The UFL and the United Football Players Association (UFPA) do not have a CBA in place for the 2025 campaign. As such, the spring league faced questions about a potential player strike as it began its second season following the USFL and XFL merger.
Ultimately, UFL players decided to participate in the league’s season opener between the Houston Roughnecks and St. Louis Battlehawks, ESPN’s Kevin Seifert reports.
However, the players are also planning to make a statement as they prepare for the opener. The UFPA wrote a letter that it plans to hand-deliver to Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson, one of the UFL co-owners who is expected to attend the first UFL game of the season.
Here’s what to know about the UFL players’ letter to Johnson:
UFL players’ letter to The Rock
The UFPA’s letter to Johnson requested his assistance in helping to settle the organization’s ‘ongoing contract dispute with the UFL.’
The UFPA noted it has been negotiating with the UFL’s lawyers ‘for months’ about a potential new CBA and expressed displeasure with the way league management has handled negotiations.
‘We know that you – a former player and proud union member – would not be OK with how this has gone down,’ the UFPA said, addressing Johnson.
What have the UFL players been seeking? They mostly want an avenue to year-round health insurance, which isn’t currently provided as part of the league’s seasonal contract.
‘The players haven’t been asking for the moon and the stars – just year-round healthcare or a salary increase sufficient to ensure that players can afford it on their own,’ the letter read. ‘As a former player, you know how rough the sport of football can be and how vital healthcare is.’
The players also communicated that they ‘deeply appreciate’ what Johnson has done for the league and are hopeful he can help the two parties reach an equitable conclusion to their labor dispute.
‘Your success is an inspiration for many of the players and we know how passionate you are about doing right by the players,’ the UFPA wrote. ‘Please help us resolve this dispute so that the players can shift all of their attention to chasing their dreams and putting on a show for the great fans of the UFL.’
The UFPA did not clarify which players would present Johnson with the letter at Friday’s game.
What is UFL player salary 2025?
The exact value of UFL player salary for 2025 isn’t known, but it is reportedly a ‘negligible’ increase from the $55,000 base salary players received last season, per Ben Fischer of the Sports Business Journal.
Players are looking for a more substantial salary increase and year-round health insurance. They believe such requests are reasonable, especially ‘considering the UFL’s substantial investment this offseason in marketing and sales staff, as well as in the 111,000-square foot lease for its football operations headquarters,’ Fischer reports.
The UFL said in a statement it ‘continues to negotiate in good faith with the players union to finalize a collective bargaining agreement, which will be beneficial both to the players and the league.’