UFL championship audience drops sharply from 2024

The UFL isn’t concerned about the decline in TV audience from 2024 to 2025. Maybe it should be.

Via Mike Mitchell, the championship game between the D.C. Defenders and the Michigan Panthers averaged 983,000 viewers, with a peak of 1.2 million. The game was televised by ABC.

Last year’s UFL championship, pitting Birmingham against San Antonio, averaged 1.57 million viewers on Fox. This year’s number represents a 37-percent drop.

Mitchell points out that the game faced direct competition with a Stanley Cup Final contest, Major League Baseball, and the men’s College World Series. That’s fine, but there will always be other sports going on. It’s for the UFL to arrange its schedule to navigate the reality that it’s not the only show in town.

The UFL says it’s in it for the long haul. If the decline from 2024 to 2025 continues, however, it will be hard to keep it going for long.