The second showing of Friday Night UFL football on FOX didn’t see an increase in viewership after a sluggish opener encountered heavy competition against NCAA’s ultra-popular March Madness tournament.
This past Friday’s 4/4 UFL game between the Birmingham Stallions and Michigan Panthers, a rematch from last year’s USFL Championship game, averaged 659,000 viewers. The telecast aired at 8 pm Eastern and peaked at 751,000 viewers during the game’s first 15 minutes.
Last week’s UFL opening game on FOX between the St. Louis Battlehawks and Houston Roughnecks averaged 690,000 viewers, down considerably from last year’s first window. 0.15 in the 18-49 desired demographic. The shift to Friday nights for the UFL hasn’t produced the same type of numbers FOX registered last season on weekends. This past Friday’s UFL game was down nearly five percent from last week’s debut.
Much like Week 2’s UFL slate, Week 3 will feature only one FOX broadcast. The Birmingham Stallions are back on Friday night, hosting the Arlington Renegades in primetime. In Week 4 of the 2025 UFL season, three of the league’s four weekly games will be on FOX, including two in a prime-time window.
UFL 2025 Season Week 3 TV Schedule
FRI, APR 11
SAT, APR 12
SUN, APR 13
| MATCHUP | STATUS | LOCATION | ODDS | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SA | @ | MICH | 12:00PMABC | Ford Field, Detroit, Michigan | MICH -5.5 |
| DC | @ | STL | 3:00PMABC | The Dome at America’s Center,St. Louis, MO | STL -5.5 |
4 Comments
by Ken Granito
it’s funny that the numbers for the first Friday were pretty lackluster as were pretty much all of the numbers. We shall check out the FS1 numbers. I feel they may be better than FS1 numbers overall. The fact that the first 15 mins had the highest rating both times tells people have tried it out. I wonder if kicking the xtra point will help these numbers. I have said it before……although the XFL version after extra points has really lead to an opportunity of varying degrees of strategy, the nation has not accepted it as football. It is no longer a maybe. The scores so far are 11-9, 18-11, 31-6, 33-9, 26-12, 21-12, 17-12, 26-9. Do you see what is missing? There is one score that ends with a 7 and none ending in 0. The game play is not NFL caliber than they score a TD and miss the XP and very often the player is like, wow this is not the NFL. I like the way some teams have taken to letting backs try to point after to give them some experience, but doesn’t that mean that they already given up on the point? You don’t take out your starting quarterback once you get to the 5 yards line unless there is a run play you want to try, but then you’ve announced to everyone there is an 80% chance this is going to be a run play. Remember the NFL has the 2 point play, but they rarely take it, because they know in the long run the 1 point kick is more successful. It is so successful that when a team misses a kick they know they will have to make those points up. The gameplay is good, but not great. Why give the viewers even more of a reason to turn off their sets. Kick the XP and keep the momentum going!
by Ken Granito
When I say better FS1 numbers, I mean in compared to last seasons FS1 numbers.
by 4th&long
Thx for Mike getting the info.
Very disappointing numbers, though consistent. There was only WCBB of note, no MCBB. I can’t see Fox being happy with that, I’m not. Way down from 2024.
They are not getting the initial # they need. Need to do a better job attracting that initial #, their hold is 88%, that’s the best news out of this. If they can start with 1.2 milion they can top 1mm.
Let’s see how the rest of weekend goes…
by Ken Granito
I wonder if the traditional football timeslots work best. At night might be better suited for hanging with your significant other. In a short sample size, it doesn’t seem that far off.