By Mike Florio
The USFL embarked on its second weekend with four games spread between Friday and Sunday. The viewership numbers will be critical as the league tries to find its footing. For now, the ratings for only one game are available.
The first game, a Friday night affair on USA between the Panthers and Generals, averaged 363,000 viewers. In that game, Michigan lost to New Jersey, 10-6. The outcome dropped Panthers coach Jeff Fisher to 0-2 in the USFL.
The other games for Week Two were televised by Fox, FS1, and NBC. The audience numbers for those games are not yet in.
The Week One game on USA, played on Easter Sunday, averaged 771,000 viewers. The final game of Week One, moved to Monday night from Sunday night due to weather, drew 268,000 average viewers on FS1.
Spring football usually does well at first. The challenge becomes sustaining the crowd. The ratings for the games played on the second Saturday and Sunday of the USFL season will become key data point for the ability of the USFL to make it to 2023, at which time it will be competing with the XFL.
Early USFL Week Two ratings were fairly low; rest of weekend is TBD originally appeared on Pro Football Talk