People Freaking Out Over XFL Ratings and Attendance Need to Relax

The XFL has given us four weeks of surprisingly quality football, but that hasn't necessarily been reflected in the ratings or attendance of late.

The league brought in an average of 3.1 million for their first week of games, but only 1.3 million tuned in for the Week 4 slate, while attendance was down for every team except Dallas.

XFL viewership took another hit in Week 4, and is down more than 50% since its debut (with the caveat that more games are airing on cable now)https://t.co/eWfOsDwxDe
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) March 3, 2020

As rough as that sounds at face value, can we stop writing the league's obituary already?

Yes, attendance and viewership is down after Week 1, but that was to be expected. 1.3 million people watching is a notch below a college basketball game on one of the major networks. I'm sure Vince McMahon is at least satisfied with that performance.

Every team is averaging between 14,000 (Los Angeles) and 28,000 (St. Louis) in attendance. Given how they literally had to create a fanbase, generate interest, and sustain that interest from nothing, those numbers are pretty solid.

Different sized audiences for ESPN2 and FS1 versus three broadcast networks on one weekend, for ex. Wouldn't it be better to show averages over time per network?
— Nation Hahn (@NationHahn) March 3, 2020

Let's compare the XFL to the AAF, which was a titanic flop. The XFL has more than double the Twitter followers (391,000 to 195,000), better ratings, higher attendance, and a better on-field product.

McMahon can get people to tune into Ben Stein reading a grocery list given his work with WWE, so he'll find a way to get these viewers back. The XFL is in fine shape at the moment, even given this bump in the road.