The TV Ratings are in for Week 10 of the USFL 2023 Regular Season. Heading into this past weekend, the USFL has averaged 622,641 viewers over 36 telecasts on over-the-air network television and cable.
After nine weeks, per Nielsen Media Research, the USFL has averaged 904,000 viewers on NBC—733,200 on FOX, 336,000 on FS1, and 228,000 viewers on the USA Network.
In the final week of the regular season, all four USFL games had high stakes, with seven teams vying for three remaining playoff spots.
USFL 2023 Week 10 TV Ratings On FOX/FS1 And The USA Network, 6/17-6/18 (* Per Nielsen Media Research*)
Saturday’s early afternoon Pittsburgh Maulers-New Jersey Generals game on the USA Network averaged 240,000 viewers. The telecast was rated 42nd out of the top 150 Cable TV shows in the 18-49 demographic with a 0.03 rating.
FOX’s Saturday afternoon broadcast featuring the Birmingham Stallions and Memphis Showboats averaged 636,000 viewers.
Sunday’s New Orleans Breakers-Houston Gamblers matchup on FS1 averaged 167,000 viewers. The mid-afternoon game was shifted to the early afternoon due to weather concerns in Memphis. The telecast was rated 72nd out of the top 150 Cable TV programs in the 18-49 adult demo with a 0.04 rating.
The final game of the USFL regular season aired Sunday in primetime on FOX. The Michigan Panthers-Philadelphia Stars contest averaged 710,000 viewers.
Week 10’s USFL games averaged 438,250 viewers.
Rating Analysis
“We’re pulling every lever that we can to continue the trajectory of success and sustainability,” he said. “We were a little bit late to the game with our TV schedule in Season 1. In Season 2, we vastly increased what we know will be success based on lead-ins and the windows that we have on Fox and NBC.” Eric Shanks. CEO and executive producer for Fox Sports to Sports Business Journal.
Last year, the USFL averaged 658,000 viewers during the 2022 regular season. The league aired 21 of its 40 games on over-air network television. (NBC/FOX).
A year later, with expanded coverage on network television. (26 games). The USFL averaged 604,425 viewers per game during the regular season. The league’s strategy of having a set weekend schedule was smart. And the NBC Kentucky Derby lead-in game paid off during Week 4 when the USFL averaged 2.063 million viewers in primetime, the high point in viewership this season.
However, the heavy over-the-air network slate did not pay off as intended. Only one game out of 26 on FOX/NBC all season averaged over a million viewers.
Expanding upon a baseline viewership and attracting newer fans in year two of the revived USFL has been challenging. At the moment, there seems to be a cap on the overall audience this concept and the USFL can attract.
So much of the numbers are contingent upon the network it airs and the competition the league is facing.
Through the first ten weeks of the USFL 2023 season, 26 of the league’s 40 games have aired on FOX/NBC. The other fourteen have aired on cable. Here is the up-to-season average viewership for each network.
FOX- (17 games): 726k (886k in 2022)
NBC-(9 games): 904k (1.13 million in 2022)
FS1- (6 games): 307k (284k in 2022)
USA- (8 games): 229k (334k in 2022)
One thing’s for certain; the playoffs should see a significant boost for the USFL. All three of their remaining playoff games will be on network television in primetime, including, obviously, the USFL 2023 Championship game Saturday, July 1st, on NBC. A year ago, the USFL went out on a strong note. It’s likely because of the favorable timeslots, lightened sports schedule, and the heightened importance of games that the league will repeat that pattern this year.
USFL Playoff Schedule
Division Championships Saturday, June 24 USFL North Division Championship: Pittsburgh Maulers vs. Michigan Panthers, At Canton, Ohio, 8 p.m. (NBC) Sunday, June 25 USFL South Division Championship: Birmingham Stallions vs. New Orleans Breakers, at Birmingham, Alabama, 7 p.m. (FOX)
USFL Championship Game Saturday, July 1 Division championship winners: At Canton, Ohio, 8 p.m. (NBC)
USFL 2023 TV Ratings By Week (Average Viewership, Per Nielsen)
Week One
FOX: Philadelphia Stars-Memphis Showboats: 837,000
FOX: Birmingham Stallions-New Jersey Generals: 864,000
NBC: Michigan Panthers-Houston Gamblers: 974,000
FS1: New Orleans Breakers-Pittsburgh Maulers: 483,000
Average viewership: 789,500
Week Two
USA: New Orleans Breakers-Houston Gamblers: 133,000
FOX: Philadelphia Stars-New Jersey Generals: 903,000
Average viewership: 721,250 (Not counting the delay or CNBC portion)
Week Ten
USA: Pittsburgh Maulers-New Jersey Generals: 240k
FOX: Birmingham Stallions-Memphis Showboats: 636k
FS1: New Orleans Breakers-Houston Gamblers: 167k
FOX: Philadelphia Stars-Michigan Panthers: 720k
Average viewership: 438,250
USFL 2022 Regular Season Ratings Average: 604,425
The 2023 USFL Playoff Bracket 👏
🏆North Division Championship Saturday, June 24 at 8pm ET/7pm CT on @nbc and @peacock 🏆 South Division Championship Sunday, June 25 at 7pm ET/6pm CT on FOX 🏆 USFL Championship Saturday, July 1 at 8pm ET/7pm CT on @nbc and @peacockpic.twitter.com/mQzPrkc14G
As far as week 10, the Saturday games were inline with my expectations.
The last minute switch for FS1 was damaging. The late T-Storm watch was there all week. After the prior week’s 3 hour delay they should have reacted more quickly. Its something the league needs to address in 2024.
The Sunday night game, along with SNB (Boston v NYY) suffered a 20%+ drop (SNB 30%) from week 9 due to the US Open – which did monster ratings. As you say sports competition is something that hurts ratings. I assumed the US Open ended by 7pm EST.
4th&long
June 21, 2023 at 10:12 pm
Mike,
As far as week 10, the Saturday games were inline with my expectations.
The last minute switch for FS1 was damaging. The late T-Storm watch was there all week. After the prior week’s 3 hour delay they should have reacted more quickly. Its something the league needs to address in 2024.
The Sunday night game, along with SNB (Boston v NYY) suffered a 20%+ drop (SNB 30%) from week 9 due to the US Open – which did monster ratings. As you say sports competition is something that hurts ratings. I assumed the US Open ended by 7pm EST.