The United Football League (UFL) entered its 2025 campaign with big ambitions, a consolidated brand, and carryover hype from the XFL-USFL merger. But just two weeks in, cracks are showing. With viewership plunging, players voicing discontent, and fan turnout inconsistent across cities, the spring football experiment may already be on shaky ground. So, is the UFL in trouble?

📉 TV Ratings Take a Hit

Let’s start with the numbers — and they’re not pretty. Week 1 ratings for the UFL were down significantly from 2024:

• Battlehawks vs. Roughnecks (FOX): 690K viewers
• Brahmas vs. Renegades (FOX): 584K
• Showboats vs. Panthers (ESPN): 569K
• Stallions vs. Defenders (ESPN): 395K

Compared to last season’s 1.18 million viewer opener, this represents a drop of more than 40% in some cases. These are numbers the league simply can’t ignore.

Marketing Misses Are Hurting the Product

One glaring issue behind the slump? A serious lack of marketing.

While the NFL dominates headlines year-round with relentless promotion, and even college football programs push offseason narratives, the UFL entered 2025 with minimal buzz. Outside of hardcore fans, many casual viewers didn’t even know kickoff had arrived. There was no major media push, limited presence on mainstream sports shows, and almost no viral campaigns to capture attention in a crowded sports calendar.

Fox and ESPN, the league’s broadcasting partners, didn’t give the games prominent lead-ins or aggressive ad buys. Meanwhile, league stars like A.J. McCarron and Luis Perez are barely being promoted — and that’s a missed opportunity. The UFL has compelling stories to tell but hasn’t invested in making them known.

To reverse the ratings slide, the UFL must market like it matters. That means:

• Building storylines around key players and rivalries
• Leveraging The Rock and Dany Garcia’s celebrity reach
• Flooding social media with highlights, interviews, and personality-driven content
• Making every game feel like an event

Without these, even great on-field product will go unseen.

Player Unrest Adds to the Pressure

Reports have emerged of players organizing a campaign to push for a collective bargaining agreement (CBA), improved healthcare, and better salaries. Frustration boiled over in Week 1 when a group planned to confront Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson at the season opener — a meeting that didn’t happen due to his emergency plane landing.

For a league positioning itself as “player-first,” this kind of dissatisfaction is a red flag. The UFL will need to address these concerns head-on if it wants to maintain locker room morale and public goodwill.

Attendance: St. Louis Booms, Others Bust

The St. Louis Battlehawks remain the crown jewel of the UFL in terms of fan turnout, drawing over 30,000 in Week 2. But that success is not mirrored elsewhere.

Low attendance plus weak TV ratings equals a dangerous formula for a league still trying to find its financial footing.

Can the UFL Turn It Around?

The answer: yes — but time is already ticking.

The UFL still offers fun, competitive football. It has a few breakout stars. And it has enough financial backing to weather some early turbulence. But if it wants to become more than just a footnote in the spring football graveyard, it must fix its visibility problem — fast.

This means smarter marketing, stronger engagement, more fan-focused content, and above all, listening to both the players and the audience. There’s still time to change the narrative — but it starts with admitting there’s a problem.