The TV ratings are in for Week 7 of the USFL 2023 Regular season. A week ago, The USFL‘s Week 6 games averaged 451,500 viewers. After six weeks, the USFL has averaged 594,000 viewers across 24 games. In Week 7, the league aired three of its weekly games on cable for the first time this season.
USFL Week 7 TV Ratings On FOX, FS1, And The USA Network
Saturday afternoon’s 5/27 4 pm ET USFL telecast on FOX featuring the Birmingham Stallions and New Orleans Breakers averaged 703,000 viewers.
The second game of the weekend, a late night 9 pm ET telecast on FS1, saw the Philadelphia Stars and Pittsburgh Maulers average 161,000 viewers. The game was rated 97th out of 150 Cable TV programs in the key 18-49 adult demographic.
Sunday’s afternoon’s USFL game between the Houston Gamblers and Memphis Showboats on the USA Network, which was pushed back a half hour from its original 2:30 eastern timeslot, averaged 251,,000 viewers. The telecast was ranked 44th out of the top 150 cable shows in the 18-49 demo.
The final game of USFL’s Week 7 slate aired on FS1. The New Jersey Generals-Michigan Panthers, 5:30 pm broadcast, averaged 274,000 viewers. The late afternoon/early evening contest was rated 69th out of the top 150 Cable TV shows in the 18-49 demographic.
Overall, Week 7’s USFL games averaged 347,250 viewers. It will likely be the lowest average of the entire season because of the cable-heavy schedule.
TV Rating Analysis
The Cable TV ratings for USFL games are right where you expect them to be. In 2022, the USFL aired 15 of its 43 games on Cable TV, and the league averaged 309,000 viewers per telecast across FS1 and USA.
FS1- (7 games): 284k
USA- (8 games): 334k
In 2023, leading into Week 7. The USFL has aired eight games on cable, and the league has averaged 319,000 viewers. So the baseline on non-over-the-air network TV has remained relatively the same to this point.
However, this past weekend brought the cable average down to 273,000 viewers.
A year ago, during the regular season. The USFL aired 21 of its games on FOX and NBC. The league averaged 1.008 million viewers across those telecasts.
FOX- (13 games): 886k
NBC-(8 games): 1.13 million
Leading into Week 7 of 2023, the USFL has averaged 719,000 viewers on ten FOX telecasts and 1.018 million on six NBC showings. The latter is thanks partly to a tremendous standalone performance in Week 4’s NBC Derby lead in primetime game, which averaged 2.063 million viewers.
Thus far, the USFL has only seen one game out of 17, averaging over a million viewers on network television. The league is averaging under 800k per over-the-air network telecast.
The overall season average for the USFL is now 609,000.
Based on sourcing within the USFL, much like the league’s dissatisfaction with their anemic attendance totals in year two. USFL ownership has been slightly disappointed with the network numbers thus far.
The league has been hopeful that year two of the revived USFL would pick up more casual sports viewers that were on the fence about the product a year ago. Since the Superbowl airing on FOX, there was a significant in-house promotional push during the NFL playoffs and the big game itself to create more awareness of the USFL product and season two.
The spring pro football audience has proven to have a limited overall reach unless circumstances, like a lighter sports schedule or a strong lead-in, favor them.
It’s not all doom and gloom for the USFL in 2023. The league has a chance, with lighter sports league competition upcoming, a wide-open playoff chase, and more network games down the stretch, to raise its viewership average by default.
The numbers should rise. After all, the USFL has three broadcast network games slated for this coming weekend. Then in Week 9, the league will have all four of their weekly games air on NBC and FOX, with a Sunday night primetime game airing on the latter. All totaled, the USFL has only three more games scheduled to air on Cable TV in 2023.
Including the playoffs, from week 8 through the league’s championship game on Saturday, July 1st. Twelve of the USFL’s last 15 games will air on NBC/FOX.
USFL Week 8 TV Schedule
Saturday, June 3 Houston Gamblers at Pittsburgh Maulers (Canton), 12 p.m. (USA) Philadelphia Stars at Birmingham Stallions (Birmingham), 3 p.m. (NBC) Sunday, June 4 Memphis Showboats at New Jersey Generals (Canton), 1 p.m. (FOX) Michigan Panthers at New Orleans Breakers (Birmingham), 4 p.m. (FOX)
USFL 2023 TV Ratings By Week (Average Viewership)
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
Week Two
USA: New Orleans Breakers-Houston Gamblers: 133,000
