UFL Sees Mixed Bag Of Trends Halfway Through 2025 Season
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UFL Sees Mixed Bag Of Trends Halfway Through 2025 Season

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The UFL is halfway through their second season of action, and as expected, there are some positives and negatives that we can take away through five weeks.

It’s been an exciting year of UFL football, no doubt. But, are football fans actually engaging with the league? Is the quality product on the field being recognized? How does the UFL continue to survive with TV Ratings and attendance slipping?

In this piece, we’ll be taking a closer look at some of the key tenants of the UFL, and what the big picture looks like for the health of the league.

Quality Of Play

Beginning with one of the more positive trends in the UFL, the quality of play has been very good this year. It got off to a bit of a rocky start as offenses took some time to settle in, but over the last three weeks, we’ve been treated to some entertaining, down to the wire matchups.

Weeks four and five, in particular, have been outstanding. In week four, we saw the 0-3 San Antonio Brahmas upset the 3-0 DC Defenders in what was a nailbiter from start to finish. This weekend, the UFL had its first overtime matchup of the season between Memphis and Birmingham. In addition, we saw two shootouts in St. Louis and Arlington between Saturday and Sunday.

All of that to say: the football has been really, really good. It’s clear that each team has gotten better in the offseason (with the exception of San Antonio), as anyone can win on any given Sunday. The competition is tight between both conferences, as the USFL and XFL divisions will have playoff races that likely go down to the final weeks of action.

When it comes to the football product on the field, the UFL is in great shape. Things are heating up heading into the second half of the season – and the excitement should only continue to build.

TV Ratings

When it comes to the TV ratings, it’s been a bit disappointing for the UFL this year. As it stands right now, the UFL is averaging 612,000 viewers per broadcast, which is a 25% decrease from the 2024 regular season average.

Nothing has changed when it comes to the networks broadcasting these games. Both FOX and ESPN/ABC have been heavily involved once again, putting the majority of the outings on OTA networks, with the rest featured on ESPN (with the exception of one FS1 matchup).

However, we saw FOX introduce a new property with their Friday Night Lights edition of the UFL, which has underwhelmed to begin the year. Those matchups are averaging 635,400 per telecast, hitting a new low this weekend at 467,000.

Week five’s action across the board averaged just 505,000 per game, the lowest of any week in the league this season. Hopefully, this is the floor, and the league can build back up as they dealt with heavy competition from the NFL draft and NBA/NHL playoffs this past weekend.

Folks within the UFL are well aware that growth is needed. The league isn’t satisfied with where they are at currently – but, they aren’t panicking either. It takes time to grow a new entity, and for the UFL, they’re going to need more time to connect with the casual fan to actually grow the viewership of their product.

It’s unfortunate to see lower numbers this year, as the quality of the telecasts have been very impressive. FOX continues to shine, sending Jenny Taft as a new addition to the sidelines which has been a great new piece on broadcast.

ESPN/ABC continue to innovate on their end with All-Access segments, and have also upgraded their play-by-play teams, most notably by bringing in Joe Tessitore and Jordan Rodgers who have been tremendous. Again – the product has been amazing – it’s just a lack of people consistently tuning in from week to week that is a bit concerning.

Daryl Johnston, Executive VP of Football Operations for the UFL, made an interesting comment on broadcast a couple weeks back:

“I think the one thing we’ve missed so far this year is that big moment, we don’t have the ‘Jake Bates moment’ yet. That was something that got us off to a really great start last year. After that game, everyone was interested in finding out about the UFL. We haven’t had that moment yet. Defenses are ahead of the offenses still, and we haven’t had too many high scoring games.”

On the plus side, the UFL has seen some bigger moments since Daryl made this comment – and had its best games of the year in week five. Hopefully, that translates into larger audiences for the UFL moving forward.

