The NFL has made a deal worth $2.1 billion with the United Football League to buy out the Birmingham Stallions and the St. Louis Battlehawks.

The UFL opened its season last weekend, March 28, recording record attendance rates. The league, owned by Dwayne Johnson, has caught the eye of Roger Goodell and the NFL, who have repordetly been looking to expand for the past couple of years.

The Stallions opened up their season 0-1 and the Battlehawks 1-0. These teams plan to finish their spring season before shifting to the NFL. As for the players on these teams, they will become NFL free agents, but the two teams will have first negotiation rights with their current players.

What does this mean to the fans? St. Louis residents will have a team to root for again with the dwindling number of Rams fans left. Alabama will get its first-ever NFL team in a college football-dominated region. Football fans of these two cities have expressed a lot of excitement about the new change, but there will be more formatting issues to figure out this offseason.

“The NFL is excited about the merge with the UFL,” NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said in a press conference. “These cities deserve a professional team, and the NFL welcomes the new fan bases with open arms.”

The Commissioner concluded by saying, “Happy April Fool’s Day!”

Featured Image via the-sun.com