In total, the hub will house around 700 players, coaches, staff and other personnel.
ARLINGTON, Texas — Russ Brandon “scoured” the United States in 2021 when he was looking for a place to house the XFL.
Brandon, a former longtime executive of the NFL’s Buffalo Bills, had joined the XFL that year as president. The pro spring football league was preparing for a revival after shutting down halfway through the 2020 season because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Having seen the success of the NBA’s “bubble” during the pandemic, Brandon and other league executives wanted to explore implementing a similar model for the XFL. However, they couldn’t find the right place.
“We looked all over the country and I will tell you, at one point I was pretty darn frustrated,” Brandon said.
Eventually, Brandon called Sean Decker, president of REV Entertainment, an events-focused spinoff of the Texas Rangers. The XFL decided to put its hub in Arlington in a deal that Brandon joked took only three days to get done.
Three years later, the XFL’s successor, the UFL, will now call Arlington home for years to come.
The XFL ended up merging with the United States Football League in 2023, forming what is now the UFL. That league, still led by Brandon, chose to remain in Arlington after signing a 111,409-square-foot lease at Ballpark Circle, a two-building office complex within the Arlington Entertainment District. The lease, announced earlier in January, was the largest office lease in Tarrant County in two years , according to CoStar data.
The UFL unveiled the HQ and provided additional details about its real estate decision at a Jan. 29 press conference.
The UFL’s new headquarters, spanning two floors at 1401 Nolan Ryan Expy., hosts administrative, operational and team activities. All eight of the league’s teams will be housed in the building. In total, the hub will house around 700 players, coaches, staff and other personnel.
Brandon declined to disclose the lease terms but said the UFL will be “here for a while.”
Dany Garcia — a co-owner of the UFL along with Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, RedBird Capital Partners and Fox — described the official opening of the headquarters as a “singularly important day” for the league. She said the league’s impact will go beyond just the players and staff. The office serves a whole “ecosystem” that will benefit from the league being located in Arlington, including vendors, suppliers, corporate partners and community organizations.
Garcia also said the UFL wants to be at the forefront of innovation for football, from testing new technology to implementing methods for improving player safety.
“Those are the things that are going to happen here today, and the next five, 10, 15 years,” she said.
In addition to the headquarters itself, the UFL’s hub includes venues around the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex that teams utilize for practices, including Choctaw Stadium in Arlington, Southlake Carroll Dragon Stadium and Vernon Newsom Stadium in Mansfield.
Daryl Johnston, a former fullback for the Dallas Cowboys in the 1990s who is now an executive vice president of the UFL, also lauded the new headquarters and decision to locate in Arlington. Johnston previously oversaw day-to-day operations at the USFL, which was based in Birmingham, Alabama, prior to the merger.
“Those facilities for our guys to practice at and have to be part of their daily routine gives us that professional feel,” said Johnston, who garnered the nickname “Moose” during his NFL career.
Johnston envisions the UFL as a pipeline for players to get to the NFL. He said 83 UFL players signed a contract with an NFL team last year, with 18 ending up on an active roster. He also pointed to former UFL players who have gone on to have success in the NFL, such as Dallas Cowboys kicker Brandon Aubrey, Minnesota Vikings defensive lineman Jalen Redmond and Denver Broncos linebacker Dondrea Tillman.
“That’s what this is all about, is giving those guys that opportunity,” Johnston said.
