Last weekend saw the debut of the new incarnation of the USFL spring football league. While many believe American football fans are uber-starved for more football, the USFL’s debut was actually one of the worst in alternate pro football league history.
In 2020, the second iteration of the XFL launched to 3.3 million viewers.
In 2019, the Alliance of American Football (AAF) kickoff drew 3.25 million.
Last weekend, the USFL had a combined 2.95 million, although the league itself reported 3.5 million.
While the AAF debut was slightly lower than the XFL, it is noteworthy the AAF had zero brand recognition prior to launch, and did so on one network, vs the USFL’s well established branding and two network cooperative broadcast.