COLUMN: New football league, same old Battlehawks

St. Louis Battlehawks receiver Austin Proehl, son of NFL veteran Rickey Proehl, who played for the St. Louis Rams during the "Greatest Show of Turf" years of 1998-2002, takes a selfie with fans after a Battlehawks game last season at the Dome at America's Center in St. Louis.

Tony Capobianco ~ tcapobianco@semoball.com

It's a new year and with it, a new spring football league.

Since 2019 there have been numerous attempts to make football a part of the springtime, cutting in on hockey and basketball’s shine. It’s a clever concept on paper. As the Super Bowl ends, spring football begins, allowing fans to keep the weekend enjoyment going.

First, it was the Alliance of American Football, which couldn’t complete its only season in 2019. Then came XFL 2.0, and more importantly, the birth of the St. Louis Battlehawks. COVID cut that short in 2020 but then came the soft launch of USFL 2.0, which had all of its games played in Birmingham in 2022, turning old Legion Field into an oversized TV studio. The league expanded to four locations for the eight teams in 2023 including Memphis, which is only a 2.5-hour drive from Cape Girardeau.

2023 was also the year of XFL 3.0 and the return of the Battlehawks. That year, St. Louis proved that it is still a football-loving city despite losing the Rams to Los Angeles 20 years after gaining the franchise from Southern California. The Battlehawks were the only XFL team last year to attract 30,000 fans to a game and did it for all five home games.

The Battlehawks return for a second full season in 2024 but now as a part of the United Football League, which is the product of the merger between the XFL and USFL. This is not to be confused with the United Football League which played 3.5 seasons with five teams from 2009-12.

The XFL is now a conference rather than a full league, and with it, the Battlehawks, DC Defenders, San Antonio Brahmas, and Arlington Renegades, who won the league championship last year despite having a losing regular season record.

The merger had the same effect as Thanos snapping his fingers and watching half the team from both leagues fade out of existence. Gone were the Seattle Sea Dragons, the Vegas Vipers, and the Orlando Guardians — memorable matchups from last year at the Dome at America's Center now lost to time.

The Dome also hosted a college football game between Missouri and Memphis. The UFL rivalry between St. Louis and Memphis will hopefully be one to look forward to as spring football makes progress toward being a long-term staple in our sports landscape.