The Athletic: XFL midseason TV report card: Ratings have dropped, but is a rebound ahead?

XFL Football discussion.
Post Reply
GregParks
UFLBoard Correspondent
Posts: 2095
Joined: Tue May 28, 2019 8:09 pm

The Athletic: XFL midseason TV report card: Ratings have dropped, but is a rebound ahead?

Post by GregParks »

https://theathletic.com/4336479/2023/03 ... midseason/

I'm loathe to start another ratings thread, but this one actually has quotes from someone at ESPN about the progress of the league. Some key excerpts (all taken directly from the article):

-“This weekend the viewership pattern was not unexpected as the XFL faced tough direct competition due to the start of March Madness,” said Tim Reed, ESPN’s vice president of programming and acquisitions, in a statement to The Athletic.

“However, the action-packed and innovative games are clearly resonating — the rest of the season has delivered within our expectations and we’re pleased with the interest we’re seeing across linear, streaming, digital and social platforms. We recently adjusted matchups and schedules working closely with the league to better serve fans, and we have our broadest distribution slated for the remainder of the regular season, including five games on ABC.”

-The XFL has noted that TV ratings are not its only success measure. It said game attendance is more than 286,000 total through Week 5, including the 35,000-plus in St. Louis, and its digital and social media growth at the mid-point of the season includes 347 million views on its various platforms, more than 306,000 new social media followers, and almost 30,000 people signing up for the XFL’s emails.
@gregmparks
laxtreme56
Coach
Posts: 886
Joined: Tue Jul 28, 2020 6:16 pm

Re: The Athletic: XFL midseason TV report card: Ratings have dropped, but is a rebound ahead?

Post by laxtreme56 »

Yeah but it's an ESPN representative, what else is he going to say?? Mike Florio said the ratings suck, will Gerry Cardinale keep paying the bills?? Am I doing this right :lol:
MGB01
MVP
Posts: 3313
Joined: Wed Aug 14, 2019 8:42 pm

Re: The Athletic: XFL midseason TV report card: Ratings have dropped, but is a rebound ahead?

Post by MGB01 »

laxtreme56 wrote: Wed Mar 22, 2023 3:42 pm Yeah but it's an ESPN representative, what else is he going to say?? Mike Florio said the ratings suck, will Gerry Cardinale keep paying the bills?? Am I doing this right :lol:
Yeah you pretty much got 4thspeak down :lol:
Tank55
MVP
Posts: 2804
Joined: Tue Mar 05, 2019 3:57 pm

Re: The Athletic: XFL midseason TV report card: Ratings have dropped, but is a rebound ahead?

Post by Tank55 »

Would you all knock it off? It's bad enough with him doing it, we don't need you all doing it for him. WTF.
2020 East Division Champions
2021 February Monthly T-Shirt Giveaway Champion
MGB01
MVP
Posts: 3313
Joined: Wed Aug 14, 2019 8:42 pm

Re: The Athletic: XFL midseason TV report card: Ratings have dropped, but is a rebound ahead?

Post by MGB01 »

:mrgreen:
User avatar
johnnyangryfuzzball
Head Coach
Posts: 1855
Joined: Sat Apr 27, 2019 8:22 pm

Re: The Athletic: XFL midseason TV report card: Ratings have dropped, but is a rebound ahead?

Post by johnnyangryfuzzball »

I said my peace on that guy, even if admins deleted it.

There's no denying ratings were bad. There's also no denying that the time slots the league was given this week were the worst in four years for a league like this. It does make the league look bad, and whether ESPN is to blame or the league for putting its entire broadcast eggs in one basket when ESPN already has to navigate deals with the NCAA, NHL and NBA, this should not have happened.

The NHL, especially considering how the XFL has beaten that league so often in the ratings, has really mucked things up this year. If not for them, the XFL would still probably have its regular Saturday afternoon slot on ABC that worked so well in 2020.
4th&long
MVP
Posts: 6474
Joined: Sun Nov 24, 2019 2:27 pm

Re: The Athletic: XFL midseason TV report card: Ratings have dropped, but is a rebound ahead?

Post by 4th&long »

Some of the numbers are slightly off on ratings but close. USFL had 747k avg (with simulcast). XFL YTD is 655k. I over estimated week 1 but since my internal #'s are net-net pretty dead on. With that said look for XFL in low to mid 700k's. We shall see.

The gist of the article is what I've said all along, that there's money available for as long as there's tolerance for subsidizing losses. If so, we'll see yr 2.

The leagues are similar lets face it, as if that's shocking. For all the talk of QB play, extra week camp blah blah, its all very similar. Do I think 2 leagues makes it harder for even 1 to survive? Yes. But playing mostly diff times of year in diff cities alleviates much of that. Its more the pooling of resources that's missing. I would be very surprised if the 2 leagues were not at least talking after XFL season.

