The new United Football League has a much different approach with its national television distribution than does the long-established Major League Soccer.
Whereas the vast majority of MLS contests are exclusively streamed, most behind a paywall to boot, the UFL is traveling the opposite avenue. All games in its inaugural season will be shown on conventional TV channels, most on over-the-air broadcast networks 鈥 so-called free TV.
There are 40 regular-season matchups on the slate, and 19 will be on Fox (KTVI, Channel 2) locally and nine on ABC (KDNL, Channel 30), with the others shown on cable.
The Battlehawks, who led the XFL in television ratings and attendance in their two runs in that loop that now is defunct after its merger with the United States Football League to create the UFL, have nine of their 10 games set to be shown over the air. That begins with their opener, at 3 p.m. Saturday on the road against Michigan on Channel 2.
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The mostly over-the-air approach for the Battlehawks is quite a contrast from the national trend of a steady increase in the number of streaming-only games, and locally it goes against not only how most City SC matches are shown but also some Blues and Cardinals contests. The hockey and baseball teams鈥 entire local TV packages are carried on cable鈥檚 Bally Sports Midwest, with only a smidge of broadcast TV appearances for national telecasts. Those clubs also have a few games that are streamed exclusively, including the Cards鈥 on Friday (Apple TV+) and the Blues鈥 on Monday (ESPN+, Hulu).
While the UFL matchups will be streamed on Fox and ESPN platforms, that will be in addition to 鈥 not a replacement for 鈥 telecasts on traditional networks, and 狐狸视频 television executives who are benefiting from their stations showing Battlehawks contests are ecstatic.
鈥淲e鈥檒l jump on the bandwagon,鈥 KTVI general manager Kurt Krueger said, adding that the station has sold out its advertising allotment for Saturday鈥檚 game.
He wasn鈥檛 ready to predict what size audience the telecast will draw, pointing out that it is Easter weekend and the weather is supposed to be ideal at game time (sunny, temperature in the 70s), which could draw people outside instead of being indoors watching television. Other factors he cited that could hurt the number are that it is the team鈥檚 first game, in a new league, without momentum yet, but he expects interest to build as the season progresses.
The team鈥檚 home opener, at 7 p.m. the following Saturday against Arlington (Texas), will shown be on Channel 30. Its general manager, Tom Tipton, is eager for that one and 鈥 like Channel 2 鈥 said all its commercial time has been sold.
鈥淧eople were buying early based on past performance,鈥 he said.
Tipton predicts the team will 鈥渄o at least as well, maybe better鈥 in the ratings this season than it did last year, when only one of its games was shown over the air. That was the opener, on Channel 30, which viewership tracker Nielsen says was seen in 5.6% of the market. The B-Hawks鈥 nine other games, spread across cable networks, averaged a 3.2 market share.
Access, access, access
The number of Cards and Blues games that are exclusively streamed is small compared with City SC. But not as small as that figure will be for the Battlehawks 鈥 zero. Part of the reason is that Fox and Disney (ABC, ESPN) are among the league鈥檚 owners, along with professional wrestler and actor Dwayne 鈥淭he Rock鈥 Johnson and associates, and those networks have a big thirst for sports programming at a time of year outside the traditional football season and with the college basketball schedule is in its final days.
鈥淚t鈥檚 the right sport at the right time,鈥 Brad Cheney, Fox Sports鈥 vice president of field operations and engineering, told the Post-Dispatch.
鈥淭he UFL is all about access,鈥 he said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 what differentiates it from other leagues,鈥 allowing for telecasts that provide 鈥渁ccess beyond what people are used to.鈥
UFL telecasts this season will use some of the innovations that previous spring football broadcasts unveiled in pulling back the curtain on some nifty areas. Those include viewers hearing coaches, players and officials talk while games are in progress as well as eavesdropping on conversations between game officials and the replay review room while rulings are being made.
鈥淭he goal is to be transparent,鈥 Cheney said.
He added that he is eager to continue with those elements as well as having improved drone coverage, with over-the-field camera enhancements coming not only from a technological standpoint but from the crews having become better attuned to operating and positioning those devices from an experience standpoint. Cheney also touts cameras that will be moving up and down the sidelines.
The UFL telecasts on ABC/ESPN will be separate productions from the Fox broadcasts but also will get in on the deep-access approach.
鈥淚n collaboration with the UFL, we look forward to further pushing the traditional production boundaries all season,鈥 Amanda Gifford, ESPN vice president of production, said in a statement. The goal is to be 鈥渂ringing fans more expert insight, immediate on-field reactions from players and coaches and an inside look behind the scenes of each team throughout the game.鈥
There also will be betting talk on some, if not all, UFL telecasts.
Cheney is ready for the season to kick off this weekend. Fox has the two opening day games, starting with two reigning champions playing. Birmingham, last year鈥檚 USFL winner, is at Arlington, the XFL champ, for a noon kickoff. It has its lead UFL broadcast team on that one, with Curt Menefee on play-by-play, Joel Klatt providing analysis and Brock Huard reporting.
Then the Battlehawks start at 3 p.m., with Kevin Kugler on play-by-play, Devin Gardner as the commentator and Jake Butt reporting.
ESPN has the two games Sunday. At 11 a.m., D.C. is at San Antonio followed at 2 p.m. by Memphis at Houston, and the platform says it is ready to 鈥渇urther prove what can be possible in sports production鈥 with its UFL telecasts.
Fox鈥檚 Cheney also is ready to roll.
鈥淥ur access is there,鈥 he said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a much more choreographed event, our third year of spring football. It will be fun.鈥
NFL news
Not all the football broadcasting news this week centers on the UFL.
The National Football League announced it again will have one of its first-round playoff games exclusively streamed this season, this time on Amazon Prime Video after putting the Miami-Kansas City matchup last January on Peacock. That angered many fans who did not, or did not want to, pay to subscribe to Peacock. But it drew the U.S. largest audience to date for a streamed program.
Amazon will continue to exclusively stream most Thursday night NFL games this season.
The NFL also announced that Peacock exclusively will stream a game from Sao Paulo, Brazil, on Sept. 6, a Friday on the season鈥檚 opening weekend. Philadelphia plays in that one against a foe yet to be announced.
In addition, the NFL said it will play two games this year on Christmas Day, which will be the first Wednesday contests in the league since a Ravens-Steelers matchup was rescheduled to that day because of a COVID-19 outbreak.