USFL 2023 season: TV schedule, players to watch and everything else to know about league's return

The USFL is back for Year 2.

And given the recent track record of spring football leagues, that's no small feat.

With its first game Saturday afternoon, the USFL will do what the Alliance of American Football and 2020 version of the XFL could not and kick off a second season. The league will feature a handful of new players, four new head coaches, one new team and an expansion to playing games in four "hub" cities for its eight teams.

"I think the biggest thing for us in Year 1 was just finishing the season, and crowning a champion," USFL president Daryl Johnston told USA TODAY Sports last week. "Now there were bumps along the way. I’m not going to be naïve and say that we were perfect. The one thing that we all talked about was, in Year 2, we’ve got to be more proactive instead of reactive."

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Here's everything you need to know about the USFL ahead of the 2023 season:

What's new in Year 2?

Perhaps the most notable change for the USFL in Year 2 is its geographic expansion.

Last year, the league based all of its practices and games in one location – Birmingham, Alabama. This year, games will be played in three additional "hub" cities: Detroit, Canton, Ohio and Memphis, Tennessee.

Johnston, the former Dallas Cowboys fullback who also works as an NFL analyst for Fox Sports, said the expansion to multiple sites is part of a "crawl, walk, run" progression. He thinks it represents a degree of confidence that the league has in its operation and sustainability.

"There was an energy (in Birmingham), people in the seats – and that is something we wanted the other teams to have the opportunity to experience," Johnston said. "There’s a home-field advantage for a reason, and Birmingham had that for 10 games last year. We wanted to kind of start to distribute that out to our other franchises as well."

Despite the additional hub cities, however, fewer than half of USFL teams (three of eight) will play a game in the city they represent.

"Our goal is to get all of our teams into their home markets," Johnston said. "During the period of transition to get to that point, what we ask … (is for fans) to just hang in there with us."

Coaching, team turnover

Seven of the eight USFL teams will return in 2023. The Tampa Bay Bandits have been replaced by the Memphis Showboats, with the city's Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium also set to serve as a hub for games.

The league also had significant turnover in its coaching ranks, with Larry Fedora, Jeff Fisher, Kevin Sumlin and Kirby Wilson all departing after one year in their roles.

Here is the full list of the USFL's 2023 teams, home game hub cities and coaches:

Birmingham Stallions: Birmingham | Head coach Skip Holtz

Houston Gamblers: Memphis | Head coach Curtis Johnson

Memphis Showboats: Memphis | Head coach Todd Haley

Michigan Panthers: Detroit | Head coach Mike Nolan

New Jersey Generals: Canton | Head coach Mike Riley

New Orleans Breakers: Birmingham | Head coach John DeFilippo

Philadelphia Stars: Detroit | Head coach Bart Andrus

Pittsburgh Maulers: Canton | Head coach Ray Horton

Players to know

Many of the USFL's top players from last season have since moved on to the XFL. And some have since gotten looks in the NFL, including 2022 league MVP KaVontae Turpin, who is now with the Dallas Cowboys.

The league is not devoid of notable names, however, or players with NFL experience. Among them:

► Birmingham RB Bo Scarbrough, a two-time national champion at Alabama who played briefly for the Detroit Lions and Seattle Seahawks.

► Memphis RB Alex Collins, who ran for nearly 2,000 yards over parts of five NFL seasons with the Seahawks and Baltimore Ravens.

► Philadelphia WR Corey Coleman, who won the Biletnikoff Award at Baylor and caught 61 passes in the NFL with the Cleveland Browns and New York Giants from 2016 to 2018.

► Pittsburgh LB Reuben Foster, the 2017 first-round pick who last played in the NFL in 2020 with the Washington Commanders.

There remain question marks at quarterback, however. The USFL will welcome back the two men who started under center in its 2022 championship game (Case Cookus and J'Mar Smith), but only one quarterback in the league, Kyle Lauletta, has attempted a pass in the NFL.

When asked if he's concerned about the quality of the league's quarterback play, Johnston stressed the importance of starting experience in other leagues, like the Canadian Football League, AAF or old XFL.

"For us, sometimes it’s better to go out and give that person who hasn’t had that opportunity a chance to shine," he added.

USFL vs. XFL

After several years in which one spring football league struggled to gain a foothold, there will now be two leagues in action simultaneously for the next month.

Johnston said he welcomes the competition from the XFL and commended the level of professionalism he's seen on the field from its players and coaches. But he also touted the USFL's product and potential.

"I think that we’re going to be able to be on par or superior to them with our quality of football," Johnson said. "Our distribution of football, I think nobody can compete with us. ... The quality of football generated by our coaches and their staffs, and the production value that Fox and NBC are going to bring to it, is a combination that I just feel is very, very difficult to beat."

When asked if he thinks both the USFL and XFL will still be in operation two years from now, Johnston was succinct.

"I think in the ultimate end game, the viewer and the rating determines that," he said.

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How to watch USFL Week 1

Here is the TV lineup, game times and schedule for the USFL's first week of action.

Saturday

Philadelphia at Memphis | 4:30 p.m. ET | Fox

New Jersey at Birmingham | 7:30 p.m. ET | Fox

Sunday

Michigan at Houston | 12 p.m. ET | NBC, Peacock

Pittsburgh at New Orleans | 6:30 p.m. ET | Fox Sports 1 

Contact Tom Schad at tschad@usatoday.com or on Twitter @Tom_Schad.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: USFL 2023 season: TV schedule, players to watch, everything to know