Even the games results are similar from standings POV. Its uncanny. 5 teams viable, 3 out early. Its silly how similar the season is going.
laxtreme56
Coach
Posts: 886
Joined: Tue Jul 28, 2020 6:16 pm

Re: The Athletic: XFL midseason TV report card: Ratings have dropped, but is a rebound ahead?

Post by laxtreme56 »

4th&long wrote: Wed Mar 22, 2023 6:11 pm Some of the numbers are slightly off on ratings but close. USFL had 747k avg (with simulcast). XFL YTD is 655k. I over estimated week 1 but since my internal #'s are net-net pretty dead on. With that said look for XFL in low to mid 700k's. We shall see.

The gist of the article is what I've said all along, that there's money available for as long as there's tolerance for subsidizing losses. If so, we'll see yr 2.

The leagues are similar lets face it, as if that's shocking. For all the talk of QB play, extra week camp blah blah, its all very similar. Do I think 2 leagues makes it harder for even 1 to survive? Yes. But playing mostly diff times of year in diff cities alleviates much of that. Its more the pooling of resources that's missing. I would be very surprised if the 2 leagues were not at least talking after XFL season.

Even the games results are similar from standings POV. Its uncanny. 5 teams viable, 3 out early. Its silly how similar the season is going.
I'll admit, I thought the extra training camp time would have made more of a difference than it has. That is before it was revealed camps were basically no contact and the preseason games were scrapped due to the freak Arlington snowstorm. I'm all about player safety, heck Eric Legrand was a high school teammate of mine, so it hits even closer to home. However, a no contact preseason is about as effective as shooting free throws for 2 hours a day without learning how to dribble, play defense, or having anything other than an uncontested shot. It just doesn't carry over to a game scenario.
User avatar
MarkNelson
UFLBoard Correspondent
Posts: 1638
Joined: Sun Jan 28, 2018 11:09 pm

Re: The Athletic: XFL midseason TV report card: Ratings have dropped, but is a rebound ahead?

Post by MarkNelson »

Thanks Greg. The Athletic article is well done and it delves into the specific foibles of the league at the midpoint of the season. One small point they made that I thought was highly pertinent:
That all said, credit the XFL for still playing.
There you have it. Despite all the discussion (arguing) and spinning over a perceived success, the fact is this XFL is headed into territory unknown to the 2020 league.
XFLBoard https://xflboard.com/news/author/mnelson/
XFLXtra https://xflboard.com/xfl-xtra/
Author: “XFL 2020: Rise and Fall” https://xfl2020book.com
Coming soon: “XFL 2023: Rise”
Favourite Leagues: XFL and CFL | Fan of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers
MGB01
MVP
Posts: 3313
Joined: Wed Aug 14, 2019 8:42 pm

Re: The Athletic: XFL midseason TV report card: Ratings have dropped, but is a rebound ahead?

Post by MGB01 »

laxtreme56 wrote: Wed Mar 22, 2023 6:40 pm
4th&long wrote: Wed Mar 22, 2023 6:11 pm Some of the numbers are slightly off on ratings but close. USFL had 747k avg (with simulcast). XFL YTD is 655k. I over estimated week 1 but since my internal #'s are net-net pretty dead on. With that said look for XFL in low to mid 700k's. We shall see.

The gist of the article is what I've said all along, that there's money available for as long as there's tolerance for subsidizing losses. If so, we'll see yr 2.

The leagues are similar lets face it, as if that's shocking. For all the talk of QB play, extra week camp blah blah, its all very similar. Do I think 2 leagues makes it harder for even 1 to survive? Yes. But playing mostly diff times of year in diff cities alleviates much of that. Its more the pooling of resources that's missing. I would be very surprised if the 2 leagues were not at least talking after XFL season.

Even the games results are similar from standings POV. Its uncanny. 5 teams viable, 3 out early. Its silly how similar the season is going.
I'll admit, I thought the extra training camp time would have made more of a difference than it has. That is before it was revealed camps were basically no contact and the preseason games were scrapped due to the freak Arlington snowstorm. I'm all about player safety, heck Eric Legrand was a high school teammate of mine, so it hits even closer to home.
Ouch. Thankfully the closest I ever got was a cheerleader went flying on the court headfirst during their pregame routine on Super Bowl Saturday night in 2006 before NAU/EWU and could have broke her neck, split her head open, and/or died. None of the three happened fortunately, but when the crowd started chanting Go Seahawks at the end of the game (Eags won by 12) it was a bit cold considering that no one had informed anybody that she in fact was alive. It'd been like who dey? chants breaking out during Damar Hamlin FFS.

On that note, I also was there when Jake Rodgers' dad had a heart attack at the end of the FCS quarterfinal in 2014. He died the day after Christmas.
Post Reply