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The newest spring football league called the USFL features eight teams playing a ten game regular season. After Week #7 games were completed last weekend, two of the teams have already qualified for the league’s playoffs.
Let’s review last weekend’s Week 7 action:
New Jersey Generals 20, Tampa Bay Bandits 13
In Saturday’s early game, the Generals ran their record to 6-1 and became the first USFL team to qualify for the inaugural playoffs with a 20-13 win over Tampa Bay (3-4). The Generals capitalized on three pass interceptions off Bandits’ quarterback Jordon Ta’amu (who played college football at Ole Miss) to set-up their ball-control offense. New Jersey’s defense stopped Tampa Bay 11 yards away from a tying touchdown with a final minute fourth down stop.
New Orleans Breakers 31, Michigan Panthers 27 (Overtime)
In Saturday’s nightcap, the Breakers (5-2) jumped to an early 14-0 lead before Michigan (1-6) came roaring back to grab a late fourth quarter lead. New Orleans squared the score at 27 apiece on a chip-shot field goal on the game’s final play. The field goal caused the first overtime game in the USFL’s inaugural season. The league’s unique overtime rule calls for each team to go for a 2-point conversion. If one team outscores the other on two of three conversion attempts, the higher scoring team wins the game. New Orleans scored twice in OT to win 31-27.
Birmingham Stallions 26, Pittsburgh Maulers 16
In Sunday’s first game, the Stallions remained the USFL’s only unbeaten team as they moved to a perfect 7-0 record. Trailing 10-6 at the half, Birmingham’s Bobby Holley ran a fake punt 53 yards for a third quarter touchdown to provide a lift for the Stallions. Field goal kicker Brandon Aubrey also connected on four field goals as Birmingham rallied to victory over slumping Pittsburgh (1-6). The game also featured a league record 60-yard field goal by the Maulers’ placekicker Cole Murphy. With the win, Birmingham clinched a playoff spot with three games remaining in the regular season.
Philadelphia Stars 35, Houston Gamblers 24
In Week 7’s final game, the Stars ran their record to 4-3 with a fourth quarter rally to down the hard-luck Houston Gamblers (1-6). Houston jumped to an early 10-0 lead in this game and had a 24-13 lead entering the fourth quarter. However, Philadelphia scored the game’s final 22 points in the decisive fourth period as Houston coughed up a fumble, an interception, and a safety during the final fifteen minutes of play.
USFL’s television ratings collapse in Week 7:
As covered in last week’s story, the USFL’s television ratings for Week #7 were expected to be negatively impacted by having just one game being played on FOX. The other three football games were played on less-viewed cable networks and NBC’s internet outlet called Peacock.
The television ratings were released on Wednesday, and the numbers were extremely weak.
The Birmingham vs. Pittsburgh game on FOX netted just 840,000 viewers. USA Network’s coverage of New Jersey vs. Tampa Bay on Saturday pulled only 267,000 viewers, while FS1’s presentation of New Orleans vs. Michigan garnered a meager audience of 228,000 TV eyeballs. Viewership for Sunday’s game between Philly and Houston on Peacock Premium (internet) was not made available but was the smallest audience of a very poor television week for the USFL.
Just how important are the USFL’s television ratings? Fox Sports (which owns 100% of the USFL) stated prior to the season that they hoped to pull an average of 1.4 million viewers per national telecast in Year #1. Week #1 remains the only time in which the USFL television ratings have exceeded that metric.
Speaking of Fox Sports, Lachlan Murdoch, CEO of the Fox News and Sports divisions, confided in a recent interview that Fox Sports would like to eventually sell USFL franchises to local ownership parties over the next five to seven years.
Five to seven years?
If USFL’s declining television ratings in recent weeks are any indication of the new spring football league’s overall health and viability, then the CEO of Fox Sports is not paying very close attention to his new investment. Perhaps Murdoch doesn’t really care how the USFL is underperforming or how much money Fox Sports may be losing in Year #1.
As Mel Brooks once said, “It’s good to be the king!”
Bring your suntan lotion and lots of water to Birmingham for Week #8’s games!
There is a possibility that New Orleans (now 5-2) and Philadelphia (now 4-3) might be able to lock down the third and fourth playoff spots if they should both win their games this weekend and Tampa Bay loses.
For any brave souls planning to attend any of the USFL’s three daytime football games this weekend in Birmingham, the National Weather Service is calling for afternoon temperatures of 88 to 90 degrees with a heat index in the middle 90’s. Ouch! Welcome to “Spring Football” in the Deep South in early June!
Here is the line-up for this weekend’s USFL Week #8 (all games are played in Birmingham with kickoffs listed as CDT):
Friday 6/3 – 7PM – USA Network – Pittsburgh Maulers (1-6) vs. New Jersey Generals (6-1)
Saturday 6/4 – 2PM – FOX – New Orleans Breakers (5-2) vs. Birmingham Stallions (7-0)
Sunday 6/5 – 11AM – FOX – Michigan Panthers (1-6) vs. Philadelphia Stars (4-3)
Sunday 6/5 – 3PM – Peacock – Houston Gamblers (1-6) vs. Tampa Bay Bandits (3-4)