The Louisville Kings, one of three new teams joining the United Football League (UFL) for the 2026 season, were presented by city authorities and UFL executives at a news conference held at Lynn Family Stadium on Wednesday afternoon.
Alongside UFL officials, Mayor Craig Greenberg confirmed that the Kings will play five home games in the Butchertown stadium next spring. The stadium will also continue to host Louisville City FC and Racing Louisville FC.
The team’s moniker, the Louisville Kings, honors the city’s namesake, King Louis XVI, as well as Louisville’s longstanding association with horse racing, popularly referred to as the “Sport of Kings.”
“This is about more than football,” said Jonathan Lintner, vice president of marketing for Soccer Holdings, which manages Lynn Family Stadium. “When this was built, it was meant to be a community asset. We’ve always been open to opportunities that keep the lights on here as many nights as possible.”
The Kings will become the eighth club in the UFL, which was created in 2024 by the union of the XFL and USFL. The Memphis Showboats, Michigan Panthers, and San Antonio Brahmas will be replaced by the Columbus Aviators and Orlando Storm.
All teams train at the league’s central headquarters in Arlington, Texas, before taking flights to the game locations for the weekend matches.
With the Kings’ debut, professional football is returning to Louisville for the first time since the 2008 dissolution of the city’s previous arena football team, the Louisville Fire.
Rapid expansion and competitive equality have characterized the UFL’s early years; the Birmingham Stallions won the league’s first championship in 2024, and the DC Defenders won the 2025 championship, both of which were hosted in St. Louis.
As the UFL prepares to launch next spring, fans can anticipate more information on team ownership, branding, and player signings in the months to come.
This article appears in Oct. 1-31, 2025.