Well, given all we have learned that is already far more than most of us, if not all of us, signed up for this season, I think we’re going to need you to activate Turbo Boost on your dashboard and ask you whatever else you can do to help out the UFL in the current jam that could well be a slow-moving train wreck.
Though like many of those attending games like you, you pay for your whole seat, but you will NOT need only the edge, like for monster truck pulls and the like.
But you are free to vastly upgrade to your seat after you paid for the cheap seats of course, or maybe just go into the mezzanine corporate level and act like you are the boss and enter a suite if the door is open, for it’s not like this league is springing for security.
And we will all continue to watch this increasing carnage, for strangely we are either unable or don’t want to look away!
Solidarity has prevailed!
Good on the players for sticking to their guns for health care year-round.
My goodness, here we are in 2025 in the USA, and basic access to health care is apparently is still a big no-deal to SOME PEOPLE, but I digress.
Beyond the league’s status as a pro sport with heavy physical contact and known injury risks, the players fought for what most people in most states not playing a pro sport have when employed or though more difficult, and I’ve been there but it’s there in almost all states when unemployed, also YEAR-ROUND.
The players are simply receiving what is already at hand for employees of all larger employers and all public sector employees, whether unionized or not, and in some states all but those working for the smallest employers.
Wow is this a huge tell for the plans by the ownership and by the backing of the NFL behind the curtain!
I had foreseen that any decision to go forward would encompass the 2026 season due to the packed sports calendar in 2026, and for the scheduled start of the season in 2026 that should be at about the same time in late March before any changes are made for 2027, should they continue with spring football.
Now to work on the production and video presentation as players improve the quality of play! The audio presentation is polished and professional as we expect from coverage of other team sports and leagues.
And the San Antonio Brahmas won their first game after handing the DC Defenders their first loss of the season on their own turf.
Over three hours of air time for a spring football game is far too long, except for perhaps an exciting final game, and this game was loaded with penalties. Of course I did not watch all of it.
As we await the numbers and ratings after Week 4 with great anticipation like these two varmints,
wow here were some rough takes after Week 3 on the ratings and in general on the UFL, with many such thoughts shared even by many fans like most, if not all, of us here.
Take this article by Drew Lerner from Friday:
According to David Rumsey of Front Office Sports, UFL viewership is down 33% so far compared to its inaugural season last year. Data provided by pro football writer Mike Mitchell indicates that the league averaged 666,000 viewers per telecast for its four games last weekend, the highest weekly average the league has secured so far this season. Unfortunately, that average still sits well below the UFL’s season-long average of 816,000 viewers per game last year.
Of course as @laxtreme56 pointed out previously as he kicks some more ass as we know in special operations behind enemy lines so as to shore things up , not so fast, as some of Mitchell’s data appear to undercount the ratings.
All the same even with those more accurate numbers from the intelligence operations, the average would still remain far lower than in 2024.
But even with the slight bounce-back, the league seems to be in dire straights. Three of the league’s eight teams have already lost their head coach. Both Ken Whisenhunt and Wade Phillips departed their roles this week, and the Defenders’ Reggie Barlow bolted for Tennessee State less than a week before the season began.
In all fairness after their woeful first quarter, DC has gone 3-1 after their loss on Easter Sunday in Week 4, when they pooped the bed in abundance in the first quarter and also on their final drive at the end of the game for their chance to win after battling to stay in the game.
And right here lies the major problem, which was corroborated by @laxtreme56 in one of his classified intelligence reports last week in this thread.
Perhaps more concerning, however, is the quality of play. Through 12 games this season, only one has seen both teams score over 20 points. 10 out of 12 games have seen at least one team score 12 or fewer points. The UFL is not producing an attractive brand of football.
Individual player stats look just as ugly. Five of the league’s eight starting quarterbacks have completion percentages under 55%, with several sitting under 50%. Only one quarterback has thrown for more than two touchdowns through three games. The league’s best rusher is averaging a meager 63 yards per game. You get the idea.
The UFL’s problem is that the product looks as if it’s a game of football played between guys that wouldn’t sniff an NFL roster. And that’s likely because, barring a few players each year, none of these guys will ever sniff an NFL roster.
I would add on this point about players going to the NFL that it’s often a punter or kicker, and some of the rest of these guys also were once in the NFL and so it’s a return trip to try to make it again and actually play in a regular-season NFL game again.
And here from Thursday about also the attendance figures, which are overestimated for some games with regards to those who actually show up.
At least in DC on Sunday evening, I did notice that Fox made the camera angle lower so as to not get so many shots of all those empty seats and any ugly dudes also not behind the end zones, which are inevitably captured in any given red zone shot.
In the stadiums, the picture varies from market to market, but on the whole, attendance has underwhelmed. Just one team is beating its 2024 average attendance by more than 1% – the Michigan Panthers, who have averaged 10,531 fans in their first two home games at Detroit’s Ford Field, up 29%.