Attendance

When it comes to attendance, it’s another mixed bag. The UFL has seen St. Louis embrace the Battlehawks once again, with over 30,000 in attendance at each home game so far. St. Louis was gifted an extra home game this season due to complications at the AlamoDome, which certainly benefits the league as the Battlehawks show up in groves when other teams don’t.

Average attendance in the UFL is nearly identical, so close that it’s bizarre:

Across five weeks, the UFL has averaged the following in attendance numbers (data via Mike Mitchell):

Week 1: 8,466
Week 2: 16,222
Week 3: 13,976
Week 4: 9.593
Week 5: 15,876

There are some positives, as Michigan is seeing growth in their fanbase when it comes to tickets distributed. Right now, they’re averaging over 2,000 more fans compared to the 2024 UFL season. San Antonio had a solid debut in week five, with over 14,000 tickets sold – but after a brutal 27-3 loss, it’s tough to say how that market will react as their Brahmas stare down the barrel of another 3-7 season.

Houston and Memphis have both immensely struggled to find their footing for attendance, with neither being anywhere remotely close to what we saw from both markets in 2023 – when the USFL and XFL were still separate. Memphis is down 33.8%, and anyone with two eyes can see that there’s probably less than 2,000 fans a game in the stands.

Birmingham is another market that has disappointed. They’ve won three straight Championships, yet can’t find a way to pack the stands as their fanbase has stayed the same, or even decreased, across the last two years. Arlington has also stagnated, failing to see much growth at all.

Even DC has been a let down. The once rowdy Audi Field crowd has diminished in size by 10.7% this season, which is discouraging considering how much potential that city has. We’ve seen the stadium full before, during the XFL’s 2020 and 2023 seasons.

The lack of marketing at the grassroots level has been a problem for the UFL. We don’t see much signage, billboards, local deals, etc. – which is something the league was supposed to put an emphasis on this past offseason. That didn’t happen, and now they’re reaping the consequences.

Sponsorships Show Growth

The UFL recently announced their corporate partnerships for the 2025 UFL season, which showed quite a bit of growth compared to 2024 – up to 15, from nine in the previous year.

Ortho has taken the main stage as one of the primary sponsors featured on broadcasts. Their signage is posted throughout each stadium on the walls, with multiple mentions during telecasts, alongside a commercial that has been a direct collaboration with the UFL – something that is really unique for spring football.

We’re told that Ortho, Pizza Hut, and New Era are pretty sizable deals for the UFL. New Era also has a commercial that has been airing recently, layered with the UFL branding and football product.

The U.S. Army did not return this year due to some of the complications behind the scenes, but are still in good standing with the UFL according to league sources.

ZOA Energy and Teremana Tequila are back as well, as two of The Rock’s entities that sponsor a football league that he is a partial owner of.

The league also seemingly struck a recent deal with Verizon. On some of the most recent social media clips, Verizon is tagged on the post, and also has had their logo overlaid on the highlight:

Verizon is also the sponsor of the “command center”, which was the U.S. Army’s bread and butter a season ago.

In an ecosystem where sponsorships are more important than ever, the UFL seeing improvements on that end of things has been an encouraging sign. Progressive Insurance, Under Armour, Underdog, Gatorade, etc. are all partnerships that help give the UFL even more credibility and structural support.

Now, the next step is to get more local sponsors in their individual markets, as the St. Louis Battlehawks are really the only organization to make any true headway in that category.

Final Thoughts

As it stands right now, the UFL still faces some of the same issues as it did a year ago. TV Ratings have trended downward, and attendance – especially in certain markets – has been very concerning.

It’s also unfortunate that some of the mainstream press the league has gotten, has been for negative reasons. For example, the entire CBA deal with the players got a lot of attention, as many thought that the players would go on strike. The new CBA is finally nearly done, but has yet to be fully approved by the UFL board.

On top of that, the UFL had a viral moment from this past weekend, where Michigan Panthers WR Samson Nacua slapped a Battlehawks fan. This story got picked up by a multitude of outlets – which is a shame as it’s, once again, not an ideal look for the league.

