This past weekend the USFL wrapped up their second week of action. Kicking it off was the Michigan Panthers taking on the New Jersey Generals in the leagues first Friday night broadcast of the season.
Yesterday we reported that USA pulled in 363k viewers to watch the Generals edge out the Panthers. But… what about the rest of the weekend in the USFL?
on the other hand NBC's # still topped NBC's Premier League telecast and both NBC & FOX's # topped NHL on ABC.
— Sports TV Ratings (@SportsTVRatings) April 26, 2022
@SportsTVRatings reports that FOX topped 1M viewers for the Keystone State Battle between the Pittsburgh Maulers and Philadelphia Stars.
The late USFL game on Saturday saw 402k viewers tune into the Birmingham Stallions and Houston Gamblers on FS1. This is an uptick from last weeks FS1 broadcast that was delayed due to weather. This game also had a slight delay with the start bumping over to FS2 until the MLB matchup completed.
Sunday’s broadcast of the Breakers and Bandits on NBC brought in 812k viewers. SportsTVRatings notes that NBC’s broadcast of the USFL beat out their Premier League telecast and topped NHL coverage on ABC.
It was expected that the ratings would take a dip after the first week, we’ve seen it with every spring league that came before it. The real test is what the average will be by the end of the season. It’s still promising that the league pulled in over 1M on FOX, especially because the network is set to host a doubleheader this Saturday.
FOX Sports Exec Michael Mulvihill posted some good context for the viewership numbers, comparing the numbers against other major sporting events.
Week 2 obviously down from Week 1 but SNB, F1, NHL, EPL…that’s the company we want to consistently be in as far as viewership.
— Michael Mulvihill (@mulvihill79) April 26, 2022
What are your thoughts on the USFL ratings so far? Let us know down in the comments below or join the conversation on Discord.
