The XFL could be going into a rough weekend for ratings. Viewership has dropped consistently from the first week to the third week and now things may go haywire. The good news is that at least the Saturday games are on broadcast television, but a confluence of factors could lead to some bad numbers.
Momentum
An object in motion tends to stay in motion. The motion of these ratings isn’t a good sign for the XFL. They are down over 50 percent from Week 1 to Week 3. We don’t know what bottom is so we can’t say things will be fine. Ratings could drop like the stock market looking for support.
We probably won’t know where the bottom is this week because it’s particularly difficult for some other reasons.
NFL Combine
What’s better: watching real people play football in pads or watching people work out, run around cones, do some drills, and show off their athletic ability? That’s a question we should find out the answer to this weekend.
The problem for the XFL is that the guys doing drills will be playing on Sunday and the NFL Draft is big business. People love the draft. Trust me, draft content is consumed like no other. It’s nuts. It’s a hopeful time for all fans. they want to know who their next star is.
There’s a good chance that they won’t find that star in the XFL since it’s full of retreads, practice squad guys and players who would be at the end of the bench in the NFL.
NBA games
The NBA doesn’t have a nationally televised game until Saturday night eastern time, but there are local NBA games around the country on Saturday. The earliest NBA game goes up again is in New York at 5:00 ET. Other NBA games start just as the Fox game will be wrapping up. It’s not a huge factor, but the NBA could take viewers in local markets away from the XFL.
ESPN is carrying Lakers versus Pelicans on ESPN on Sunday. That’s an easy decision.
The MLS and The Deuce
Sunday’s XFL games are on FS1 and ESPN2. That’s right. The game is on The Deuce. How did that happen? I bet you can guess based on the heading of this section.
The MLS kicks off this weekend. That means soccer fans may be interested in watching the other type of football. The LA Galaxy game will go up directly against the LA Wildcats game. The Galaxy game is only on local TV but it could pull some viewers.
FS1 is difficult to find for viewers, but the bigger deal could be the move of the Sunday late game to ESPN2. People look at their broadcast network first, move to ESPN, and then go to ESPN2. There’s a reason it’s a secondary network. It’s just more difficult to pull viewers. That could mean some real bad ratings for the XFL.
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