The United Football Players Association says they’ve struck a deal with the UFL on the league’s first CBA, with the players securing immediate raises and year-round health insurance.
The players membership ratified a two-season pact Thursday, but the league’s BOD has not taken final action. A league spokesman declined comment.
If it is fully consummated, the deal would end weeks of acrimony, which peaked during the March training camp with a quarterbacks-only hold out and an unfair labor practices complaint. The league will begin Week 4 play tonight.
According to UFPA leadership, members would see their full-season salary increase from $55,000 now to $62,005 this year, retroactive to the opening of camp, with another increase to $64,000 scheduled for 2026. More than half of that initial $7,005 increase would be paid for by eliminating a separate $4,000 housing stipend, which makes the immediate raise effectively 5.1%.
But perhaps more importantly in the deal ratified by the union, players would now have health insurance for themselves and dependents in the offseason, via a blend of extended active coverage and the UFL’s promise to subsidize COBRA coverage for five months each offseason.
Michigan Panthers QB Danny Etling said players were cognizant that the UFL, founded in 2024 after the merger of the modern-day USFL and the third iteration of the XFL, is still in a cost-containment mode and not profitable.
“What we were asking for wasn’t to put this league in any sort of existential threat,” Etling said. “We were always aware of that, and we tried to make very fair offers, very rational offers.”
Etling said the year-round health insurance will help the league in the long run, because players will be better able to support themselves and their families without finding second jobs or leaving the UFL altogether in search of more financial security. “It’s actually giving this league more survivability, more sustainability, for the players, the league and any investors,” Etling said.
Also under the new contract, active rosters would increase from 42 to 43 players, with camp invitees up from 58 to 64. Players would be eligible for individual bonuses, including $7,500 for the league MVP and $5,000 for all members of the championship team. Players also agreed to a series of work rules limiting padded practices to two per week, a formalized disciplinary process, three meals instead of one on game days, guaranteed access to medical records, their own choice of cleats, and the creation of a labor-management committee that will meet regularly.
The UFPA was led in negotiations by Harry Marino, president of Sports Solidarity, an organization that grew out of Minor League Baseball players’ successful unionization efforts. The UFL is owned by Fox Sports, RedBird Capital Partners, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Dany Garcia and Disney.
