UFL new rules

[Sports_Freak]

https://www.totalprosports.com/nfl/ufl-announces-significant-new-rule-changes-2026/

[RedRamage]

I'm gonna have a much harder time being interested in the UFL without the Panthers, but I do think the UFL can be a great place to field test some new rules, so I'll at least be interested to see how some of these rules work out and what the teams/fans think of them.

• Tush push banned. Interestingly the linked article says: "The league defines the play as “a play in which, after the quarterback takes the snap, he immediately..." I wonder if the rule itself says QB, and if so can they do the tush push with a RB getting the snap?
• 60+ yard FG = 4 points. I'm not a fan of this myself. I always considered FG as 'consolation prizes.' Your goal is to get into the endzone, but if you come up a little short we'll allow the FG so it's not a total wasted effort. This is also why I've never liked the "sudden death" rule in OT.
• No punts inside 50-yard line. If you get to the other side of the field you either have to go for it on 4th down to try for a FG. Not sure on this one... Guess I'll have to see it in play testing but I don't understand what problem this is trying to solve.
• One-foot in bounds for a catch. I'm guessing this is to try to create more offense. I guess I don't really care one way or the other on this.
• Red-zone penalties = half the distance to the goal. I generally think I'm in favor of this. I always thought it was a bit lopsided how one team gets a benefit here while the other team does. Like if the offense is driving down to the 5 yard line and the defense holds on a play, the penalty is 2.5 yards. But if the offense holds it's 10 yards in the other direction. This gives the defense less of a penalty for fouls... and vis versa if the offense is starting from their 5-yard line.
• Overtime Format: Revised to alternating three-attempt sessions from the 5-yard line. Don't like it personally.
• The kickoff will occur from the 30-yard line. No real preference I guess.

[RedRamage]

Okay, so I decided to look up more info on UFL's website right than relying on what Google said. So a few clarifications:

On the "no punts inside 50," this holds even if a penalty causes the new line of scrimmage to be outside of the 50. This makes sense I guess otherwise if a team was like on the 48 and wanted to punt, they'd just false start, ball gets moved past the 50 to the 47, now they can punt.

The "Red-zone" penalty rules are not at all what I thought. They actually had different rules vs. the NFL and are going to align their rules with the NFL now. That's a bummer as I mentioned above I always thought this was a big unfair. I would have loved to see how it played out with penalties for both teams being changed to the equivalent of half the distance to the goal. 
 

[Sports_Freak]

14 minutes ago, RedRamage said:

I'm gonna have a much harder time being interested in the UFL without the Panthers, but I do think the UFL can be a great place to field test some new rules, so I'll at least be interested to see how some of these rules work out and what the teams/fans think of them.

• Tush push banned. Interestingly the linked article says: "The league defines the play as “a play in which, after the quarterback takes the snap, he immediately..." I wonder if the rule itself says QB, and if so can they do the tush push with a RB getting the snap?
• 60+ yard FG = 4 points. I'm not a fan of this myself. I always considered FG as 'consolation prizes.' Your goal is to get into the endzone, but if you come up a little short we'll allow the FG so it's not a total wasted effort. This is also why I've never liked the "sudden death" rule in OT.
• No punts inside 50-yard line. If you get to the other side of the field you either have to go for it on 4th down to try for a FG. Not sure on this one... Guess I'll have to see it in play testing but I don't understand what problem this is trying to solve.
• One-foot in bounds for a catch. I'm guessing this is to try to create more offense. I guess I don't really care one way or the other on this.
• Red-zone penalties = half the distance to the goal. I generally think I'm in favor of this. I always thought it was a bit lopsided how one team gets a benefit here while the other team does. Like if the offense is driving down to the 5 yard line and the defense holds on a play, the penalty is 2.5 yards. But if the offense holds it's 10 yards in the other direction. This gives the defense less of a penalty for fouls... and vis versa if the offense is starting from their 5-yard line.
• Overtime Format: Revised to alternating three-attempt sessions from the 5-yard line. Don't like it personally.
• The kickoff will occur from the 30-yard line. No real preference I guess.

• No punts inside 50-yard line. If you get to the other side of the field you either have to go for it on 4th down to try for a FG. Not sure on this one... Guess I'll have to see it in play testing but I don't understand what problem this is trying to solve.

Trying to make a game more exciting, would be my guess. We can call it the Dan Campbell rule...😅😅

[Hongbit]

The 60 yard rule is terrible as it will create late game situations where teams will purposely take a loss of yards to get in the 60 range.    

[RedRamage]

28 minutes ago, Hongbit said:

The 60 yard rule is terrible as it will create late game situations where teams will purposely take a loss of yards to get in the 60 range.    

I actually don't consider that a bad thing, personally. As I said I don't like the rule in general because I don't like giving a FG more importance. My opinion is it should remain a consolation prize. (In fact, I might be persuaded the idea of making it worth only two points.)

But, if they are going to have the rule, then I see no issue with teams doing that. That's a product of the rule and teams are working the rules to whatever advantage they can get. Plus this could lead to more highlight moments for the UFL.

Now, having said that, if the UFL is opposed to the idea of teams intentionally taking a penalty there's an easy fix... it's the same one they're employing with the limits in punting: Once an offense cross the boundary where the FG would be less than 60 yards then they "lose" the 4-point bonus for that drive.

[Mr.TaterSalad]

26 minutes ago, Hongbit said:

The 60 yard rule is terrible as it will create late game situations where teams will purposely take a loss of yards to get in the 60 range.    

Not only that, if you have Brandon Aubrey as your kicker, why would you ever pass up a FG worth 4 points? You would only need to get in range for him, and he's hit 60 yarders before. If a team scores a TD, with a kicker like Aubrey, you're never less than 3 points down.