UFL continues to slump in comparison to 2024

In 2024, the UFL had a promising debut as the merged XFL and UFL. This year, the early objective measurements aren't great.

By our calculations, the TV ratings for Week 2 of the 2025 UFL fell nearly 30 percent in comparison to Week 2 of the 2024 season.

Via Mike Mitchell, Friday night's game between Birmingham and Michigan on Fox generated 659,000 viewers, on average. Saturday's ABC game between Memphis and D.C. generated 621,000. Sunday's Houston at Arlington contest on ESPN averaged 613,000 viewers. And San Antonio at St. Louis drew 516,000.

That's an average for the four games of 602,250. In Week 2 of the 2024 season, the average audience for games on Fox, ABC, and ESPN (which had two games) was 844,500.

That's a drop of 242,500, per game.

Even in St. Louis, the best market in the UFL, there's reason for concern. Last year, the home opener in Week 2 attracted 40,317 fans. This year, the Week Two home opener drew 32,115. A 20-percent drop.

It's still early, but through two weeks it's not encouraging. And i's never going to be easy to build and sustain interest in football when it's not football season. Especially when it's also basketball, baseball, and hockey season.

We hope the UFL finds its footing. But giving people more things on which to bet will only go so far. To build a long-term business that makes sufficient profit to justify the endeavor, the numbers need to be going up, not sharply down.