With all of that in mind, the UFL is still well on its way to its second Championship game, which will be held in St. Louis on June 14th. League executives are aware that things need to change, and improve. Hopefully, the investors who back the UFL will continue to stay course, with eyes on the goal of making spring football sustainable. The potential is there, and always has been. Now, it’s on the UFL to execute, before it’s too late.

What are your thoughts on the UFL and where it stands after five weeks of action? Let us know down in the comments below, or join the conversation on Discord!

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James Larsen
Growing up, football was one of the few things that brought me joy. It's always played a major role in my life, and continues to do so. As I've delved into sports reporting/writing, spring football has become my passion. Covering the XFL & USFL is a dream come true, and I look forward to plenty of excellent seasons in the years to come.
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5 Comments

  1. James – This is a good write up.

    I posted a comment on the Wk 5 ratings review and alot of that applies here. Basically in a nutshell the league has to focus on TV ratings #1, 2, 3. Every decision or plan should be answering “how does this help ratings?”

    I’m not a fan of Dany G – she comes off almost cringe and is not a good spokes person for the league. And Russ B is a wet Blanket, boring Need more Charisma, more knowledge and more ability to get eye balls so the leader can promote the league.

    Get away from league of opportunity shtick. That’s a great way to sell the league to agents and potential players, but not fans. Use the XFL 2020 or USFL 2022 slogan – “For the Love of Football” or “United by Football” – That’s why people watch they love FB and are united in fandom.

    And please flood the web, facebook, X, etc with weekly graphics of all the games playing the weekend – when and where to watch. Its like its hidden. You are trying to get people to watch a sports without a fixed schedule… make it unavoidably easy to find.

    Lower ticket prices – $100 and $74 mid-field ticket $ at Houston is ludicrous, and get billboards etc.

    Part of the CBA redo should be that the players promote the league some way. Everything should be focused on viewers – especially your biggest expense – player salaries.

    TV market size and home cities/geography and team location:
    49% of people live in the Easter Time Zone. Yet one teams resides there, DC. Granted the Central Time Zone is 29% and the rest of the league is there, but the point is made. East is a beast and UFL isn’t there.
    That gets to TV market size. The XFL 2020 was in mkts making up 22% of the viewing public while UFL is in only 11.3%. Is it any wonder that the UFL has half the viewership of the XFL 2020? Put another way TBay (1.67%), Philly (2.51%) and NY ( 6.24%) of the national viewership. While Memphis and Birm are .52% and .62%. Maybe one for costs, but its hurting the upside being in these small TV markets. And since they can’t bother to show up to the games (meaning mostly Memphis) its time to move out of there into one of these larger Easter Time Zone cities.

    I totally get the low cost approach, I’m all in but find a bigger draw that isn;t too costly. Whether thats Philly, TB or even Canton OH (1.25%, just make it happen. Of course NY would be best.

    In General the league needs to WORK HARDER – all efforts should be started with “This will help raise TV viewership by…” Get a new CEO if necessary… Brandon looks on autopilot.

    Will UFL play into 2026 – I hope so. The weeks coming up are stacked with more Broadcast channel games. The ratings are down, not brutal. Let’s F###ing GO!

