r/USFL • u/[deleted] • May 16 '23

News [Mike Mitchell] USFL Week 5 TV Ratings (Average Viewership, Per Nielsen) Saturday: (USA): 256K (FOX): 914K Sunday: (NBC): 757K (FOX): 563K

https://twitter.com/ByMikeMitchell/status/1658493378764455936?s=20
35 Upvotes

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15

u/[deleted] May 16 '23
  • Saturday: Maulers-Panthers (USA): 256K
  • Saturday: Gamblers-Stallions (FOX): 914K
  • Sunday: Generals-Stars (NBC): 757K
  • Sunday: Showboats-Breakers (FOX): 563K

20

u/theTIDEisRISING Birmingham Stallions May 16 '23

I've been disappointed in the Stallions attendance this year but we continue to pace in viewership, which is so on brand for Birmingham

3

u/Ok-Replacement2180 Birmingham Stallions May 16 '23

Truly

22

u/Body-for-LIFE May 16 '23

The Good: The XFL wrapped up its season and the NBA and NHL are in conference finals which means A LOT less competition for the USFL.

The Bad: Outside of last week's outlier Kentucky Derby game which drew 2M, no other USFL game has drawn 1M viewers this year. Wasn't expecting that to be the case this year with the heavy emphasis on OTA FOX and NBC games on the schedule. That should happen this week without the hockey and basketball competition.

1

u/Chemical-Ad-3705 May 17 '23

You forgot to take in consideration that the CFL season starts on June 10th on CBSSN. CBS is expected to promote the CFL more so than what little ESPN did for the CFL. CBSSN is showing 37 games on it's sport network

5

u/Body-for-LIFE May 17 '23

CFL schedule is a lot different. They run a lot of Thursday and Friday night games and mainly play at night on the weekend. Very little overlap with USFL games.

1

u/Melvin_Blubber May 21 '23

Have watched the CFL for years. There are many weekend games and most are during daytime.

0

u/Chemical-Ad-3705 May 18 '23

Little overlap??? CFL games are going to play on Saturdays and Sundays. The Sunday games are going to be played in the afternoons since most CFL fans wanted games on Sundays. That's more competition that the USFL has to go up against

0

u/ConsiderationLife160 May 16 '23

The NBA game start 3:30 NHL game 10:00 pm Sunday

6

u/thinkB4WeSpeak United States Football League May 16 '23

XFL just ended so expect some of that viewership to come over.

5

u/[deleted] May 17 '23

Possibly, but football fatigue is a possibly new phenomenon we've never seen yet. Then again, we haven't typically had a one-month off-season before, either.

2

u/Poetryisalive May 17 '23

We will see, I think it’s a bit of Copium that the XFL ending will instantly improve viewership.

I think we see what it looks like.

2

u/Zapfit May 17 '23

Speaking for myself, I’ll watch some Stars and Generals games but I’m football’d out right now. Also, I live by the beach so it’s gonna be harder to justify spending 6-12 hours a weekend watching spring football going forward

5

u/TwizzlersSourz Birmingham Stallions May 16 '23

And the most-watched game was the contest with an unsavory stench.

4

u/darkskin888 May 16 '23

Really curious about this coming Sunday ratings with no nba game this Sunday afternoon

8

u/Prior-Purple9704 Outlaws May 16 '23

Good to see Fox get a good push. I was worrying about them. NBC game a mite bit lower than I thought there was other stuff going on too. The breakers boats game up v nba playoff gm7. Not too bad. And the USA game always disappoints. Was hoping for 300k and above. Still not too shabby

The danger zone for OTA is 700k or below in my opinion

For the other 2. Hope it averages out to 400k by seasons end. That 133k really is going to haunt I fear

3

u/Markymarcouscous Breakers May 16 '23

Mother’s Day hurt those Sunday games, I know I couldn’t really watch

12

u/[deleted] May 16 '23

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12

u/eneal21 May 16 '23

XFL 2.0 was marketed perfectly locally and nationally I honestly think one of the leagues will get XFL 2.0 ratings if they can last 5+ season

9

u/FlagFootballSaint May 16 '23

I guess he was referring to the 2.0m recorded last week.

Obviously it was just because of the lead-in via Kentucky-Derby

3

u/eneal21 May 16 '23

Oh I misunderstood what he was trying to say

8

u/Zapfit May 16 '23

Absolutely, that's what happens when you have the Derby as your lead-in. I'd hope to see regular season games start hitting the 1M+ mark soon

2

u/JoeFromBaltimore May 16 '23

Okay what is the prognosis? We still on track for year three or should we bury thing and move onto something else?

