As the UFL’s second season approaches, the spring football league finds itself embattled in controversy.
And the ongoing labor negotiations took another turn late Wednesday night, with multiple UFL players accusing executive vice president of football operations Daryl Johnston of engaging in unfair labor practices.
According to ESPN’s Kevin Seifert, three unnamed players said that they were warned they would be released by the league if they boycott its upcoming media days. The players said that the threat was relayed to them by their coaches and that they later learned the directive came from Johnston.
“They told us that the league had gotten wind of union organization against the media days,” one of the players told ESPN, “and that if anyone acted on that, that they would be cut and considered to have acted with conduct detrimental [to the league]. We asked coaches after the meeting where this message came from and they said it came straight from Daryl Johnston, who gave this message to all eight coaches. We later confirmed that all eight coaches gave this message to their teams.”
Added another player added: “It’s coming from the top and those people are making 10-plus times our salary. So it’s frustrating to get that kind of pushback when we’re trying to fairly negotiate and they’re saying, ‘We can’t budge, and if you try to take action, then we’ll just cut you and move on.’ I mean, from the beginning it’s kind of been that we’re just replaceable figures and we don’t feel like we are, so that’s why we’re in this situation.”
Awful Announcing has reached out to Johnston, who has yet to respond. Meanwhile, a “UFL insider with knowledge of the situation” told ESPN that while the league has “disciplinary procedures in place for a player’s failure to participate in league events,” but that cutting players for not participating in media day is not a part of that policy.
News of the alleged edict marks the latest development in the UFL’s ongoing labor strife, which was first made public last month when the league’s 24 quarterbacks revealed that they would be holding out of training camp in hopes of securing a new collective bargaining agreement. While the quarterbacks reported to training earlier this week and a strike appears “unlikely,” tensions are clearly high between the league and its players heading into the 2025 season.
As for what’s next, the league’s media days are scheduled to take place Thursday and Friday in Arlington, Texas, and it will certainly be worth monitoring both what’s said and who attends. According to ESPN, there have yet to be any substantive negotiations between the UFL and UFLPA with the Fox Corporation-owned league, which is set to kick off its second season on March 28.
About Ben Axelrod
Ben Axelrod is a veteran of the sports media landscape, having most recently worked for NBC's Cleveland affiliate, WKYC. Prior to his time in Cleveland, he covered Ohio State football and the Big Ten for outlets including Cox Media Group, Bleacher Report, Scout and Rivals.