With three weeks in the bag for the UFL, let’s see how it’s going under new business head Mike Repole.
The good: Attendance in two of the new markets: Columbus (14,810 in one game), Louisville (12,558 avg. through two games). The not as good: The third new market, Orlando (9,857 avg. through two games).
The bad: Attendance in the two cities that changed venues within the same market: The Dallas Renegades moved from Choctaw Stadium in Arlington to Toyota Stadium in Frisco (6,601 avg. through three games, well down from last year’s average in Arlington), and the Houston Gamblers moved from TDECU Stadium to Shell Energy Stadium (7,744 in one game, up some from last year.) Both new stadiums seat about 20,000 people, less than half than the venues they replaced.
The promising: Scoring. The four UFL games in Week 3 averaged more than 55 combined points a game, a veritable explosion of offense after the first two weeks averaged just 41.5 combined points. Most experts believe the UFL’s football clears a basic threshold of quality, but there has been some grumbling about quarterback play and too many games being decided by scores in the teens or lower. For context, the NFL believes 45 points per game is the sweet spot; the NFL averaged 46 in 2025, and the UFL averaged 41 last year.
The good: TV viewership when games are in prime windows with limited competition. Look at the ABC doubleheader on April 12: 968,000 viewers for Columbus v. Dallas, followed by just over 1 million for Birmingham v. St. Louis.
The bad: Viewership is still highly contingent on the quality of its window and competition. Going head-to-head against the Final Four on April 4, Louisville-Orlando drew just 308,000 viewers on ESPN. The next day, Birmingham-Houston became the first ESPN game moved to NFL Network since the acquisition, and it drew just 196,000 viewers on NFLN. The following Tuesday, St. Louis-Dallas on FS1 drew 156,000.
It’s too early to draw many conclusions from league-wide attendance and viewership averages due to some outliers, such as the Final Four weekend and the Birmingham Stallions not playing a home game yet.
