SYRACUSE, N.Y. — The United Football League (UFL) and the sport-analytics program at Syracuse University (SU) have announced an agreement that allows Syracuse sport-analytics students to complete statistical analysis and provide insights and visualizations to the UFL.
The partnership marks the first time an American college or university has worked with the spring-football league, SU said in its Thursday announcement.
As part of the agreement, the UFL will provide Syracuse University students with experience in professional football and access to its employees, while the university will provide the data-analysis skills of students from what it called the “leading” sport-analytics program in the country.
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“The United Football League is proud to team up with the two-time national champion Sport Analytics program at Syracuse University,” Russ Brandon, president and CEO of the UFL, said in the SU announcement. “Innovation is at the heart of the UFL, so it is only fitting that we seek out the creativity and the expertise of these students as we look toward a new approach to sports analytics.”
Brandon — a native of East Syracuse and former president of the Buffalo Bills — is also a member of the advisory council for SU’s department of sport management.
Under the agreement with the UFL, the sport-analytics program is coordinating student participation, and seven students have joined the first phase. SU will add more students at a future time. The UFL is assigning projects related to league operations and initiatives. Both SU and the UFL are holding regular meetings to discuss projects, share findings through visualizations (charts, graphs, dashboards), and strategize on next steps, per the SU announcement.
The UFL is a spring football league formed from the merger of the XFL and USFL in 2024. Under the combined ownership of RedBird Capital Partners, Fox TV, Dany Garcia, and Dwayne Johnson, the UFL has eight teams in markets that include Arlington, Texas; Birmingham, Alabama; Detroit, Michigan; Houston, Texas; Memphis, Tennessee; San Antonio, Texas; St. Louis, Missouri, and Washington, D.C.
The 2025 UFL season kicked off this past Friday, when Fox Sports debuts “FOX UFL Friday” — a new night dedicated to UFL action taking place each Friday during the 10-week regular season.
The league’s second season will conclude on Saturday, June 14, when ABC presents the 2025 UFL Championship Game.
