Latest news with #MikeRepole
Yahoo
7 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
United Football League team coming to Ohio
The United Football League (UFL) is coming to an Ohio city, according to our media partners, WBNS-10 TV. [DOWNLOAD: Free WHIO-TV News app for alerts as news breaks] A spokesperson with the premier spring football league told our media partners that a team will be located in Columbus starting in the 2026 spring season. TRENDING STORIES: Homeowners burning weeds leads to Montgomery County house fire, firefighters say At least 2 hurt in local apartment fire; 8 units displaced Soulja Boy arrested on suspicion of weapons charge during a traffic stop The new team will play at the Historic Crew Stadium, which is located at One Black and Gold Boulevard. 'The UFL selecting Historic Crew Stadium to host a team's home games is a further testament to the first-class fan experience at our venue, as well as advances our commitment to bringing unique major events to Columbus that highlight our city and promote economic impact in the region. It's also the result of Columbus' continued growth and its long-standing passion for supporting sports,' the spokesperson told WBNS-10's Dom Tiberi. This move comes after entrepreneur Mike Repole joined the league's ownership group. 'Football has clearly established itself as America's most popular sport, with tremendous momentum and demand,' Repole said in a media release by UFL. 'There's no better time than now to build a strong, sustainable spring league that unites players, teams, and fans. I'm honored to join the United Football League's ownership group as we work to create something truly lasting and game-changing.' Repole told ESPN that the league is planning to relocate two home markets. One of the new locations will be Columbus. The UFL currently operates eight teams as a spring football league in the following cities: Arlington, Texas Birmingham, Alabama Detroit, Michigan Houston, Texas Memphis, Tennessee San Antonio, Texas St. Louis, Missouri Washington, D.C. There are currently 10 games during the regular season, which are divided between the USFL and XFL conferences, according to WBNS-10. Details on the new team are expected to be announced at a later date. [SIGN UP: WHIO-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter]
New York Times
01-08-2025
- Business
- New York Times
UFL adds new billionaire co-owner Mike Repole, who promises big changes
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. Advertisement 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.' Advertisement 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.
Yahoo
31-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
UFL adds Mike Repole as an owner — and he's eyeing 16 teams by 2035
The UFL is doubling down. Despite disappointing metrics in its second season after the USFL/XFL merger, it has attracted another major investor. And he has big plans. Mike Repole, who cofounded vitaminwater, smartwater, and BodyArmor before selling them to Coca-Cola for more than $12 billion, joins RedBird Capital Partners, FOX, ESPN, Dany Garcia, and Dwayne Johnson as owners of the league. 'Football has clearly established itself as America's most popular sport, with tremendous momentum and demand,' Repole said in the press release announcing the development. 'There's no better time than now to build a strong, sustainable spring league that unites players, teams, and fans. I'm honored to join the United Football League's ownership group as we work to create something truly lasting and game-changing.' The initial changes to the game reportedly include the relocation of half of the league, with Birmingham, Michigan, Houston, and Memphis franchises heading to new markets. In an interview with Kevin Seifert of Repole confirmed that at least two and as many as four teams will move for 2026. Repole also said that one of the new markets will be Columbus, with the UFL team playing at the MLS stadium built for the Columbus Crew. He wants venues that feel alive. Which makes smaller stadiums critical. "The vibe hasn't been to where it should be," Repole said. "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." As the facilities shrink, the teams could grow. Repole wants to double the size of the UFL, within the next decade. "We're going to be aggressive as far as being nimble and scrappy and gritty and making aggressive moves," Repole 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." He's right about that. The key will be to create an appetite for football when it's not football season. That's the fundamental challenge that all spring or summer leagues have faced. Which means that the best way to succeed as an alternative league would be to play games during NFL season, on the days when the NFL isn't playing games: Tuesday, Wednesday, Saturday, Sunday.