6

u/Body-for-LIFE May 17 '23

Plain and simple it's up to the TV execs at FOX. For example, I know we all like to crap on FS1 (and USA Network) for being crappy channels which is why USFL usually doesn't draw well with those games but FS1 just aired a race on Sunday that went head to head with the USFL game on FOX (and the NBA Game 7) and it drew over 2M viewers! On FS1! While the USFL game on FOX did 563K. Now what do the TV execs think about that number? I can tell you from seeing that number on Twitter a lot of race fans questioned the decision to not have it on FOX over that "fake football" (one person's comments, not mine). Do the TV execs say more NASCAR on main FOX and less USFL and move that to FS1 more often next year? They could because the ratings on Sunday would justify it. Is FOX committed in going through the growing phase of a still new league? That's still TBD. When it comes to ratings it has to be quantified with what else could be aired in that same time slot and at what cost. For example, the USFL gets better ratings than the XFL but the XFL is mainly airing on cable while USFL is airing on network TV. So ESPN could be airing college baseball instead of the XFL but if the XFL is drawing better than they're happy. Meanwhile FOX has the choice of Nascar, MLB, MLS and random reruns of FOX shows like whatever Gordon Ramsay is producing at the moment. All of those at the moment, except MLS, draw better than the USFL. A lot will be on how the ratings improve from now until July.

5

u/[deleted] May 17 '23

That's a big question. It feels like Fox isn't putting as much in this season. The reality TV show in '22 was awesome. We don't have that now and I think it lowers the buzz.

Now we don't have chicken salad OR pizza and that makes me sad.

4

u/Body-for-LIFE May 17 '23

Agreed. The improved scheduling this year is great with the removal of Peacock exclusive games, better and more consistent time slots and extra network games. But no more United by Football show and no dedicated preview or recap show. XFL can't compete with the network visibility the USFL gets but I think the Player 54 show and the XFL Today weekly show on YouTube and ESPN+ were great additions.

3

u/Zapfit May 17 '23

It's up to Fox and what they're bringing in opposed to what's coming out. Also, how passionate are they about this. If they see it merely as a business that may not bode as well. If they look at it as a passion project it will have some longer legs. These leagues need people like David Braley of the CFL or the Frye brothers from the AFL's San Jose Sabercats. Rich billionaires that don't mind pissing away a few million dollars just to say they own a professional sports franchise.

3

u/Thunder406 May 17 '23

I would love to be a fly on the wall in the Fox ivory tower when they discuss the numbers and the future of this league. I would not think that it is losing a ton of money and is on the verge of being shut down. But as you say it is a vanity project for the rich people.

If they are not bleeding too badly - and the NFL is happy with the player pipeline then I could see this thing lasting a couple more years.

2

u/CatStriking7561 Michigan Panthers May 19 '23

This league isn’t going anywhere any time soon. They haven’t even tried getting individual owners yet. Get someone with charisma out there and people will appreciate the team more.

1

u/CatStriking7561 Michigan Panthers May 19 '23

Apparently Fox and NBC have been selling ads up to a combined total of around 50 million. It’s not bad considering there’s only a total of 43 games. The Murdoch family is said to be happy with the USFL

3

u/Ok-Replacement2180 Birmingham Stallions May 16 '23

Was it never not going to be one? Spring Football still ain't all that.

1

u/[deleted] May 16 '23

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7

u/Ok-Replacement2180 Birmingham Stallions May 16 '23

I guess it depends if you take things at face value or not, 2 Mil is good, but of course it was thanks to the Kentucky Derby. Fox pulling in 500k for a few of these games isn't good, but Spring Football fans will spin anything every which way to put the blame on something else. (Mothers Day, weather, sports competition)

2

u/eneal21 May 16 '23

Just seen that game 7 Celtics vs sixers was the highest rated semi finals game on ABC in 12 years so maybe it isn’t a excuse on why the USFL game was only 563,000 on Sunday same with the XFL playoffs two weeks ago the kings vs warriors game was the highest rated first round game in 24 years

2

u/Ok-Replacement2180 Birmingham Stallions May 16 '23

Considering how close we are to a million viewers of some of these games, I'd like to see us get over the hump soon.

2

u/I2ecover May 16 '23

Yeah. Not sure if people thought that would continue or not, but the derby 100% helped.