UFL 2025: New rules, tech innovations to watch for

ESPN | American Football | 03/28/2025

By Kevin Seifert

When the NFL decided to revamp its kickoff structure last year, it didn’t start from scratch. The league instead leaned into a model from the now-defunct XFL, one that had been developed and tested during a five-year period from 2018 to ’23. NFL rule-makers imposed a few tweaks and managed to raise the return rate while lowering the injury rates in 2024, and owners are soon expected to renew those plans for another season.

The kickoff story is one of many reasons to monitor spring football, where pro-level level innovation continues to percolate. The United Football League, the product of a merger between the XFL and USFL, will open its second season this weekend with a series of on-field and technological advancements that could find their way into NFL discussions in the coming years.

“We have this unique ability to introduce innovation that has the ability to impact the game of football broadly,” said Scott Harniman, the UFL’s senior vice president of technology and leader of its FAST (Football Advancement through Sports Technology) program. “It’s not just for the UFL, not for spring football. We have to introduce these things that can impact and advance the game of football.”

Let’s take a closer look at eight UFL rules and innovations to monitor for the 2025 season.

Kickoff aligned with likely NFL changes

As part of its merger negotiations last season, the UFL adopted the USFL’s traditional kickoff for 2024. But it will return to the XFL version this season, with a few tweaks. Kickers will line up at their own 30-yard line, with touchbacks marked at the 40-yard line. Balls that don’t reach the landing zone, from the 20-yard line to the goal line, will also be marked at the 40.

Dean Blandino, the UFL’s vice president of rules and officiating, is projecting a return rate of at least 80% for the 2025 season. In 2024, the NFL kicked off from the 35 and marked touchbacks at the 30, leading to a return rate of 32.8%.

“The tweaks were really things that the NFL is considering and may end up doing,” Blandino said.

No onside kicks

The difficulty of recovering onside kicks in this alignment prompted the UFL to eliminate them and instead give teams an opportunity to convert what amounts to a fourth-and-12 play from their own 28-yard line to retain possession after a score.

NFL owners have in the past rejected this option because they consider it gimmicky, but last season, the NFL’s onside kick recovery rate was .06%. The UFL calibrated this option in hopes of achieving a conversion rate between 13% and 15%, Blandino said.