The 3.0 version of the XFL has some work to do to get fans back excited about a league that has failed twice already.
SportMediaWatch.com reported this week that the four XFL games televised by ABC/ESPN over this past weekend had a drop in viewership of at least 50 percent from the same windows in 2020.
The 2-0 version of the league was doing quite well, but an unforeseen global pandemic brought things to a screeching halt.
To break it down, the game between Vegas and Arlington on ABC had 1.54 million viewers while the most watched game between St. Louis-San Antonio on Sunday had 1.57 million, down 54% from the equivalent FOX window three years ago.
ESPN and FX combined to average 1.14 million for Orlando-Houston on Saturday night, which was down 65% from a primetime window on FOX three years ago. Seattle-DC averaged a weekend-low 918,000 on ESPN. They were down 63% from the same ESPN window in 2020.
The biggest challenge continues to be getting people to care about football when it’s not football season. Not helping matters are fan bases that want to know if these teams will be around for a second season.
