By John Goolsby, Prep Sports Editor and UFL press release
The inaugural season of the United Football League was a success. The season was also a success for the Birmingham Stallions.
The Stallions defeated the San Antonio Brahmas in the UFL Championship Game to become three-time defending spring football champions.
Birmingham continued to build on a short but successful history.
The Stallions began play in 1983 and compiled a 38-20 record under Rollie Dotsch before the USFL folded after the 1985 season.
The USFL returned in 2022, and the Stallions won back-to-back championships and compiled a 21-3 record under Skip Holtz.
The Stallions have put together a 72-24 record in six seasons, winning three league and conference championships and two division titles.
The UFL’s inaugural season saw fast-paced action on the field, groundbreaking television broadcasts, significant social media interactions, and strong corporate partner support.
The inaugural season exceeded expectations as the league leveraged the history of the USFL and XFL.
For 2025, the focus remains on continued execution and innovation, both on and off the field, to benefit players, fans, viewers, and corporate partners.
“With our first championship in the books, the UFL has clearly made its mark in the spring sports calendar with strong viewership across platforms all season long. The high-level, quality football on the field paired with our innovative production and content distribution approach has been a winning combination for football fans,” said Russ Brandon, President and CEO, United Football League.
Brandon continued, “The UFL has had consistently high levels of engagement throughout the season, which serves as proof of concept, confirming the undeniable demand for spring football. We appreciate the support we’ve received from our players, league and team-level employees, partners, and fans. With a robust foundation in place, we are poised to continue our growth trajectory as we look ahead to 2025 and beyond.”
Regular Season:
The UFL reached 32 million unique viewers (per Nielsen data)
The 2024 UFL season averaged 850K total viewers per game
+34% increase over the 2023 XFL/USFL combined season averages (635K)
Network broadcasts averaged 945,000 viewers through the championship game, up over 9% against the 2023 XFL/USFL combined season broadcast averages (864K)
Cable telecasts averaged 630,000 viewers, up 43% against the 2023 XFL and USFL combined season cable averages (441K)
Viewership for UFL Today, ESPN’s weekly digital post-game show was up 20% vs. 2023 across YouTube, Facebook and the ESPN App.
Championship Game:
The UFL Championship game averaged 1,596,000 viewers on FOX.
Up 23% over last year’s average of 1,298,000 viewers for the respective XFL and USFL Championship games on ABC and NBC.
Telecast peaked with 1,723,000 viewers from 6:15-6:30pm.
Best performance for a UFL game on any network.
Within the markets of the participating teams, the Championship game delivered a 6.8 rating/19 share and 3.6 rating/15 share in Birmingham and San Antonio, respectively
