UCF football got Sweden native Thomas Collins as Oregon State transfer
UCF Knights defensive tackle Thomas Collins hails from Gothenburg, Sweden. He transferred from Oregon State to Orlando this offseason.
- Orlando has a long history of hosting short-lived professional football teams.
- The Orlando Storm, the city’s ninth pro football franchise, just completed a successful first season in the UFL.
- Head coach Anthony Becht and the team’s owner are committed to the franchise’s long-term success in Orlando.
Orlando isn’t a stranger to professional football.
Florida’s central metropolis has been the host city for a variety of now-defunct teams in every decade since the 1970s, beginning with the World Football League’s Florida Blazers in 1974.
Recent iterations included the Orlando Apollos of the Alliance of American Football in 2019 and the Orlando Guardians of the XFL in 2023.
Unfortunately, brief stints have been the norm for Orlando-based spring football teams. Of the previous eight that have been conceived, only the Orlando Predators, an Arena Football League team active from 1991 to 2016, have played more than two seasons.
Orlando is currently on its ninth franchise to take the gridiron with the UFL participant Orlando Storm. But this time, it might be different.
“I’m here, it’s not going anywhere,” Storm head coach Anthony Becht said. “I wouldn’t have taken the gig and said yes to it unless this was long term. Mike Repole, our owner, lives in Orlando. He wants this and all the other new markets to succeed.”
The Storm joined the United Football League in 2025 and just finished their first season on top of the regular-season standings with an 8-2 record. Orlando was bounced in the first round of the playoffs against the DC Defenders on June 7.
Despite the early postseason exit, one component particularly stuck out — the fans.
In a makeshift home game at Daytona Stadium in Daytona Beach, nearly an hour from the Storm’s usual venue at Inter&Co Stadium, the Orlando faithful showed up 6,317 strong. The grass along LGPA Boulevard was packed with cars after fans filled both parking lots at the home of the Bethune-Cookman Wildcats.
At one point, the fans got loud enough to force DC to call a timeout early in the game.
“I turned around, they were fun, they were loud, a lot of orange in the stands,” Becht said. “And for the people that made the drive, just really blessed and thankful.”
By the Storm’s standards this season, that was an off game as Orlando ranked fourth in average home attendance with 9,830 fans per contest.
Perhaps it was the residual fandom from Orlando’s prior professional football ventures, or maybe it was because of the success the Storm had, but it was a successful debut season for the city’s latest pro football team.
And for Repole and Becht, they’re just getting started.
“My time is here in Orlando, and I want to build it up,” Becht said. “I want to double that fan base from this year to next year. I think we can do it. There’s no reason why we can’t. There’s a lot of affordability, and I’m going to do my hardest to reach out to the many people in Orlando that haven’t heard about us and try to get them to give us a try next year.”
If the Storm reach Becht’s goal, it would put them firmly in the No. 2 spot for average attendance behind the established spring football brand, the St. Louis Battlehawks.
