Much like any football team coming off a slow start in its opening week. The UFL franchise is looking to bounce back in week two and start trending back in a positive direction.
The ceiling of spring pro football’s success in America has always been in question, but after week one of the 2025 UFL season, one has to start questioning the product’s floor and whether apathy has set in.
It was a rough opening weekend for season two of the United Football League. Year two’s launching point for the merged XFL-USFL saw a repeat of last season’s struggles to draw fans to games and an alarming dip in viewership.
Many of the league’s struggles to come out strongly can be explained away with legitimate excuses. Reports of player strife and a potential league walkout undoubtedly hurt the buildup to kickoff, with media outlets reporting on replacement programming. On top of that, kicking off the season in the eye of March Madness’s storm also didn’t aid matters. Maybe it was a one-week anomaly. But it’s challenging not to consider the drop-off and stagnation in Week one’s interest toward the UFL as a potential warning sign.
Drawing in new fans and evolving beyond the label as a niche or minor league product has always been an uphill battle for leagues like the UFL. But there’s an early form of evidence suggesting that perhaps the league could struggle to maintain its previously established audience.
UFL TV Ratings- A New Floor?
The UFL’s opening game on FOX last Friday night —St. Louis Battlehawks vs. Houston Roughnecks averaged 690,000 viewers. The game peaked in viewership in its first 15 minutes (844k), suggesting that many sampled the product and then exited stage left. The 690k open significantly drops from the 2024 Week 1 opener average of 1.1 million viewers. To follow that up, FOX’s next UFL telecast last Saturday afternoon- Arlington versus San Antonio averaged fewer viewers than Friday’s with a 584,000 average. A telltale sign that Friday night’s offering didn’t entice the same audience to return a day later.
Sunday’s ESPN doubleheader showing raised further concern and alarm. The UFL’s two afternoon games averaged 569,000 (Michigan vs. Memphis) and 395k (D.C. vs. Birmingham). The smaller reach of cable games typically underperforms broadcast networks by 30-50%. But the early ESPN numbers are below last year’s baseline. A season ago, the UFL averaged 630,000 viewers on cable.
The 2025 Week 1 average across these four UFL games was 559,500 viewers per game, a sharp decline from the 1.1 million average in 2024’s opening week. This represents a roughly 47% drop year-over-year. Several factors contributed: competition from March Madness, a shift to a Friday night opener, and possibly waning novelty after the merger of the XFL and USFL into the UFL. After all, in 2024, the league benefited from pent-up interest in the new entity, with two FOX games exceeding 1.1 million viewers, while no 2025 week one game cracked 700,000.
These numbers are disappointing relative to expectations for a league aiming to build on its 2024 momentum (850,000 season average). They’re closer to the weaker 2023 regular season performances of the USFL (601,000) and XFL (622,000), a year when both leagues cannibalized each other’s audiences.
However, it’s early in the season—only one week of data—and spring football often sees fluctuations. The UFL’s 2024 season showed resilience after a post-week one drop, so these initial figures don’t necessarily doom the year. Still, they signal a challenge in retaining casual viewers against a crowded sports calendar, and the early returns suggest that retention from a previously invested audience could be in jeopardy.
Spring football typically faces challenges like a steep viewership drop after Week 1 and competition from well-established sports leagues. Yet, the UFL in 2024 mitigated this better than its predecessors. For instance, last year, its Week 1 to Week 2 drop-off was only 19% (from 1.05 million to 844,000 viewers). Weeks later in the season, such as Week 6 (983,500 average), the conference championships (1.187 million average), and the league’s title game (1.5 million on FOX) also showed sustained interest. This stability, bolstered by a high percentage of games on broadcast TV (72% on FOX or ABC), contrasts with the cable-heavy schedules of past leagues, which often saw numbers dip below 300,000 on channels like FS1 or FX.
Sentiment from inside the league and its networks (FOX/Disney) suggests cautious optimism that ratings will rebound as competition eases (there are no NCAA games tonight). Still, the opening results signal a challenge if the league can’t recapture 2024’s momentum.
UFL Attendance- Nowhere to Go but Up
The UFL’s attendance in its inaugural 2024 season and the early part of the 2025 season paints a far murkier outlook.
In 2024, the league averaged 13,512 fans per game during the regular season and playoffs, totaling over 580,000 attendees across all games. The average was down from the XFL a year prior (14,703) and significantly down from its other spring league predecessors, the XFL in 2020 (averaging 18,614) or the AAF in 2019 (15,292).
The league’s TV viewership—often touted as a key revenue driver—with the UFL’s owners being two significant networks (FOX/ABC), outpaces attendance as a success metric, reducing pressure on filling seats. Still, UFL executives have admitted that putting “more butts in seats” was a top priority, with added staff in markets to boost local sales. A longer sales cycle and the goal of having ‘more boots on the ground’ in the league’s cities were selling points for a turnaround.
The result? Thus far, the UFL 2025 boots mission has gotten off on the wrong foot. In Week 1, the attendance figures were 7,039 in Houston, 10,124 in Arlington, 4,373 in Memphis, and 12,254 in D.C., for an 8,466 average over four games—well below the 2024 average.
Memphis’s 4,373 ticket distribution total is particularly grim—the lowest reported spring football attendance since the WLAF’s Raleigh-Durham Skyhawks drew 4,207 in 1991 (Multiple USFL 2022/2023 games averaged in that 1- 2k range)—underscoring struggles in the non-NFL city of Memphis.