USA Today
31-07-2025
- Business
- USA Today
Mike Repole joins UFL: Why entrepreneur is investing in spring football league
The UFL is bringing a new investor into the fold as it enters a critical offseason ahead of its third season. The league announced on Thursday, July 31 that Mike Repole would be joining the UFL's ownership group and would head up its business operations. Repole, 56, is an entrepreneur who is best known for co-founding two sports drink companies: Glaceau, the maker of vitaminwater and smartwater, and BODYARMOR. He sold the companies to the Coca-Cola Company for more than $12 billion. Currently, Repole is the majority owner of NOBULL, an athletic apparel company backed by Tom Brady. He also owns Repole Stable, a horse-racing operation that has produced multiple Breeders' Cup and Belmont Stakes winners, along with Uncle Mo, who sired 2016 Kentucky Derby champion Nyquist. "The UFL is thrilled to welcome a visionary like Mike Repole to our ownership group," UFL president and CEO Russ Brandon said in a statement announcing the development. "Mike's entrepreneurial accomplishments are extraordinary, and his dynamic leadership will immediately elevate the league's business and brand trajectory." WHAT'S NEXT FOR UFL? News on expansion, attendance, plans for 2026 season Why Mike Repole is investing in the UFL Repole explained his interest in investing in the UFL stemmed from a variety of factors. Chief among them is football's ever-increasing popularity. "Football really has distanced itself from all the other sports right now," Repole told USA TODAY in an interview. "When you see the top 100 sports shows, football has 85 of them. It's just amazing." Repole noted that even offseason NFL events, such as the NFL scouting combine and NFL draft, draw in millions of viewers. He believes that audience indicates an appetite for football on which a spring league, like the UFL, could capitalize. Already, Repole is confident in the league's "good" viewership. He knows it won't compare to top NFL or college football events, but he is confident it can rival the viewership of its direct competition, such as the WNBA, MLS, NHL, NBA and MLB. "For a league that has the lowest awareness out of all these other leagues, it does pretty well," Repole said of the UFL's TV ratings. Repole credited Brandon and Daryl Johnston for creating an on-field product that has drawn fans to watch the fledgling league. However, the 56-year-old knows it will be critical to enhance the at-game experience for the UFL to establish roots. "When some of the stadiums look like COVID games and there are no fans, and there really isn't a cheering section, I think there's a disconnect with how the product is connecting," Repole explained. That attendance challenge is one of the factors that excites Repole about joining the UFL. He already has started assessing ways to improve that, from potential franchise relocation to venue changes. "I think the biggest opportunity is picking the right city, picking the right markets, picking the right venues and then really connecting with every fan, one fan at a time, and spending more time in that local region," he detailed. What will that process look like for the UFL in 2026? Repole and the league are still mapping that out. UFL RELOCATION RUMORS: What we know about league's plans for 2026 Nonetheless, he remains steadfast the UFL, with some tweaks, can establish itself as the a long-term staple of the spring sports calendar. "You've heard about spring football for over 30 years now," he said. "There's a reason why people are still at it."
Times
13-06-2025
- Business
- Times
Coolmore Stud dragged into multimillion-dollar ‘doping' row
Coolmore Stud is seeking to extricate itself from a multimillion-dollar legal dispute in New York over a horse that was disqualified from a race in Saratoga, allegedly costing its billionaire owner a fortune in stud fees. Mike Repole claims his horse, Forte, was wrongly disqualified over accusations of doping. The co-founder of Glaceau and BodyArmour, who sold both drinks companies to Coca-Cola for nearly $10 billion combined, is a keen racing fan who invests heavily in the sport. The billionaire argues that Forte broke no rules and also contends in legal papers that the New York State Gaming Commission wrongly allowed the owners of the second-placed horse to act as 'intervenors' during a regulatory hearing over the race. Forte was the subject of a hearing after the race over 'a minor presence of meloxicam [a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug] in blood and urine samples'. The thoroughbred was disqualified from the race and had its winner's purse withheld and distributed to the second-placed horse.
