Philadelphia Stars vs Birmingham Stallions: USFL Championship start time, how to watch and stream

Stop me if you’ve heard this story before: A backup quarterback on a Philadelphia team has led his squad to the brink of an unlikely football championship.

This time, it isn’t Nick Foles and the Eagles. Philadelphia Stars quarterback Case Cookus took over last month for injured starter Bryan Scott and led the team to the USFL’s inaugural playoffs, where an unlikely upset over the New Jersey Generals has landed them in the USFL Championship game Sunday against the Birmingham Stallions.

“I was a guy that didn’t get a lot of opportunities coming out because of COVID and things like that just impacted the first couple years of my professional career,” Cookus, who went undrafted out of Northern Arizona University in 2020, told reporters earlier this week. “So I was super excited to get this opportunity.”

The fact there even is a USFL Championship game defies the odds. It’s the first major spring football league to complete its first season since the XFL back in 2001, and follows the spectacular collapse of the Alliance of American Football league in 2019, which suspended operations just prior to its nationally televised playoffs. A reboot of the XFL suspended operations in 2020 due to COVID-19, but plans to relaunch under new ownership (which includes Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson) in 2023.

In a cost-cutting move, the USFL hosted all its regular season games in Birmingham at two locations — Protective Stadium (home of the Birmingham Legion FC) and Legion Field (new home to University of Alabama Birmingham). But the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio, is hosting the league’s playoffs, including today’s championship game, with over 10,000 fans expected to be in the stands — by far the most of any game this season.

Here’s everything you need to know to watch or stream the USFL Championship game on Sunday:

» READ MORE: Nearly 30 years later, Philadelphia Stars get another title shot in USFL reboot

For those who may be tuning in to a USFL game for the first time, the league does have a few notable differences from the NFL in its rule book.

For starters, teams have three extra-point options following a touchdown — one point for a field goal from the 15-yard line, two points for a play from the 2-yard line, and three points for a play from the 10-yard line.

Another big difference is in overtime, which ends with a best-of-three, soccer-style shootout, with teams attempting to score from the 2-yard line. Each successful score earns two points, and the team with the highest score after three plays wins the game. If the score remains tied, teams get one chance each in a sudden-death approach until there is a winner.

The league has also set up their rules to allow more kickoff returns than the NFL, where most kicks sail out of the end zone for a touchback. All kickoffs take place from the 25-yard line and feel more like a punt, with the coverage team prohibited from getting a running start.

After a score, in addition to an onside kick, teams in the USFL also have the option of running a fourth-down-and-12 play from their own 33-yard line. If the team makes the first down, it keeps the football. If it fails, the defense gets the ball.

There is a small amount of Philadelphia flavor on the squad. Two former Temple players are on the roster — center C.J. Perez and lineman Leon Johnson.

But mostly, the Stars (like every other team in the USFL) is comprised of players that bounced around the NFL and other leagues, but are getting their first real shot at having an impact.

Cornerback Channing Stribling, a Michigan grad who never caught on in the NFL, led the league with seven interceptions. Running back Matthew Colburn II, who was named the USFL’s Sportsman of the Year, had eight touchdowns and averaged 4.5 yards per carry.

The only Stars’ player to make the league’s All-USFL team was returner Maurice Alexander Jr., whose 87-yard punt return with less than two minutes remaining won the game against the Generals in last week’s playoff semifinal.

» READ MORE: The USFL Philadelphia Stars have a local flavor — even if they’ve never played in Philly

Yes, the USFL will be back next spring for a second season, and Fox Sports has publicly committed to at least three seasons.

“We have a multi-year plan to build this football business. If anything, the success of season one makes me even more excited than we were before going into season two and beyond,” Fox Sports CEO Eric Shanks (who is also the chair of the USFL board) told Sports Business Journal’s John Ourand earlier this week.

The USFL is owned by Fox Sports (which partnered with NBC to air games), but that could change soon. According to the New York Post, Fox is looking for minority investors to help fund the league’s future growth.

The USFL will face some competition for attention due to the return of the XFL, which is expected to start its third season in February 2023 following the Super Bowl. But like this year, the USFL is expected to start its next season in mid-April to avoid competition from the NCAA Tournament.

» READ MORE: The USFL will be back for another season. Here’s how it will look to improve and grow in Year 2

That’s the long-term plan of the league. Daryl Johnston, the USFL’s executive vice president of football operations, told The Inquirer in April the hope is after two years the league will be on solid enough footing for owners to purchase teams and bring them back to their home cities.

“I know how Philly fans are. They have to have that connection to the team,” Johnston said. “I want to make sure that when we break from Birmingham and the Philadelphia Stars come home, that the fan base is going to be excited because we’ll hopefully have some connections back into the history of the Eagles franchise.”

As of now, the league plans to have anywhere from two to four cities host games next season, though no firm plans or locations have been announced. This season, every non-playoff game was played in Birmingham, and outside of the season-opener between the Generals and Stallions, attendance appeared practically nonexistent.

But the games have been a moderate success on television, averaging nearly 700,000 viewers per game (not including the Peacock exclusives) and just over a million viewers on Fox and NBC, which Fox Sports Executive Vice President Mike Mulvihill said were better than the NHL regular season and the Premiere League. The network has already sold more than 50% of its advertising inventory for the second season, according to Executive Vice President/Sports Sales Mark Evans.

“Advertisers were able to plan for it this year, have a ratings track they could study and better see the long-term viability of the league,” Evans told the Sports Business Journal.