NEW YORK — The XFL and USFL plan to join forces.

The spring pro football leagues announced in a statement Thursday they would merge going forward. The statement said details of the new league would come out at a later date.

The XFL has eight teams from Seattle, Washington, to Washington, D.C. The USFL also has eight teams that stretch from New Jersey to Memphis, including the Pittsburgh Maulers who were based in Canton, Ohio last season.

The XFL, first founded in 2001, returned to action in 2020 but had to shut down due to the covid-19 pandemic. The league eventually filed for bankruptcy. It was reborn in February.

The USFL played its first season in 2022, with all games in Birmingham, Ala.

Both leagues said the merger was subject to customary regulatory approvals. If the transaction goes through, the new league “will establish best-in-class operations based on the most recent seasons of both leagues,” according to the statement.

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