    Reply

  2. I have always said, “If you build it, they will come”. Unfortunately the UFL has not built anything so beautiful. The officiating is the number one reason why this league is failing. The football is just not real. The announcers are owned by the league, so they will not question it so basically the league is a farce. It is much more like the WWE than the NFL. Joe Tessitore has a wonderful deep voice and the ability to sensationalize, but he has NO idea of what he is sensationalizing. In the game between the Defenders and Showboats, Jay was not in on the drive with two minutes left. Did he or any other announcer bring that to anyone’s attention. They did not. Why, because they aren’t paying attention. They want to pay attention to what new gimmick the UFL can bring about. If you have football down and you want to improve the league, great, but the football is SO poor.
    In the Renegades vs Stallions game they did not call the Renegades for a penalty until the 3rd quarter. Why do you ask, because the Stallions were favored by only 3 1/2. I know that might seem like a stretch, but the most penalized team in the UFL does not have a penalty until the 3rd quarter. And the first call was the right end purposely going off sides and pointing at the left tackle’s ankle. You had to see the ref. It was not normal. The official hesitated and didn’t know what to do. Then instead of calling off-sides he called movement. This is not real football. This is someone in the booth telling him it was OK to call it on the offense. I know people think that sounds funny, but let’s go on. Either the something funny is going on or the officials are jokes. Either way it is bad for football, but if it’s the refs, sometimes the booth corrects them and other times they are standoffish. This was supposed to correct it all. As Dany Garcia says. This is not going to be that league, I guess questioning the NFL, however the NFL has it MUCH more together than the UFL. The UFL is a joke when it comes to officiating.
    Let’s go to the Renegades vs Battlehawks. I think it is safe to say that it will be good for the UFL to have the Battlehawks in the playoffs and maybe the finals, but exactly what extents would they go to have this happen?
    1. First there is a 15 yard penalty on the Renegades for shoving Javeon Howard to the game an instant after the whistle is blown. They shove him backward and he falls, even acting a little bit. Even the announcers that are paid by the league felt it look like overacting and they throw a 15 yard penalty on the Renegades. I have never seen this penalty called in the UFL and it goes on for much longer after the whistle almost every, single time. I feel the UFL realized Max Duggan and the Battlehawks needed help.
    2. Isaiah Winstead is called for pass interference. to keep a first down going. There certainly was a bit of a push, but really? Lord knows it would not have been called on the Battlehawks and to confirm it, this week Hakeem Butler shoves the defensive back to the ground to allow himself to be so wide open and score his first touchdown of the game. Was it a penalty, I don’t really know I would have to look at the play more closely, but I would have to say this was unfortunate for the Panthers. So than we go to the 4th with the game on the line. Hakeem Butler surely pushes the defender that he was running with stride for stride, definitely behind him and Hakeem Butler certainly could have made the catch without extending his arm and pushing the defender away. This was clearly offensive pass interference. So let’s look at this. For the Renegades it was a penalty the week prior, but for the Battlehawks it’s not. That is nice if you could get it that way.
    3. The Showboats vs Stallions. The Showboats HOLD Bradley Anae or whoever the Right Defensive End on virtually every pass play in the first half. Skip Holtz not doing his job does not challenge the Left Tackle on the 74 yard Touchdown pass to Dee Anderson. It was clearly a hold. It was so VERY obvious it was a hold. Now should the officials caught sure they could. IF they wanted to……so we could talk about all the offense, but that should have been a holding penalty and not a 74 yard touchdown so let’s take that off the board. The holding went on play after play after play. They don’t call one on the Showboats. Then to provide insult to injury they call one on the Stallions for the same thing the Showboats are doing. These penalties weren’t missed they were purposefully not called. The parents of the referee Bryan Banks clearly know that their son is a liar, but he purposefully could not do what is correct. I hope he has no kids for his sake. He will have to explain to them they shouldn’t lie when he lies for a living. Mrs. Banks might want to think about that too. Watch the game. It is ondemand. Watch the first half starting with the 74 yard touchdown. So where am I going with this? First off it is clear that the truth means nothing for the UFL. It is a farce to the extent George the Animal Steele has a bazooka in the ring and the UFL’s officiating crew cannot see it. OK let me get back on target….. So now we come down to overtime. The Stallions (finally) challenge a play. They are correct. The left tackle has a whole arm wrapped around his neck and they ask for the challenge, but they say number 96. There wasn’t even a 96 on the field. They had Yarbury and #58 in the tackle positions. The number was surely 90. So even though EVERYONE can see the VERY obvious hold the league says they can’t see it, because the Stallions got the number wrong. I ask you how many times in your life have you seen the official get the number wrong when calling a penalty or don’t provide a number at all. I have seen it, at least a hundred times in my life. So the officials who clearly suck in this league are allowed to not get the number right, but not the team. Ok, You might say, yeah the outcome was wrong, but at least they are true to their word. The rule says they must be correct.
