The NFL reigns supreme in the world of professional football. Given how much money is made by the league, it is easy to see why business-minded people would strive to create some form of a competitor.
They know there isn’t sense in trying to compete with the NFL during the season, so the target has been when the NFL is out of season. Recently, there have been several iterations of leagues, but the most recent is a merger of the XFL and the USFL. The new group remained the United Football League, but it hasn’t exactly risen to the form of a competitor quite yet.
Instead, the league is taking the revamped XFL angle and striving to give fans more football, while also trying to provide players with game reps to help them make it to the NFL. With the talent level not being the highest and with the league still relatively new, the contracts in the UFL aren’t as large as those in the NFL.
Here is more on how much the UFL players make.
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How much do UFL players get paid?
The UFL had a collective bargaining agreement (CBA) instituted ahead of the 2025 season. It was a two-year agreement with players due a 12.7% increase in salary between the 2024 season and 2025. The minimum salary for a player in the UFL is $62,500, per ESPN, which is a $7,005 increase with the CBA. Players won’t get as much of a raise ahead of the 2026 season, but the salary will rise to $64,000.
While it doesn’t get factored into the salary, players will now also receive year-round health insurance. Players are covered by the UFL for seven months, but then get subsidized COBRA for the remaining five months of the year.
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How much do NFL players get paid?
The average NFL salary in 2024 was $3.2 million, which was up from $2.8 million in 2023. The minimum player salary in 2024 was $795,000, which applied to rookies in their first season. After that, the amount increases depending on the number of years you have been in the league, creating a salary floor for all players.
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How much were XFL players paid?
The XFL was revived by a group involving Dwyane “The Rock” Johnson in 2020. It only lasted three seasons and was then merged with the USFL ahead of the 2024 season.
For the last full XFL season in 2023, the average salary was around $59,000 for the 10-game season. Players had bonuses built into their contracts, allowing them to earn an extra $5,000 per game played and a $1,000 bonus for each win. After the bonuses were factored in, it was estimated that players were making between $60,000 and $70,000 for the season.
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