It may have taken two networks to do it, but the debut USFL ratings were not far off the level of the XFL or AAF.
Saturday’s New Jersey-Birmingham USFL debut averaged a combined 1.8 rating and 3.07 million viewers across NBC and FOX, marking the fifth-largest audience for a spring football league since the days of the original XFL in 2001. It trails the first three XFL games two years ago (3.39M; 3.30M; 3.29M) and the first AAF game in 2019 (3.25M).
In particular, FOX averaged a 1.0 and 1.76 million and NBC a 0.8 and 1.31 million.
Head-to-head, the USFL held up reasonably well opposite Game 1 of the Nuggets-Warriors NBA playoff series on ABC, which had a 2.4 and 4.52 million. Given the presence of Golden State, it would have been fair to expect a larger gap between the events.
Unlike the XFL, which actually posted its largest audience on the second day of play, the USFL was less of a draw on Sunday. Houston-Michigan averaged a 1.1 and 2.15 million on NBC Sunday afternoon and Philadelphia-New Orleans a 0.39 and 771,000 on USA Network. The latter figure is on par with what the AAF averaged on NFL Network in its second day of play in 2019 (0.39, 640K).
Figures for Monday’s rescheduled Tampa Bay-Pittsburgh game on FS1 were not immediately available.
Opening weekend viewership for new spring football leagues
[Nielsen estimates from ShowBuzz Daily 4.19]
