The UFL ratings are in for week 5. Once again, due to a regional coverage split, viewers were unable to watch all of the games. On Saturday evening, FOX simultaneously broadcast both the Birmingham Stallions vs. the Houston Roughnecks game and the Arlington Renegades vs. the San Antonio Brahmas game at 7:00 pm EST. How did the regional split affect the Saturday night ratings? What impact did the NBA playoffs have on the viewing audience?
On Saturday evening, a combined average of 777,000 viewers watched the seemingly unstoppable Stallions defeat the Roughnecks 32-9 in front of 6,285 fans at Rice Stadium to remain atop the league standings at 5-0.
Elsewhere in the country, viewers watched the San Antonio Brahmas beat the Arlington Renegades 25-15 at Choctaw Stadium in front of a crowd of 10,283 “Kaw-Crazed” fans.
Thankfully, in some areas of the country, FOX broke away from the Stallions’ total domination of the Roughnecks so viewers could watch the end of the exciting and competitive Renegades v. Brahmas game. Although the Brahmas notched the win, Luis Perez and the Renegades fought hard to pull out a last-minute victory.
On Sunday afternoon, the surging St. Louis Battlehawks enjoyed an absolute 45-12 blowout of the D.C. Defenders in front of a crowd of 16,058 at Audi Field. The game was televised on ESPN and drew 688,000 viewers.
In the final game of the weekend, the Memphis Showboats hosted the Michigan Panthers at Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium in front of a hometown audience of 7,640. The Panthers pulled out an impressive 35-18 victory that was watched by 731,000 television viewers.
The exciting news for UFL fans is that total viewership was more than double the figures from one week ago. Close to three million viewers watched the games this weekend compared to 1.2 million viewers last week. This is a very encouraging sign.
Perhaps the jump in viewership could be due to one of the games last weekend being televised exclusively on FS1, a cable subscription-based network. Or, it might be as a result of the UFL’s increasing fan base and new viewers tuning in.
While the attendance figures are down from a week ago, this is primarily due to the lack of a home game in St. Louis. The Battlehawks continue to lead the UFL in attendance by a wide margin, averaging more than 40,000 fans per game. However, the D.C. Defenders drew an impressive crowd this weekend since Audi Field’s capacity is just above 18,000. Nonetheless, the low attendance figures for the Showboats and the Roughnecks are still disappointing.
Next Saturday afternoon May 4th, the Birmingham Stallions travel to Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium to take on the Memphis Showboats. The game will be televised on ABC at noon EST.
The Houston Roughnecks travel to the Dome at America’s Center to take on the St. Louis Battlehawks. The game will be televised on FOX at 3:00 pm EST.
On Sunday afternoon, the Arlington Renegades will visit Ford Field in Detroit to battle it out against the Michigan Panthers. The game will be televised at 1:00 pm EST on FOX, Sunday, May 5th.
Finally, the San Antonio Brahmas will travel to Audi Field to play the D.C. Defenders at 3:00 pm EST on Sunday, May 5th. The game will be televised on FOX.
Saturday, May 4th- Birmingham Stallions vs. Memphis Showboats -12:00 pm EST on ABC
Saturday, May 4th-Houston Roughnecks vs. St. Louis Battlehawks -3:00 pm EST on FOX
Sunday, May 5th-Arlington Renegades vs. Michigan Panthers -1:00 pm EST on FOX
Sunday, May 5th-San Antonio Brahmas vs. the D.C. Defenders-3:00 pm EST on FOX
Check your local listings for details.
1 Comment
by Jesse
The previous week was 2.1M not 1.2M from your previous article.