The 2024 UFL dispersal draft was the player selection process to fill the rosters of the eight teams for the 2024 UFL season and disperse the rosters from the eight teams from its component conferences, the

XFL XFL may refer to: Sports * XFL (2001), a defunct American football league that played its only season in 2001 * XFL (2020), a professional American football league Vehicles * Bell XFL Airabonita, a 1940 U.S. Navy experimental interceptor aircra ...

and

USFL The United States Football League (USFL) was a professional American football league that played for three seasons, 1983 through 1985. The league played a spring/summer schedule in each of its active seasons. The 1986 season was scheduled to be ...

, that were not retained in the merger.

Process

Following the merger of five teams of the

and three teams of the

into the United Football League (UFL) the UFL announced plans for a

dispersal draft A dispersal draft is a process in professional sports for assigning players to a new team when their current team ceases to exist or is merged with another team. Like most other sports drafts, most dispersal drafts are conducted in North America. ...

for XFL and USFL players on teams that were not joining the UFL. The draft will involve a three-phase player allocation process. Phases 1 and 2 occurred on January 5, and an open

for remaining USFL/XFL players (phase 3) is scheduled for January 15, 2024. As part of the terms of the merger, the

Houston Roughnecks The Houston Roughnecks are a professional American football team based in Houston, Texas. The team is an owned-and-operated member of the new XFL founded by Vince McMahon's Alpha Entertainment and plays its home games at TDECU Stadium. History ...

will use a base roster from their USFL counterpart, the

Houston Gamblers The Houston Gamblers were an American football team that competed in the United States Football League in 1984 and 1985. The Gamblers were coached by veteran NFL head coach Jack Pardee in both their seasons. They were noteworthy for introducing ...

, UNITED FOOTBALL LEAGUE REVEALS TEAM MARKETS AND HEAD COACHES FOR 2024 SEASON
Press release. Retrieved January 1, 2024. and drew from the USFL dispersal pool in Phase 2 of the draft. The 2023 Roughnecks' roster was dispersed to other teams in the XFL pool during Phase 2.

Phase 1

In Phase 1, each of the eight remaining teams selected up to 42 players currently under contract, or (in the XFL's case) who had signed a letter of intent with that team, who will be exempt from Phase 3 of the draft.

Phase 2

Phase 2 of the draft involves separate dispersal drafts for the USFL and XFL. The rosters of the four contracted teams from each league were placed into separate pools, where the four remaining teams from each league can claim up to 20 players from their league's respective pool.

Phase 3

In Phase 3, billed as the UFL Super Draft, the remaining players not protected in Phase 1 nor claimed in Phase 2, along with any

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

s who sign with the league, are subject to an open draft in which any of the eight teams can claim the player's rights.

XFL dispersal draft

The following players were claimed by former XFL teams during Phase 2 of the dispersal draft:

Arlington Renegades

D.C. Defenders

San Antonio Brahmas

St. Louis Battlehawks

USFL Dispersal Draft

The following players were claimed by former USFL teams during Phase 2 of the dispersal draft:

Birmingham Stallions

Houston Roughnecks

Memphis Showboats

Michigan Panthers

UFL Super Draft

Phase 3 of the dispersal draft, billed as the UFL Super Draft, occured January 15, 2024, with results live-tweeted via

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

References

United Football League (2024) {{United Football League