The USFL season came to an end on Sunday with a championship game that drew a television audience that should leave Fox cautiously optimistic about Year Two.
Sunday night’s USFL championship game drew 1.5 million viewers on Fox, according to ShowBuzzDaily.com.
That’s more or less in line with what other networks got for their sporting events on Sunday: PGA Tour golf on CBS drew 1.9 million viewers, NASCAR on USA drew 1.9 million viewers, Wimbledon tennis on ABC drew 1.5 million viewers and MLB Sunday Night Baseball on ESPN drew 1.2 million viewers.
Fox, which owns the USFL, has said the league will return for a second season. Next year the league will have competition from the re-launch of the XFL, which is planning to start play in February, two months before the USFL kicks off Year Two. At a time when many doubt whether there’s enough fan interest to keep one spring football league approach, next year we’ll find out whether there’s enough interest for two.