The UFL isn’t off to a very strong start in Year 2, with the spring football league—born from the merger of the USFL and XFL—experiencing lackluster ratings for its opening games last weekend. According to UFL reporter Mike Mitchell, Friday evening’s opener between the St. Louis Battlehawks and Houston Roughnecks averaged 690,000 viewers at 8 p.m. ET on Fox, a drop of about 42% compared to last year’s opener, which garnered 1.18 million viewers on a Saturday afternoon. Notably, last year’s season opener did not compete directly with March Madness, unlike this year’s event.
Unfortunately, the situation did not improve for the league. Saturday’s game featuring the San Antonio Brahmas and Arlington Renegades attracted merely 584,000 viewers on Fox. The Sunday afternoon doubleheader on ESPN also struggled, seeing the Memphis Showboats and Michigan Panthers pull in only 569,000 viewers at noon ET, while the Birmingham Stallions and D.C. Defenders managed to draw a mere 395,000 viewers. None of the UFL’s broadcasts during Week 1 came close to matching the league’s season-long average of 816,000 viewers from last year, which is concerning given that the opening week is typically among the most-watched of the season.
The UFL was facing challenges even before the first game began, entering the season teetering on a labor strike due to player discontent over low salaries and minimal pay raises from the previous year. Spring football has historically struggled to find success in the U.S.; however, after a relatively strong audience last season, there was hope that the UFL could become a sustainable venture. As it stands, that future appears increasingly uncertain.
