UFL adds new billionaire co-owner Mike Repole, who promises big changes

New York Times

5 days ago

The ownership group of the UFL has gained a new member in Mike Repole, the billionaire co-founder of Vitaminwater and BodyArmor.
In a statement Thursday, the spring football league said Repole's private equity firm, Impact Capital, 'will lead the league's business operations' going forward.
Repole, 57, joins co-owners RedBird Capital Partners, Fox, ESPN, Dany Garcia and Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson. The league has not disclosed how much Rapole paid for his ownership stake.
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A UFL spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
'I think today is the first day of the United Football League,' Repole told Sports Business Journal. 'It probably took a couple of years for them to get comfortable and have the right conferences and leagues. I think they learned a lot.'
Forbes estimates Repole's net worth to be around $1.6 billion, a large portion of which came from Coca-Cola's purchase of his companies Glaceau — the maker of Vitaminwater and Smartwater — and BodyArmor. The beverage giant paid $4.1 billion for Glaceau in 2007, then $5.6 billion in 2021 to acquire BodyArmor.
'The UFL is thrilled to welcome a visionary like Mike Repole to our ownership group,' said UFL President and CEO Russ Brandon in a statement. 'Mike's entrepreneurial accomplishments are extraordinary, and his dynamic leadership will immediately elevate the league's business and brand trajectory.'
Repole's other investments include NOBULL, a sportswear company that merged with Tom Brady's nutrition and apparel brands in 2024. He also owns the Repole Stable horse racing team.
The UFL, formed when the struggling USFL and XFL spring leagues merged in December 2023, faced a 20 percent decline in viewership during its second season, according to league numbers compiled by Sports Business Journal.
Game attendance dropped 5 percent from 2024, and was down in seven of the eight cities with UFL teams. St. Louis, the league's strongest market, fueled in part by the Los Angeles Rams' departure from the city, saw a 13 percent drop in attendance this season. Detroit did see attendance increase by a third, however. Individual games, on average, have drawn about 10,000 fans.
'The vibe hasn't been to where it should be,' Repole told ESPN on Thursday. 'You can hear a pin drop when someone runs 80 yards. That's not so good. Nobody wants to turn on the TV and see 10,000 fans in a 65,000-seat stadium. It's like watching a COVID game.'
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Repole also told ESPN the UFL plans to move at least two teams before its next season begins, and that he sees the league's number of teams doubling over the next decade.
'We're going to be aggressive as far as being nimble and scrappy and gritty and making aggressive moves,' he said. 'If by 2035, if we can't have 16 teams, I'm going to consider it a personal failure. This is it. Other leagues didn't have the capital that this league has, didn't have the media giants that this league has, didn't have the entrepreneurs that this team has.'
Repole confirmed long-simmering rumors that Columbus, Ohio, will be one of the relocation destinations, with games played at the Columbus Crew's stadium. However, he did not say which team will move there or which other new markets are under consideration.
The current cities with UFL teams are Arlington, Texas; Birmingham, Ala.; Detroit; Houston; Memphis; San Antonio; St. Louis and Washington D.C., whose team (the DC Defenders) won the 2025 UFL Championship.
Both of the UFL's first two seasons had 10-game schedules, but it has not yet said when the 2026 season will begin. It announced on Tuesday that 26 UFL players who appeared during the 2025 season have since signed NFL contracts, one of its key value propositions to attract potential players.