D.C.’s 12,254 attendance figure led the week, but even that’s below four of their five 2024 home games, hinting at softening fan interest. Arlington’s 10,114 and Houston’s 7,124 are middling, with Arlington up slightly from some 2024 games but Houston down from its prior opener (9,157).
The poor week one numbers are a red flag for a league needing local buy-in to complement its TV viewership. Due to its uneven marketing strategy, the numbers also cast valid doubt on the UFL’s financial commitment and decision-making. As reported in November, the league has engaged in expansion talks to add two new teams in 2026. The UFL is proceeding with those plans, but it may have to shift its timeline and strategy to stabilize newer markets and rethink its current ones.
Expansion is in the works, but relocation must also be in the cards.
St. Louis is the gold standard of spring pro football cities. It has stood out as a powerhouse, carrying the league’s water in attendance. In 2024, they averaged 34,365 fans per game—more than a third of the league’s total attendance—while other markets like Memphis, Houston, Arlington, Birmingham, San Antonio, and Michigan lagged, struggling to crack 10,000 fans per game. Some were way under that mark. Like St. Louis, three struggling UFL teams at the gate (Brahmas, Stallions, Showboats) do not have NFL teams yet have little to no local buzz.
The Battlehawks will likely help drive up the league’s 2025 attendance average as the season marches on, with at least five home games, starting with one this Sunday evening. Still, after communicating with people inside and close to the league, there’s even a sense locally in St. Louis that the excitement level in town has plateaued for the team and league.
The UFL’s 2024 success bought goodwill and some added time, but 2025’s early stumble pressures the league to stabilize if the desired goal is growth. The UFL is not dead, but it’s wobbling.
3 Comments
by Gary Winter
I’ve harped on this before but didn’t the UFL kind of shoot themselves in the foot by having their first Friday Night Game in one of the least attended stadiums in the league? In addition, Houston had a poor season last year playing against a 2024 playoff team. What was the incentive to the fans in Houston to go out to the game? This combined with what was predictably the best game of the weekend Birmingham and DC being scheduled later on Sunday.
I just believe it helps the leagues reputation to put the games that are going to be at least a little better attended in the best TV spots. I understand that DC was the home team on Sunday and Fridays aren’t available to them this season but other games could’ve been broadcast on Opening Night. San Antonio comes to St. Louis twice this year. Friday night with the Battlehawks and Brahmas would’ve been a much better atraction than a game in Houston in front of just over 7,000 seats filled. I worry about our attendance here in St. Louis a bit as well. We’re a sensitive bunch about our sports here in the Lou. Just look at the attendance so far with the Cardinals. Management made the announcement that they were doing a reset or simply put, not doing much to improve the team and they’re only getting around 20,000 fans when 35,000 is normal for this time of year during the week. It’s a statement that we don’t like being taken for granted.
Battlehawk’s fans believe we deserved the first Friday Night Game and unfortunately, we’re a bit insecure when it comes to football in general (See: Cardinals and Rams). We’ll show fairly well this Sunday (My guess is between 25,000 and 30,000) but will anyone know since they’ve buried us on FS1 on Sunday evening?
Also, considering our attendance has been so strong in comparison to others even back to the XFL years, where has “The Rock” been? Couldn’t swing into the Lou even for a half somewhere along the line? I know, sounds kind of whiny but people talk about these things while tailgating. Some of these broadcast decisions are not being thought out for the good of the UFL.
Anyway, sorry I rambled and I hope everyone has a great season and experience this season.
by Ken Granito
The UFL put all the home teams as underdogs, because they didn’t want them to already go into a game 0-1 or 0-2 to help with ticket sales. Unfortunately it didn’t help as the attendance numbers were ridiculously low. Hoping week 2 turns out better. St. Louis will already have more home games than the rest of the league so I understand your thought process, even making the Battlehawks a FS1 game, but I really don’t think you should feel insecure. Additionally, now that you have seen a blowout win, maybe this will give people in the Lou more of a reason to show up on Sunday and maybe you can break the record you made last year. To be honest the intrigue should truly be great for tomorrow’s game. Maybe this was the plan.
Your team looked really good. It would be cool to support your team to see if it was the Roughnecks or if you were just hitting on all cylinders. In all honesty if the New Jersey Generals were brought about, the only locale I think New Jersey wouldn’t beat is St. Louis. Happy for the Lou. I think the league needs to grow so that it is not only St. Louis.
by Gary Winter
Well, we showed up 32,000 plus which is a little less than I was hoping for but a bit more than I expected. The B-Hawks played well and look to be one of the better teams so far. DC is our next test and they always give us a few problems.
I agree with you about the Generals coming back, it would be a good move to bring in support and viewership from the general New York area and I’m still liking the idea of Seattle as well. They also supported the XFL when they were involved.
As for the schedule, I guess, it is what it is. St. Louis doesn’t play a home Friday Game until May 2nd so, I suppose we’ll see then if it would’ve been a good idea to throw us out there earlier simply for the league’s image.
As for the insecure statement? I just meant that we, as a whole, kind of get take offense easily when it comes to football decisions in general. Nor have many of those decisions gone particularly well for us over the years. We’re a sensitive bunch but we love our football.
One last remark, the new grass and lights at the dome are awesome! Speaking for Battlehawk’s fans everywhere, we’d like to thank Stan Kroenke (Rams owner) and the NFL for their $790,000,000.00 donation to St. Louis, especially the portion that went to the Dome improvements.