Metal bleachers warming your skin, boisterous chants in solidarity with strangers, hot dogs, sweat beading on your forehead, and dripping down your back as the roar of the stadium stuns your ears. You miss it, right?
Well, lucky for you, footballās not over.Ā
The United Football League (UFL), reinstated in 2023 as a mergerĀ withĀ theĀ United States Football LeagueĀ (USFL) and the XFL, has finally expanded to Orlando, with the Orlando Storm officially added as a team on Oct. 7, 2025. Orlando isnāt unfamiliar with football teams, as Orlando has been home to the Orlando Guardians and the Orlando Tuskers in the XFL and UFL.
The city has also been home to the renowned Orlando Predators, an indoor professional football team that made 19 consecutive playoff appearances and won the Arena Bowl in 1998 and 2000. Sadly, the team’s membership in the Arena Football One was terminated in 2025 due to internal ownership decisions that league chairman Steve Titus interpreted as “a staggering betrayal of trust by someone we had come to know and trust.”
On a brighter note, this will be the first football team Inter&Co Stadium will host. The 53-man roster hopes to be amongst the pillars of sports teams, energizing Downtown Orlando. They seem to be doing just that, kicking off the season on March 29 with four straight wins so far ā with a 16-0 shutout, the first in UFL history, on April 18. They sit No.1 in both conference and league standings.Ā
The team, led by quarterback Jack Plummer, the undrafted running back Jashuan Corbin, and wide receiver KJ Hamler (previously drafted by the Denver Broncos in 2020), who scored a 41-yard touchdown against the Louisville Kings on April 4, appears to be lighting up the UFL.
Plummer, 26, and previously signed by the Carolina Panthers, echoes that sentiment in his postgame presser, āIt feels great to winā¦thatās obviously the goal.ā Orlando Storm head coach Anthony Becht, former coach of the St.Louis Battlehawks, spoke about the home atmosphere after coming off a big OT win on April 10: āWeāre 3-0, weāve got two weeks until our next home game, Iād love to see that place double in the count.āĀ
Being a new sports team in the city of Orlando, fan attendance is vital. The regular season doesnāt end until May, with the postseason extending until June for the playoffs. And UCF students know a thing or two about making a stadium bounce.
I know what youāre thinking. Whatās the cost? Tickets are on sale for as low as $17, andĀ StormU student passesĀ are also available, offering discounted, exclusive seats for students.
You can find more information about the remaining schedule, how to support the Orlando Storm, or your local UFL team at the UFL’s official website.