Here is my take - if you look behind the scenes, there are some smart business moves at play by the big players. Consider the recent split between MLB and ESPN; ESPN is clearly dumping high-dollar content that isn’t giving the ROI they need. So, what’s the low-cost, made-for-TV product that they already have in house? The UFL.
Now, take a look at who’s behind the UFL: RedBird Capital, the JV partner with the NFL on Sunday Ticket, and Fox, which just moved the UFL to the Friday night slot. And here’s a kicker—the UFL just signed a lease on office space just a couple of miles from Jerry World. I’ve been through enough layoffs to know that companies in financial distress aren’t signing new leases. That lease had to be signed off by RedBird and Fox themselves. If they were planning to kill the league, why would they commit to a new lease?
Also from my perspective the NFL needs the UFL as a finishing school for offensive linemen, especially given that NIL deals and spread offenses in college don’t get players the fundamentals of blocking. I look at this much like the early days of the NBA D-League—which had a super rough start but eventually proved indispensable to the NBA developmental pipeline —the UFL with the ten week season will refine raw talent and produce NFL-ready linemen. With the direction the NCAA is heading this dedicated developmental platform will fill a very critical gap. The UFL is all about linemen - and ensuring that teams have a steady pipeline of skilled, battle-tested players for one of football’s most vital positions.
Here are the details about their broadcast partners and schedule…
There are games on Fox, ABC and ESPN in primetime and solid weekend viewing slots. There are also a number of doubleheaders. I think this is actually really robust and a great opportunity to greatly expand the viewership and fan base.
The good news is that there are plenty of examples of shows on FOX that lasted for years because of a favorable network/timeslots, despite never reaching a wide audience or critical acclaim.
The bad new is that there are plenty of examples of shows on FOX that lasted for years because of a favorable network/timeslots, despite never reaching a wide audience or critical acclaim.
Is the goal to survive, or grow? The go-to defense is that ratings are close to 1m per game on major networks. But when that number spikes, is it a measurement of growth, or happenstance? Bars leaving Fox on after the horserace, or your grandfather falling asleep with the tv on, (which for most of our grandfathers, is Fox), is not growth. It’s survival.
While the cost of producing a UFL telecast may be low, operating the league certainly isn’t. A roster of ~50 players per team, making $60k a year, plus staff and coaches is absolutely expensive. Compare that to producing a realty TV show or a middling sitcom that can draw 3M viewers, and the UFL isn’t nearly as great a property as one might think.
I recently announced to people at work that I know are enthusiastic about football that the Sea Dragons are coming back and I got snickered at with a “you serious?”. Yep … we’re stoked.
Well let’s see…a little market research…if the UFL comes here, kinda like “well here we are” they’ll be like eighth in priority for fan interest, and deeper down if you count college. But there can be at least 10,000 diehards. The future renovated Memorial Stadium could be a perfect venue with about that capacity which would provide a better experience than a empty lumen field. Seeing it will be owned by the school district…maybe it could be an asset. But try if you must…who knows?
Might be bias because I’m a STL season ticket holder……but the opening weekend is kind of a snooze fest. STL going to Houston to a small crowd (most likely). I believe they dropped the ball. Could have opened up in St. Louis on Friday night prime time or they could have had a rematch of the Championship game last year with Stallions opening in SA. I get scheduling conflicts…but start a week early or later to make that happen.
I believe that the NFL isn’t showing games on broadcast/network TV anymore and if true then the UFL can capitalize on that and be a league that people can watch without having to subscribe to a streaming service
The NIL era doesn’t directly prevent linemen from learning how to block, but it creates an environment where schools and players prioritize flashy, spread offenses over the grueling, pro-style techniques essential for elite blocking that is required in the NFL. The NFL and NCAA have been moving apart for the last two decades.
With the rise of spread offenses in college football over the past 20-plus years, offensive linemen are often taught to focus on quick, agile protection schemes that cater to high-tempo passing games, rather than mastering the traditional three-point stance and nuanced footwork critical in the NFL.
As a result, many linemen aren’t getting the fundamental training required for the more complex, pro-style offenses that dominate the NFL, leaving a gap that a league like the UFL could potentially fill as a finishing school.
True, but after six years of spring football—AAF, XFL 2.0, TSL, USFL 2.0, XFL 3.0, and now the UFL—I would think that the executives at ESPN and Fox have a semi clear picture of what the ratings are going to look like. Over the last 6 years they’ve seen the successes and failures firsthand, so I would guess that they know what to expect when it comes to broadcast audience engagement in the spring season. Getting people to the games is another story.
A tv show is very very expensive. A run of the mill network drama costs about 5 million an episode (a long running expensive one like NCIS or something costs WAYYYYY more). That’s over 100 million a year. And most network shows get absolute crap ratings these days. And a UFL game is 3 hours not 1 hour, so multiply that number by 3.
Reality and game shows do cost way less, yes, that’s why so many of them are on tv. But regular shows? Very very expensive.
And even sitcoms aren’t that cheap anymore because most networks have shifted to single-cam.