UFL takes massive ratings hit in second season

The UFL, now in its second year following the merger of the XFL and USFL, has encountered a significant decline in ratings during its regular season.

Averaging 645,000 viewers per telecast across Fox and ESPN-affiliated networks, this marks a 20% decrease from last season’s average of 812,000 viewers.

In year two, the UFL struggled to establish itself, competing against well-established events such as March Madness and the Masters.

Only five of the league’s 40 games managed to draw an audience exceeding 900,000 viewers, with the most-watched game featuring the D.C. Defenders against the Houston Roughnecks amassing 1.35 million viewers, largely due to a robust lead-in from the Indianapolis 500 on Fox.

This season saw the UFL become integral to Fox’s new Friday night strategy.

Following the loss of the WWE SmackDown franchise, Fox has turned to football to fill its primetime lineup on Fridays, typically reserved for college games in the traditional football season.

However, this strategy has not shown good results. Fox averaged merely 608,000 viewers over 10 primetime UFL windows on Friday nights, markedly lower than the WWE numbers previously enjoyed in those slots. Alarmingly, no single Friday night game managed to reach 700,000 viewers.

On the other note, UFL has outperformed other emerging leagues in terms of viewership.

Its season two average surpasses that of Unrivaled’s debut season, which averaged just 186,000 viewers, and also exceeds TGL’s first season average of 513,000 viewers.

While UFL benefitted from multiple broadcast networks, advantages that other leagues did not enjoy, it nonetheless indicates a foundational audience for spring football.

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