UFL Week 1 Viewership Shows An Uncertain Future For The League

The United Football League (UFL) has just begin its 2024 season. The league was the result of a merger between the XFL (owned by Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and RedBird Capitol Partners) and the United States Football League, aka, USFL (Owned by the Fox Corporation).

The merger took place after both leagues had their 2023 seasons. The league airs on both Fox Sports and FS1 as well as ABC, ESPN and ESPN 2 due to a broadcasting deal with Disney. Scheduling conflicts led NBC to drop out of its deal with the USFL.

At the first game of the season in Arlington, Texas Dwayne Johnson addressed the crowd hyping up the fans.

The games played on both Saturday March 30th and Sunday March 31st resulted in the following outcomes (Winners highlighted in BOLD):

Baltimore Stallions vs. Arlington Renegades 
St. Louis Battlehawks vs. Michigan Panthers
D.C. Defenders vs. San Antonio Brahmas
Memphis Showboats vs. Houston Roughnecks 



However, despite the optimistic views of both hardcore fans and the players, the viewership numbers for the broadcasts were recently made public, and they are lower than some may have hoped.

– Birmingham vs. Arlington (FOX) 1.18 Million 
– St. Louis vs. Michigan (FOX) 1.35 Million 
– D.C. vs. San Antonia (ESPN) 960,000
– Memphis vs. Houston (ESPN) 703,000

The numbers fall slightly below the 2023 numbers as the average XFL game drew about 1.3 Million and the USFL drew about 1.57 Million. The 2020 XFL drew in an average of 1.3 Million on its first week and the 2022 USFL drew in 1.7 Million on its first week. However neither seem to draw as much as the 2019 AAF (Alliance of American Football) which drew 3.9 Million views during its first week.

The 2023 XFL reportedly lost $60 Million, leading to the belief that the merger between the two leagues was made more out of necessity than convenience. With the amount of spring football leagues coming and going over the past five years many fans might be burnt out due to the large amount of teams disappearing after only one year.

Not to mention the current UFL schedule conflicts with Major League Baseball. It may be better if the league began shortly after the NFL’s Super Bowl while football is still fresh in people’s heads. Starting up two months later may be an issue. 

What do you think? can the UFL survive in its current state and become a stable NFL alternative? Or will it eventually fade away like the rest? Let us know your thoughts. 

Source: SportsNaut