The UFL TV ratings are in from the league’s 2025 kickoff weekend. The long-since merged XFL-USFL league launched its second campaign with two games on FOX and a doubleheader on ESPN Sunday.
UFL 2025 Kickoff Weekend TV Ratings On FOX/ESPN
Friday Night On FOX, March 28
Friday Night’s UFL 2025 primetime opener on FOX featured the St. Louis Battlehawks at the Houston Roughnecks. It aired at 8 p.m. ET and averaged 690,000 viewers. The telecast peaked at 844,000 viewers during the first 15 minutes of the game. The game’s final half hour of the Battlehawks 31-6 victory saw viewership dip to 554,000 viewers. The 18-49 viewership demo scored a 0.15 rating.
Last year’s UFL opening game on Saturday, March 30, which didn’t go directly against four NCAA tournament games, averaged 1.181 million viewers.
The competition for the UFL on Friday night was formidable. In the same window, the NCAA’s March Madness Sweet 16 matchups averaged over 7 million viewers on CBS and nearly 3 million viewers on TBS. The World Figure Skating Championships on NBC averaged 1.73 million viewers. ABC’s Shark Tank and 20/20 averaged 2.4 million viewers during prime time. The UFL was also outpaced by several cable shows in the evening, including WWE’s Smackdown on the USA Network, which averaged 1.35 million viewers. The NCAA Women’s tournament averaged 1.41 million on UFL’s broadcast partner, ESPN.
Saturday Afternoon on FOX, March 29
The UFL’s Saturday afternoon game on FOX, featuring the San Antonio Brahmas and Arlington Renegades, averaged 584,000 viewers. The 3 p.m. eastern telecast peaked at its conclusion with 673,000 viewers.
Sunday Afternoon UFL Doubleheader on ESPN, March 30
The noon ET UFL ESPN telecast of the Memphis Showboats and Michigan Panthers averaged 569,000 viewers. The game peaked at 746,000 viewers.
Week 1’s UFL finale between the league champion Birmingham Stallions and D.C. Defenders averaged 395,000 viewers. The game peaked at 460,000 viewers.
Takeaway: Comparing the UFL’s opening week numbers from this year to last would be an unfair equivalency. The 2025 UFL kickoff weekend encountered the heart of the storm, a competitive disadvantage that should subside in the next few weeks. Nevertheless, it’s a disheartening start for a league trying to take its next step of growth, a significant one that saw a year ago.
Week 2 UFL TV Schedule
| Matchup | Date, time | Location | How to watch |
|---|---|---|---|
| Birmingham Stallions at Michigan Panthers | Friday, April 4 at 8 p.m. ET | Ford Field (Detroit, MI) | FOX |
| Memphis Showboats at DC Defenders | Saturday, April 5 at 8 p.m. ET | Audi Field (Washington, DC) | ABC |
| Houston Roughnecks at Arlington Renegades | Sunday, April 6, at noon ET | Choctaw Stadium (Arlington, TX) | ESPN |
| San Antonio Brahmas at St. Louis Battlehawks | Sunday, April 6 at 6:30 p.m. | The Dome at America’s Center (St. Louis, MO) | FS1 |
3 Comments
by 4th&long
This numbers are awful. Way down from last year.
I guess the Players can STFU now.
Reasons for drop?
1) Strike talk… the uncertainty of a season and strike talk has really hurt interest. The UFPA has to cave, sign for this season and put this away. I knew this was going to be a big issue but this really sucks. To me this is #1, big confidence damage.
2) CBB March Madness. Friday was a multiple head to head CBB v UFL, Saturday was a partial 1 game Elite 8 and Sunday was Partial and full Elite 8 competition. Games were timed better and held up better last yr. Not so this yr. This was a close #2.
3) Coaches absence and Barlow leaving. Whisenhunt looking like he bailed and Barlow jumping to an FCS team in last week hurt confidence in league. Adding to confidence loss.
4) Despite talk of better competition, the games were better last year week one. These games weren’t as fun though better on Sun. McGough had a rough 2nd half.
5) Please keep DG away from the camera, please don’t say the only reason to watch is its a farm system.
Well let’s hope the ratings are better next week. This was the worst opening for spring football (AAF, XFL, USFL, UFL season one), very strange.
by Ken Granito
It’s funny. I keep saying if you build it they will come. The USFL model was excellent in that the game play was real. I really hate to say it, but that commercial with the USFL ridiculed the XFL for not playing real football was SPOT on. So what is happening, this league has become about hype and gimmicks and not football. Why are we following the XFL, WWE model. It’s funny. I was asked why does the league have all road favorites this week. I told the person who asked the question, because the UFL is so concerned that people won’t come to see their team if it’s 0-1. Skip Holtz coaches to lose the game against the Defenders I saw Mike Perreira mess up twice this weekend which is more than I had seen him mess up in two years. The Roughnecks are a JOKE. If they don’t go 0-10 I am going to watch the film to see what calls you missed…..unless of course they make some signings. I don’t really know how the UFL operates with regards to a players rights and signing vs cutting that player. If there is a player that is good and wants to play, but a team doesn’t want to sign him because they are instructed not to sign him because he is older, just exactly how does that help the league? Better players are waiting to play i stead of playing. VERY disturbing. The league is so warped at this time that something I was VERY excited for is a mess. The FOX shows robot football players on their games and you can tell that is what they want because they pay all their players the same. Practice squad players get a different amount. Whether you are Jonathan Adams that has been in the league 3 plus years and has been a very good player makes the same money as Drew Lewis who had so much trouble reading the play you could tell he is still a bit wet behind the ears. Please figure this out.
by Ken Granito
To change the song around slightly. We are ready for some football.