By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
ShowbuzzDaily.com lists the following viewership numbers for the third weekend of XFL games.
-Houston Roughnecks vs. Tampa Bay Vipers on ABC: 1.914 million viewers (Saturday early afternoon)
-Dallas Renegades vs. Seattle Dragons on Fox: 2.051 million viewers (Saturday late afternoon)
-New York Guardians vs. St. Louis BattleHawks on ESPN: 1.473 million viewers (Sunday early afternoon)
-DC Defenders vs. LA Wildcats on FS1: 1.004 million viewers (Sunday late afternoon)
Powell’s POV: This week’s games averaged 1.611 million viewers with one game each on ABC, Fox, ESPN, and FS1. The first week of games averaged 3.118 million viewers with two games on Fox, one on ABC, and one on ESPN. Week two averaged 2.057 million viewers with two games on ABC, one game on Fox, and one game on FS1.
My theory is that the decline is due to two main reasons
1. The newness has worn off a bit. The first few weeks it was fun, exciting, something different etc. but by week three it was kind of old hat.
2.The start of preseason MLB baseball. Simple enough if you are a baseball fan in the Philadelphia market you don’t have an XFL team to really get behind but your Phillies are once again taking the field. Who would you rather watch your Phillies or two XFL teams from other markets (NY and Seattle for example.)?
Baseball did nothing. The network games were almost identical to last week. ESPN, and especially FS1, don’t have enough viewers these days to be viable.
Plus, you can obviously tell that a lot of XFL players are using the league as a stepping stone to get to the NFL. The XFL was originally promoted as this alternative to the NFL and perhaps a league that could give them healthy competition, but now all most players and fans seem to view it as is a vehicle for players to get exposure and perhaps end up on the radar of NFL scouts.
I’m fine with the XFL being a stepping stone to the NFL. I think having that would be extremely useful for both parties actually. And, WWE could benefit from Vince being distracted by his pet project.
If viewership evens off, it will be interesting to see if networks are satisfied with the return. The game on FS1 actually pulled in more viewers than NXT and AEW, so that’s something to keep in mind.
Baseball has NOTHING to do with it. LOL! Preseason baseball. That’s hilarious.
This is normal fare for a new league like this. The AAF trailed off in the same way, but more steeply. I think the bottom line becomes, can it present some consistency and then a boon at the end, towards the Championship. I think it will.
A hard question: is the XFL delivering on its promise to feature exciting new rules and faster paced football? One thing holding it back is the horrific QB play on the majority of the teams. Not all. But about 5/8. This has retarded scoring and rallying. It must be fixed next year.