The United Football League (UFL) kicks off its third season this month and Tippie marketing students are using it as a learning tool.   

Students in John Staak’s Sports Marketing class are getting hands-on experience developing branding and ticketing strategies for the league and for individual teams. While they don’t have a formal partnership with the UFL, the league is providing feedback.

“It’s a unique opportunity for our students to experience researching and data analysis and to polish their presentation skills. Plus the league gets the Gen Z perspective—a group who could be the UFL’s next generation of fans,” said Staak. 

The first project was Fall semester 2025. Staak grouped the students into what were effectively marketing agencies to work for a client on a collaborative, team-based project. They’re doing a similar project this spring. 

The UFL is a developmental professional football league that plays in the spring, featuring players who are on the cusp of the NFL but still need some experience to get there. The league has struggled its first two seasons, with low attendance and poor TV ratings. A change in strategy after last season led to three teams folding, including the defending champion Michigan Panthers. Three expansion teams were since added so the league is back to eight teams.

The league is also trying new rules to distinguish itself from the NFL, including a 4-point field goal if kicked from more than 60 yards and a 3-point extra point try. 

Madison Koch is the league’s director of analytics and reporting who lived in Marion until moving out of state recently, and she’s providing information and data for the students to use. She also attended the student teams’ final project presentations at the end of the fall semester and plans to virtually participate in the spring semester class, too. 

Staak said Koch brings inside knowledge that helps the students better understand sports marketing. 

“It’s important they know how to give presentations to a stakeholder who is a subject matter expert and will give honest feedback about their ideas,” he said. “When comments come from Madison, they have even more credibility.”

Staak said the goal of the class was to help the UFL craft a differentiated brand as it looks to carve out a new identity for itself when competing for attention with other sports in the spring, as well as the NFL and college football. The Wall Street Journal recently referred to the league as “a football laboratory rethinking the rules of the game”

Some student teams focused on the new rules and tech innovations, while some chose to highlight the developmental pipeline to the NFL, and others pitched that the UFL should pivot to an intensely community oriented and family friendly league.

While the class is geared particularly toward students who want to pursue careers in sports marketing, others have taken an interest. For instance, Hannah Williams heard good things about the class and Staak from other marketing majors, not necessarily because of the subject matter.  

“I’m not a huge football person,” admitted the senior from Dubuque. “I’d never even heard of the UFL.”

Still, she said it was eye opening to see how sports marketing works, and how teams attempt to move fans along a continuum, from complete lack of awareness to passionate fan willing to buy game tickets and merch. 

Her class group suggested that teams mic up players and coaches so fans can hear conversations and feel an extra connection to the team. Teams could charge a premium to hear the conversations, she said, and it could provide potential sponsorship opportunities with headset companies. They also suggested letting fans call a play in certain game situations. For instance, letting the fans decide whether to go for a first-down or punt on a fourth-down play. 

Williams hopes for a career with the Walt Disney Co. and said much of what she learned in sports marketing could be used there or in any marketing career.

Media contact: Tom Snee, 319-384-0010 (o); 319-541-8434 (c); tom-snee@uiowa.edu