Heading toward the second half of the UFL 2025 regular season. After 20 games, the UFL, despite a sluggish start out of the gate, is ahead of last year's pace in attendance. The season average in attendance is 12,827.Â
The UFL's progress is incremental, at 0.6% ahead of last season's midway point, but it's progress nonetheless—a baby step forward for one of the UFL's most significant sore spots.
In Week 5, thanks to another strong showing by the St. Louis Battlehawks crowd (30,406) in a thrilling home victory over Michigan, and a solid number from the Brahmas (14,427) in San Antonio's delayed home opener. The UFL saw its best weekly attendance average since Week 2.
UFL 2025 Weekly Attendance Average
Week 1: 8,466
Week 2: 16,222
Week 3: 13,976
Week 4: 9.593
Week 5: 15,876
The cumulative total for attendance after 20 UFL regular-season games is 256,540. In the 2024 season, after 43 games, including the postseason, which occurred from late March through mid-June, the overall attendance total for the UFL was 581,016—an average of 13,512 per game.
The UFL, which has been ahead of the pace of its recent spring league predecessors in TV viewership, is still behind in team attendance figures. The most recent example before the merger was the XFL in 2023. The XFL averaged 14,703 fans per game from February to May two years ago. The overall attendance figure across 43 games was 632,247.
The steady popularity of St. Louis has been a significant factor in boosting the overall attendance for the XFL before it, and now the UFL. How the 2025 UFL fares in an overall attendance number when the smoke clears will directly be tied to St. Louis's success on the field and how many additional games take place at the Dome at America's Center.
Although St. Louis's average attendance is behind last year's of 34k per game, the team is still averaging over 30,000 fans per game. Added playoff stakes could help strengthen numbers during a crucial stretch of the season heading into the postseason.
D.C. has arguably the league's most energetic fan base, and Michigan and San Antonio have shown progress in 2024. However, the overall interest of the UFL's fans in its markets remains a work in progress. There hasn't been enough growth.
With Memphis and Houston off to a poor start at the gate and Birmingham and Arlington still struggling to gain traction in their fourth seasons of existence, St. Louis is left carrying the load for the league.
Once again, the UFL's championship game will be held on Saturday, June 14th, at The Dome in St. Louis. The Battlehawks fell one step short of making last year's title game. Taking the next step forward would set the stage for potentially setting a new modern-day attendance record, when the Battlehawks drew 40,317 fans for their home opener in 2024.
Much like a football team after a win or loss goes back to the film room to assess and reassess its performance in the hopes of improving strengths and minimizing weaknesses, the United Football League's leadership must do the same when it comes to evaluating its course of strategy and actions regarding creating product awareness. How the league and its eight teams perform at the gate in the remaining 23 games of the 2025 season will help determine how they look forward in their existing markets and the two new ones expected to join the party in 2026.