Top 15 Rated UFL TV Markets For 2024 Regular Season Across FOX, ABC, ESPN
Regarding spring pro football, specific barometers measure a league's quality and popularity beyond the on-field and broadcast products. Game attendance and TV ratings stand atop those measuring sticks.
On the attendance front, the newly merged UFL is behind XFL 2023's numbers — 553,644 at 42 UFL games versus 632,247 at 43 XFL games.
Here's the kicker, though: some of the league's markets that haven't produced well at the gate have shown up strong in local viewership for UFL games.
Overall, the UFL has seen a massive uptick in its TV ratings compared to what the USFL and XFL produced a year ago. The regular-season ratings average (816k) was over 30% ahead of 2023's XFL-USFL pace, and last week's two conference championship contests were up 57% from 2023's USFL and XFL playoff averages.
The UFL's eight-team market ratings are an essential piece of data for seeing who is supporting the league and perhaps not on a weekly basis. But it's the TV markets that don't currently have UFL teams that could provide a glimpse of where the league should and could potentially expand or relocate to soon.
Top 15 Rated UFL TV Markets For 2024 Regular Season Across FOX, ESPN and ABC, per Nielsen Media Research:
* Markets are ranked by household rating (where HHLD ratings are based on the individual market size).
* Designated Market Area Rankings in the United States.
1. Birmingham, Alabama (Anniston and Tuscaloosa) — Household Rating: 1.65
*Designated Market Area #45
2. Flint-Saginaw-Bay City (Michigan) — Household Rating: 1.63
*Designated Market Area #74
3. St. Louis, Missouri — Household Rating: 1.49
*Designated Market Area #24
4. Mobile-Pensacola (Ft Walton Beach) — Household Rating: 1.32 (Counties include Alabama, Mississippi and Florida regions)
*Designated Market Area #58
5. New Orleans, Louisiana — Household Rating: 1.06
*Designated Market Area #50
6. Madison, Wisconsin — Household Rating: 0.94
*Designated Market Area #72
7. Memphis, Tennessee — Household Rating: 0.93
*Designated Market Area #52
8. Paducah-Cape Girardeau-Harrisburg — Household Rating: 0.91 (Counties include Missouri, Kentucky and Illinois)
*Designated Market Area #92
9. Grand Rapids-Kalamazoo-Battle Creek — Household Rating: 0.90 (14 Michigan Counties)
*Designated Market Area #42
10. Tulsa, Oklahoma — Household Rating: 0.89
*Designated Market Area #62
11. San Antonio, Texas — Household Rating: 0.82
*Designated Market Area #31
12. Detroit, Michigan — Household Rating: 0.81
*Designated Market Area #14
13. Fresno-Visalia (California) — Household Rating: 0.79
*Designated Market Area #53
14. Louisville, Kentucky — Household Rating: 0.77
*Designated Market Area #48
15. Columbus, Ohio — Household Rating: 0.75
*Designated Market Area #32
You can find Mike Mitchell on X @ByMikeMitchell.
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