[7] A developmental league continued to be an internal NFL discussion as of December 2016 with a decision deadline of February 2017.

Rather, the games are more showcases for the NFL and Canadian Football League (CFL) scouts in the spring and summer months.

[8] The Spring League earns additional revenue from a subsidy that the state of Texas provides to hold its events there, as well as from organizations seeking to test equipment and rules changes.

The teams in each tournament were only identified with vague geographic names such as North, South, East, West and California.

[9] Its players included NFL veterans Fred Jackson, Anthony "Boobie" Dixon,[19] Ben Tate, Greg Hardy, Ricky Stanzi, McLeod Bethel-Thompson[9] and Ahmad Bradshaw.

Woods indicated that the older and big names brought attention to the league, which has a secondary purpose of providing a veteran annual showcase.

[28] On December 7, 2017, The Spring League announced it would play its second season in Austin, Texas beginning in late March 2018.

The league was also to have a football-specific tech forum and a joint internship program with the University of Texas’ Center for Sports Leadership & Innovation.

[31] Other former NFL commitments to the league were former Cleveland Browns first round pick Kellen Winslow Jr. and former Baltimore Ravens running back Lorenzo Taliaferro.

[32] On March 3, the league did not execute on the contract to play the 2018 season at the Circuit of the Americas and instead announced events to take place at Kelly Reeves Athletic Complex in Round Rock, Texas.

[34][35] The Spring League announced a "Fall Showcase" for Miami, Florida to take place November 6–9, 2018, which was intended to prepare players for the then-future AAF and XFL, which were set to play winter/spring seasons.

One rule change, originally proposed by Pro Football Talk in 2017, was replacing overtime with a two-point conversion shootout occurring simultaneously at both end zones with five rounds in the TSL.

[37] Also tested was the tap rule, which allows a referee to send a player to the sideline for less than a penalty level offense.

The league held its annual Summer Showcase in July in Glendale, Colorado with a total of 85 players[56] and another 25 staff members and medical personnel participated.

[58] The league began its fall season on Oct. 27 with six teams competing in what was intended to be a 12-game format over four weeks in a bubble environment,[59] based out of the San Antonio Alamodome.

[72][73][74] In November 2020, amid the then-resurgent COVID-19 pandemic, TSL announced that the league would be cancelling the final week of the season.

[75][76][77] In March 2021, TSL announced that they reached a partnership agreement with Stephen Austin's American National Combines,[78] and were to hold tryouts for the first time in league history.

[79] They also declared that players who were on an active roster during TSL's fall 2020 season were not required to participate in the tryouts.

[80][81] In April, TSL announced the 2021 season was to start on May 6, and would feature two new teams – the Linemen and Sea Lions (eight teams in total), competing in a six-week regular season from two hub cities: The North Division in Indianapolis, Indiana and the South Division in Houston, Texas.

[88] What was to become of The Spring League remained, at the time, an unresolved question, but according to the initial announcement TSL was to continue,[89] probably as a scouting showcase or developmental operation.