2026 Season Review - TV Viewership

It was a bit of a struggle to get weekly UFL TV viewership numbers this year with the absence of UFL/Spring football insider and fan fav Mike Mitchell. But we managed - even if we had to plug some holes and wait to news reports confirm/adjusted our numbers. Having said that the numbers look slightly up on the surface... UFL 2026 season avg 674,000 viewers across the ESPN networks and Fox Sports, up 1% from last year 2025 (665K) - per SMW. But a deeper dive reveals better numbers. The mix of games & networks are not the same from 2026 to 2025, with 6 games in 2026 lower level cable games not present in 2025 (2 NFLN, 2 more on FS1 and 2 ESPN2). These 6 games averaged about 204k, bringing down the average in 2026. Without those games the average would be 750k. That equates to an increase of 12-13%. Good year! This is why Mike Repole tweeted(?) on X that "Viewership is up significantly this season", using apples to apples comparison he's on the money. Especially strong was ABC at 951k avg over 12 games. IMO viewership is the prime factor in league success, vs sponsorships and attendance. Not that those aren't important too, but a league with a major share owned by FOX and to a lessor degree Disney, not to mention RBC who is media aligned - TV is the driver. So good if not great year. Big yr under MR belt, now can the UFL do better in 2027? I think so but time will tell. LFG!