The Battlehawks and Defenders continue to be the UFL’s top-drawing clubs by a wide margin, but their average attendance through two home games is down year-over-year by about 10% each. Last year’s lowest-drawing team, the Memphis Showboats, continue to show signs of weakness, down 33% from last year.
The Birmingham Stallions (one game), Arlington Renegades (two games) and the Houston Roughnecks (one game) are averaging about the same as last year. The San Antonio Brahmas have not played a home game yet.
Hats off to Michigan for such a surprise!
It’s time to blow up those Showboats, who in my opinion are on borrowed time for their future viability.
Fox Sports and RedBird Capital Partners insist this is a long-term play and the league’s basic existence is not up for debate. And they acknowledge there’s “no silver bullet” that suddenly fills these stadiums.
But so far in 2025, a clear sense of momentum is hard to find for sales teams, investors and spring football enthusiasts who would like this property to really take off.
Aye, long-term play whatever, somebody ultimately has to foot the mounting bill as Fox and RedBird are not charities or non-profits, and we know who that is behind the curtain with their butts on the scales and heavy interest to make the UFL develop into a steady feeder league for the rest of the players not obtained via the NFL Draft, mostly to shore up lines and feed special teams.
Totally on board with you —Fox and RedBird aren’t running a charity bake sale here. But that’s exactly why the Godfather (NFL) behind the curtain— is the key player in this whole dumpster fire. They’re the ones quietly footing the bill, or at least making sure the right doors stay open and the losses are… absorbed. Somewhere.
@Paolo_X - You nailed it with the reason too: linemen and special teams depth. That’s where the pipeline is thinnest, and the draft doesn’t cover it. The NFL isn’t going to let its $20 billion machine risk jamming up over a shortage of competent third-string guards or gunners on punt coverage. That’s the value prop. So yeah—if you’re the NFL, you’re looking at the UFL and thinking: “If I can spend $30 million total to develop 5–10 usable linemen a year instead of overpaying for depth or hoping a UDFA pans out, that’s a win.” It’s like having a baseball style farm system that costs the same as one good left tackle. That’s not a loss. That’s roster insurance at wholesale.
So yeah, it’s not a charity—but if the UFL quietly saves a few teams from midseason roster chaos, it pays off tenfold. It’s infrastructure, not entertainment. And when the Godfather wants the trains to run, they usually find a way to get it done.
James Larsen and Mike Mitchell provide this week’s report on television ratings, in the United States.
But I’m confident that @laxtreme56 in special operations will be able to shed more light on the truth, for he has interesting and mysterious ways to elicit and illicit key facts.
Bwah ha ha ha ha.
The TV Ratings for the UFL from week four are in, and paint a picture of consistency…whether you like the numbers, or not. According to Mike Mitchell, the ratings from week four’s action are as follows:
Michigan vs. Memphis (FOX): 679,000 Arlington vs. St. Louis (ABC): 901,000 Houston vs. Birmingham (FOX): 606,000 DC vs. San Antonio (FOX): 739,000
Now that Friday night number certainly remains flat and meh.
But look at that Saturday daytime number!
ABC once again has the highest rated matchup of the week. Arlington vs. St. Louis, which competed with the NBA playoffs kicking off, averaged 901,000 in audience. Last week, ABC’s matchup between DC and St. Louis saw 967,000 people tune in. Clearly, the fanbase in St. Louis is one of the key components in having a higher-rated game.
Now let’s note that the media market for Metro Washington DC is far larger than that of Arlington, Texas, for what it’s worth for the local fans in DC Metro.
And look at those numbers for Sunday evening on Fox for a slow game marred by penalties with a crappy start time of 5PM ET on Easter Sunday!
As we’ve seen with the USFL, and now the UFL, FOX has a difficult time reaching the 1M mark for regular season games. Their audience has a base of around 600-700k per game, with Sunday’s Easter matchup between DC and San Antonio making a leap to 739,000. It’s a number that, without a doubt, needs to see improvement. Both of FOX’s matchups over the weekend were competing with the NBA playoffs.
There looks to be hope for TV ratings.
For attendance? Except in St. Louis, attendance sounds like it’s headed for Skid Row, but we shall see after those data are processed by Dr. Goalpost’s lab. @BetweenTheGoalposts
[quote=“Paolo_X, post:476, topic:93665”]
…aster matchup between DC and San Antonio making a leap to 739,000. It’s a number that, without a doubt, needs to see improvement. Both of FOX’s matchups over the weekend were competing with the NBA playoffs.There looks to be hope for TV ratings.For attendance? Except in St. Louis, attendance sounds like it’s headed for Skid Row, but we shall see after those data are processed by Dr. Goalpost’s lab.
[/quote
I was at the first 2 Battlehawks home games this season. Except for the 2024 Championship game, these two games were the lowest attended games that I’ve ever seen since 2020. The league is padding the numbers. I will say though that I’ve seen a lot of billboards popping up all over town recently. I’ve been told that there was a commercial for the Battlehawks on the Blues telecast Monday night. Hopefully, they can reverse this trend.
, not so fast, as some of Mitchell’s data appear to undercount the ratings.
