In this video I will look at how the UFL did in both TV ratings and attendance compared to the 2022/2023 USFL and 2023 XFL seasons. Link to become a channel member - / @zombphoxufl
If the TV ratings can get up in between 2 and 3 that could sustain a spring football league. I hope the owners can find a way to keep the league going.
i am a strong believer that if D.C. was as good as last year they would of blown there previous average. St louis and SA just need a little more marketing and they will be perfectly fine. Michagan needs a little more marketing a they will probably get 10,000 Average. Now Everyone Else They are in trouble. The Numbers are Good but we new that.
In fairness, March madness hurt the league. Depending on the start of the season and afternoon games only during March madness would help. Next season is make or break. Hopefully they get it right and start thinking small markets with no pro football
While that is true, it didn't hurt it nearly as much as it hurt the XFL in 2023. March Madness is the biggest reason I think the UFL needs to stick with the current schedule.
The AAF and XFL 2023 did a lot of damage to spring football. Fans keep seeing leagues start up and then those leagues and teams stop playing after a year or less. Can’t blame XFL 2020. It’s just hard for folks to stay engaged. The 2024 results on TV are where a year 3 USFL was on a trajectory to be with strong backing from FOX. The XFL ruined 2023 for everybody. 20 weeks of spring football was too much at this stage, and the XFL spent way too much money to be sustainable for its investors. XFL ownership should have looked to join up with the USFL for the 2023 season.
I actually think XFL 2020 did the most damage to spring football to no fault of their own. While Covid is the main reason why the 2020 XFL failed, it still did the most damage to spring football because the casual person viewed it as failing because it wasn't a good league instead of Covid killing it. That sentiment stayed true when the USFL came around in 2022 as the TV ratings were nothing compared to the AAF or XFL 2.0 and with all 8 teams playing in Birmingham it really hurt attendance both at the time and in the future. While the 2023 XFL did add some problems to both leagues the biggest problem was seeing the XFL 2.0 fail since it made the casual fan super skeptical on whether or not spring football can be sustainable.
This is true. McMahon shouldn’t have folded the league and filed for bankruptcy. He should have just put it on hold until they could come back. Panic move by McMahon. XFL 2020 was looking promising. The bankruptcy further hurt the brand, and then XFL 2023 finished off the brand for good. Three tries and not once did it answer the bell for a second season.
They may understand it but as we discussed, a MLS ownership structure will only work if their local partners are heavy into marketing to get more fan interest. I don't see them doing it. I mean, I'm not seeing any effort to really show any real movement except to shift the burden of ownership to investors at a national level where they all have a vested interest in every team and what that means is no more focus on individual teams than what FOX offered. This puts all the focus on the local partners because they're the ones who will be doing this. Now, without majority ownership to have full control, what's the incentive to invest in these teams? And then there's the league as a whole which by sticking with these 8 teams you're cutting your throats with the Northeast and the entire Western US basically which is where the largest fan bases and support will be... thus the reason I support expansion by at least two teams. A new expansion team in the Northeast and West will give you access to these larger fan bases to sure up support for the league as a whole and strengthen the national appeal. Even if it's Seattle and not San Diego, a team in the West is a must and no, not 2026 but 2025. This is a building year for the UFL, not a preserve the status quo year. Any building in 2025 by any local partners has to start now and begin moving forward as during the NFL season, all attention will be on them and no amount of marketing or promotion will make a difference for the UFL... now's the time to be doing this as in two months the NFL starts. I know we disagree on a lot of things but the UFL is operating like a lot of these huge conglomerate own franchises in that the people at the top are too wealthy and disinterested to put their focus on their smaller commodities. As you note, attendance was down and that means declining interest and while tv viewership is up, that could also just mean that people had nothing better to do than watch it... that's not going to translate into money. And while you are addressing the viewership positively, you're also saying small gains but then outright failure was said multiple times. So, they even failed on this and that falls on the networks. But here's the ultimate question you didn't answer and possibly can't because I doubt these numbers are released or will be... how much money did they make or lose. Again, without the Northeast and West, this league is going to fail in 2025. They must have at least two expansion teams to cover these areas to build ratings. I'll be honest, if I saw what you just presented, I wouldn't be willing to invest in this league unless I saw something really positive and two expansion teams covering the West and Northeast would give me confidence they believe in this leagues potential for growth as that's what investors will want to see, the potential for growth and nothing you presented here shows me any potential for growth or profits next year or even in 2026. Yes, I know you need stability but if this is the stability you want to preserve then I see only losing money next year. For a big conglomerate like FOX, if this isn't just a venture capital investment, they can afford losses. But the small investors, the millionaires, they're going to want to see at least some change that offer a chance for profits in a few years and preserving the status quo means losses and that's all they'll see are losses. Be honest. If you were wealthy and had a chance to invest in this league for anything other than claiming you own part of a team, would you invest in the UFL knowing there's no movement towards making money? And saying to them we have to take heavy losses up front without providing them with anything of substance to prove you're going to try to move in that direction, then what exactly are you presenting to invest in? An example. I'm putting an Elon Musk style deal on the stock market and telling investors we'll lose money in our first two years of operation but we should be making money by year three and then it will rise from there. Instead, you show them these dismal numbers, talk about preserving the status quo and offer them nothing to show that in three years they'll start making money. Instead, you give them a wishy washy we will take losses in our first two years but you can't say you'll be making profits by 2026. Nor can you say that 2026 won't be like 2025 and you'll stick with 8 teams yet again and none of these teams are in the biggest markets except the Texas teams and you have almost half the league there? Investors are not going to support this. But if they were to start now such as revealing a full strategy beginning with the local partners and stating what the blueprint for success will be in three years, you might have a chance. But they have to start now because once the NFL starts, it will take the spotlight and investors will look even closer at these numbers and find very little to offer promise. They have got to add those two expansion or reactivated teams and they have got to get their blueprint up for what their plans are to attract investors like you see almost all businesses do. Now, we could luck out and there are more people out there with money than brains and they just want to own a piece of a team. But I can see that even Fred Smith would balk at this with the way things are set up as I can see if he invested in the UFL it would be for control over the Showboats and not just to invest in the league as a whole. So, based on what you just presented, I would have to say if they don't shake things up, they won't get that investment. And remember, when the ownership of the AAF withdrew, they did try to find investors and not even FOX would support them. There's got to be meat on the bone and not just promise the marrow in the bone will suffice.
