teams will also be taking place on Friday.
Results are not expected to be made public until Monday, give or take, from what I’m told. #UFL https://t.co/you22QYcwf
— James Larsen (@JamesLarsenPFN) January 3, 2024
Let’s take a look at what we know so far, and what to expect from these UFL drafts.
Phase 1-2
The first two phases of the allocation process give each USFL and XFL team the ability to protect up to 42 of their players currently under contract. For example, the Birmingham Stallions will have the opportunity to lock in 42 of their athletes for the 2024 season.
Considering that this first draft was originally slated for December 29th, there are a handful of teams who have already their protected rosters set. However, each organization will now have until the 5th – deadline set for 10am – to do so.
On January 5th, phase two will commence. This will implement a draft-style process that takes place at 1pm, allowing USFL and XFL teams to claim up to 20 more players who are in the pool.
What makes this first draft unique, is that USFL teams can only pick athletes from dissolved teams on the USFL side. This ensures that the top…