    . Let’s go back to the Battlehawks vs Renegades. Luis Perez throws a 52 yard touchdown pass to Isaiah Winstead or Javonta Payton, I can’t remember. The Battlehawks challenge the play. They say there was a hold on the person holding number 99. Number 99 Faiolu came all the way over to say it was on him. Ok, so they look at the play 99 was not held. There was a grab on 98. They had a grasped of his jersey much way the Battlehawks block on every single play. Perez got past him and was throwing the ball when the grasp occurred. It had no effect on the play. It was a touchdown, but because the UFL has a financial VESTED interest in the Battlehawks the booth comes back with that the hold was not on 99. It was on 98. How come the league makes the Stallions lose the challenge for saying the wrong number yet it’s ok for Battlehawks and they take the touchdown off the board. To be honest, the touchdown they took off the board was a cleaner touchdown than the 74 yarder to Dee Anderson and the game winning touchdown to Hakeem Butler. I understand why the league is favoring the Battlehawks. It is still wrong to.
    Just so you know. There was a bootleg by Max Duggan and Jordan Rogers says some wisecrack remark, like oh but now the Battlehawks are going to score here, because they are so great they fooled the Renegades, except that the Renegades caught and tackled him. Statements like that are great on wrestling programs and movies like the Terminator when it’s a show. Announcers need to report what they see, not to support what the league wants them to, but why would that happen. The league is not real. If you question it, think on this.
    Hundreds of millions of fans watch the NFL, yet hundreds of thousands watch the UFL. That is a huge difference. You say the product is great and you don’t know why people don’t see it. Is it possible that you are looking for drones and interesting announcers and storylines and the NFL plays football. Maybe the hundreds of millions of football fans that aren’t watching the UFL are football fans and this isn’t football. Think about it. ESPN reports and shows highlights to the Little League World Series, but not the UFL. What does that tell you? It tells me, the UFL needs to figure it out. You want to fix a game or two when you become something big, you go do that. You shouldn’t be doing it now. And you shouldn’t insult football fans with how bad your officiating is. There are literally thousands of touchpoints in a game that you can fix. You just do it the MOST STUPID way. They insult us as football fans. Personally, I already know what this league is. I will try to give it a fair shake in 2026, but right now this league is a joke. You can say how the league had good games. Think on it. If you had a girlfriend that cheated and lied on you, but sometimes she was good, would you still want her? Hoping you all join me in boycotting Friday’s game. Maybe if we get it down to 250,000 eyes on the sets, we could get them to put football first.

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  3. The games are on Fox Ondemand and ESPN on-demand if you want to look at what I am talking about. Please give it a look and make your own mind up.

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  4. They need to go back to the traditional kickoff format that was successful in the USFL. The XFL kickoff format that the NFL decided to adopt and stick with was not a good excuse for the UFL to also adopt. The play is rather boring to watch. I’m willing to bet that the return rate does not compare to last season.

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  5. I agree will all of the other replies. So I’m adding to those with mine. The ticket costs are high for the amount of people that attends. I believe if the prices were lowered more people would come. The prices could be increased once there is better attendance.

    I don’t much care for the Arlington location because there is no public transportation. I don’t know why the Cotton Bowl inside Dallas’ Fair Park wasn’t an option. There is a public transportation just outside two of the gates. I believe there would be a much larger attendance.

    On the weekends my husband can’t attend games I can’t get anyone to use his ticket and no fun going alone so wasted. If this was in Dallas I could easily donate my 2 tickets to another family to use.

    Just saying.

    Reply

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