The eternal quest to deliver off-season football to a gridiron-mad country has gone into overdrive in 2023 as the XFL winds down and the USFL gets set to launch. There will be professional football games on for about 11 months of the year this year if we count the NFL preseason.
This year is the third iteration of the XFL. The first was the infamous "no holds barred" version in 2001, created by WWE chair Vince McMahon and NBC, but folded after just one season.
The league returned in 2020 with less lofty aspirations. Five weeks into the season, the COVID pandemic hit, and the XFL ended up filing for bankruptcy. In stepped The Rock, his ex-wife, business partners, and $15 million, and now the XFL is back. Will it sustain? Let's take a look at how attendance has fared, along with TV ratings so far.
XFL Attendance Numbers - Battlehawks Host Nearly A Third Of All XFL Fans
XFL average attendance is all over the map, but one thing is for sure: the Battlehawks' fans support their local team. Below is a glance at the attendance numbers so far this season.
XFL Franchise | Average Attendance Per Home Game | Percentage of Total XFL Attendance Per Game |
St. Louis Battlehawks | 36,448 | 31.25% |
San Antonio Brahmas | 16,587 | 14.22% |
D.C. Defenders | 13,166 | 11.29% |
Houston Roughnecks | 11,968 | 10.26% |
Arlington Renegades | 11,863 | 10.17% |
Seattle Sea Dragons | 11,649 | 9.99% |
Orlando Guardians | 8,931 | 7.66% |
Vegas Vipers | 6,028 | 5.17% |
If you were to add up the average attendance of each XFL team, the total equates to 116,640. This means that the Battlehawks have 31.25% of the total attendance of the XFL so far this season.
They love it in Missouri! The team is good, the QB A.J. McCarron is relatively famous as a national title winner and the object of Brent Musburger's viral attention at Alabama. In addition, the city of St. Louis is likely never getting NFL football back thanks to bitterness and a huge financial settlement when the Rams left town to move back to LA. Next up is TV ratings, are people watching?
XFL TV Ratings To Improve In May?
TV ratings peaked in Week 1, as often happens in startup leagues. Two games on ABC on February 18th attracted 1.57 million viewers, thanks surely to the curiosity factor, proximity to the Super Bowl, and major network exposure.
Subsequent games aired mostly on an ESPN network and/or FX and have crossed the 1 million viewer barrier only twice since Week 1, though one of those was a Houston-San Antonio game on Week 8 on ABC. With no more games on FX and the playoff semifinals and finals coming up, ratings could lift again as the season heads to its May 13th championship battle in the Alamodome in San Antonio.
A Look At The Latest XFL Standings
The 2023 version includes eight teams playing in two divisions. The top two in each will make the playoffs. Eight games in, the DC Defenders have clinched a playoff spot in the North with a 7-1 record, with the St. Louis Battlehawks poised to join them at 6-2 and the Seattle Sea Dragons in the mix at 5-3. In the South, the 5-3 Houston Roughnecks are in, the 4-4 Arlington Renegades are close, and the 2-6 San Antonio Brahmas are still alive. The 2-6 Vegas Vipers in the North and the 1-7 Orlando Guardians in the South have both started checking out off-season tee times.
If you are wondering, you can wager on the XFL, as bettors are able to wager on professional football at the best online sportsbooks.
