Mike Repole joins UFL: Why entrepreneur is investing in spring football league
The UFL is bringing a new investor into the fold as it enters a critical offseason ahead of its third season.
The league announced on Thursday, July 31 that Mike Repole would be joining the UFL's ownership group and would head up its business operations.
Repole, 56, is an entrepreneur who is best known for co-founding two sports drink companies: Glaceau, the maker of vitaminwater and smartwater, and BODYARMOR. He sold the companies to the Coca-Cola Company for more than $12 billion.
Currently, Repole is the majority owner of NOBULL, an athletic apparel company backed by Tom Brady. He also owns Repole Stable, a horse-racing operation that has produced multiple Breeders' Cup and Belmont Stakes winners, along with Uncle Mo, who sired 2016 Kentucky Derby champion Nyquist.
"The UFL is thrilled to welcome a visionary like Mike Repole to our ownership group," UFL president and CEO Russ Brandon said in a statement announcing the development. "Mike’s entrepreneurial accomplishments are extraordinary, and his dynamic leadership will immediately elevate the league’s business and brand trajectory."
Why Mike Repole is investing in the UFL
Repole explained his interest in investing in the UFL stemmed from a variety of factors. Chief among them is football's ever-increasing popularity.
"Football really has distanced itself from all the other sports right now," Repole told Paste BN in an interview. "When you see the top 100 sports shows, football has 85 of them. It's just amazing."
Repole noted that even offseason NFL events, such as the NFL scouting combine and NFL draft, draw in millions of viewers. He believes that audience indicates an appetite for football on which a spring league, like the UFL, could capitalize.
Already, Repole is confident in the league's "good" viewership. He knows it won't compare to top NFL or college football events, but he is confident it can rival the viewership of its direct competition, such as the WNBA, MLS, NHL, NBA and MLB.
"For a league that has the lowest awareness out of all these other leagues, it does pretty well," Repole said of the UFL's TV ratings.
Repole credited Brandon and Daryl Johnston for creating an on-field product that has drawn fans to watch the fledgling league. However, the 56-year-old knows it will be critical to enhance the at-game experience for the UFL to establish roots.
"When some of the stadiums look like COVID games and there are no fans, and there really isn't a cheering section, I think there's a disconnect with how the product is connecting," Repole explained.
That attendance challenge is one of the factors that excites Repole about joining the UFL. He already has started assessing ways to improve that, from potential franchise relocation to venue changes.
"I think the biggest opportunity is picking the right city, picking the right markets, picking the right venues and then really connecting with every fan, one fan at a time, and spending more time in that local region," he detailed.
What will that process look like for the UFL in 2026? Repole and the league are still mapping that out.
Nonetheless, he remains steadfast the UFL, with some tweaks, can establish itself as the long-term staple of the spring sports calendar.
"You've heard about spring football for over 30 years now," he said. "There's a reason why people are still at it."