The Success of Spring Football is Good Business For the NFL

The latest incarnations of the XFL and USFL seem to be sustainable ways to bring football during the off-season, and that is great news for the NFL

There is no question that football is the preferred sport of the American viewer. For 20 weeks a year, the NFL dominates television on Sundays, it is the primary topic of sports talk shows, and it is the sport that people bet their money on. In 2022, 82 of the top 100 most-watched TV broadcasts in the US were NFL games. The NFL and the sport of football have captured the imagination and fascination of the masses, and the sport continues to separate in popularity from the NBA and MLB. The NFL’s championship game, the Super Bowl, has become more of a part of popular culture than it is the crowning of the sport’s best team.

But after the Super Bowl, we see football fans unsure of what to do with their Sundays now that their favorite thing to watch is in its off-season. This is where the spring football idea comes into play. The reimagined (for a third time!) XFL and rebranded USFL have come to fill the professional football-sized void in the hearts of Americans everywhere. The idea behind these leagues is simple: why not have football all year round? They are a huge win for the NFL because it keeps football front of mind every month of the year.