Last year, the USFL had spring football all to itself. This year, the XFL got a two-month head start. This weekend, the two spring leagues go head to head for the first time.
As noted by Ben Fischer of Sports Business Journal, the USFL and XFL will have games on TV at the same time in two different windows.
On Saturday night, ESPN2 will televise the Orlando Guardians at the San Antonio Brahmas at 7:00 p.m. ET. Thirty minutes later, the Birmingham Stallions host the New Jersey Generals on Fox.
Given that the USFL game will be played on a broadcast network, it will fare better. The size of the game will be instructive.
On Sunday at high noon, the USFL will televise the Michigan Panthers at the Houston Gamblers (in Memphis) on NBC, while the XFL will present the Arlington Renegades at the D.C. Defenders on ESPN.
The regular seasons will overlap for only two weekends, before the XFL playoffs begin.
Via Fischer, the XFL has averaged 632,000 viewers in eight weeks on ABC, FX, ESPN and ESPN2. Last year, the USFL averaged 715,000 on Fox, NBC, USA and FS1.
It’s possible both league will do well enough to survive, especially since their current schedules result in limited weekends in which both are playing their games. The question becomes whether, year after year, these leagues show growth or shrinkage in their audiences and overall interest.
