Last Saturday, the Cardinals home game was delayed by rain, so the Battlehawks game was shown on the outfield video screen. And thus, finally, you could watch ºüÀêÊÓƵ’ best sports team at Busch Stadium.
Down the street at The Dome at America’s Center, the Battlehawks rocked. This team, man. It’s such a cool story. In the 22-8 win against Houston, which put ºüÀêÊÓƵ at 5-1 in the 10-game season, the Battlehawks played in front of 32,969 fans. Think about that: There was a Cardinals game going on at the same time, and 32,000 ºüÀêÊÓƵ sports fans still attended a UFL game.
That was the third home game of 2024. In the opener, ºüÀêÊÓƵ set a spring pro football record with 40,317 fans. At the next game, there was 31,757. So the average 2024 attendance in ºüÀêÊÓƵ is 35,014 — that’s more than double the next-closest team’s attendance (D.C. averages 15,138).
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Is the NFL following this? Each week, ºüÀêÊÓƵ sends a loud and proud message — although being scorned by the NFL, the city still loves pro football and will pay to watch it in person.
And it’s incredible when you consider what they endured. ºüÀêÊÓƵ fans proved they were among the NFL’s top fan bases in the Rams’ first decade in town. But in the final 11 seasons, under owner Stan Kroenke’s watch, the Rams didn’t have any winning seasons and never made the playoffs. Eleven straight seasons! A young ºüÀêÊÓƵ football fan could’ve gone from kindergarten to getting a driver’s license without the Rams having one winning year.
And then, after that 11th year in January 2016, the team was yanked away from these same fans.
Yet in 2024, this football fan base is indisputably passionate and disproportionately bigger than any other in the UFL.
If the NFL is ever to expand, it must consider ºüÀêÊÓƵ. What a way to right a wrong. Yes, we’d have to discuss minor details such as ownership and stadium financing. But here’s simply saying that in its third spring season, ºüÀêÊÓƵ routinely and emphatically stands out from all the other markets.
And as for NFL scouts, surely they’re scouring film of the ºüÀêÊÓƵ Battlehawks. There is so much to like about the way this team plays. Wide receiver Hakeem Butler has vaulted to the top of statistical leaderboards (though he couldn’t quite vault over a Houston player on Saturday, which led to a humorous blooper).
“There’s a space for a Hakeem Butler in the (NFL),†Battlehawks coach Anthony Becht said Monday. “If he didn’t get nicked up with the Steelers in training camp — he was having a good camp. I expect him to get one more shot here after the season’s over, just because if you utilize him properly, he’s a problem.â€
The 27-year-old former fourth-round NFL draft pick leads the UFL in receiving yards (478) by nearly 100 more than the next guy. And he’s first with five touchdowns. He’s a dynamic delight.
“Hakeem does an excellent job of finding holes, (causing) mismatch problems,†Becht said of the 6-foot-5 receiver. “He’s a size problem. They beat him up as much as possible, a lot of holding. I mean, he’s got to fight through a lot to get through the initial stages. But once he does — one on one, it’s difficult. And AJ knows that he’s a huge win rate against those kinds of coverages, especially in the inside, across the field, underneath coverages.â€
AJ, of course, is AJ McCarron, the veteran signal-caller whose connection with Butler is reminiscent of a different QB-WR duo who played on that turf a quarter-century prior. McCarron, 33, is a special story. He chose to play in the XFL and now UFL so his kids could see him play professionally. And he leads the league with 13 touchdown passes (original Battlehawks quarterback Jordan Ta’amu is second with eight for D.C.). And he’s second in passing yards and completion percentage.
And in McCarron’s two ºüÀêÊÓƵ seasons, he’s thrown the most touchdowns each year to Butler (eight of 24 in 2023, five of 13 in 2024).
“We selected AJ and recruited AJ for a reason last year,†Becht said. “We looked at over 100 quarterbacks, and we really did our due diligence on what we wanted — (finding) what exactly is the key component to being successful. And a lot was weighing on our mind with the success of a player like (2020 XFL standout quarterback) Phillip Walker, who did a great job in his ability to pass and move.
“And that’s a big element because you think about offensive line play in this league as a whole, it’s always a challenge. We really liked our line and we really felt like — hey, let’s get a quarterback that can really operate within the framework of when once the play comes in. Now you’re at the line of scrimmage, what do you see — and then being able to get it out to the right guy and on time. So yeah, quarterback-wise, no question, the true element of playing the position, there’s no one better than (McCarron) at this point in this league in the last two years.
“As far as a receiver standpoint, we love Hakeem — he’s doing what exactly what we thought he would do ... and he’s utilized properly in our system.â€