XFL Commissioner Oliver Luck stands in front of over 29,000 fans in Seattle’s CenturyLink Field. (Credit: XFL.com)
In its second week of operation the XFL overall attendance numbers grew, mainly because of 29,172 fans who attended the Seattle Dragons first game at CenturyLink Field.
In week two, the league attracted 76,285 fans to its games, as opposed to 69,818 in week one. This equates to a 9.5-percent increase.
Although Seattle saw success in their inaugural game numbers, the two teams that already hosted their inaugural games saw slightly lower numbers. A slightly lower 15,031 came to see the DC Defenders 27-0 win over the New York Guardians, 12.4 percent down from the previous week’s game. The Houston Roughnecks had 17,103 in attendance for their 28-24 win over the St. Louis BattleHawks, four-percent down from their opening game.
In the Los Angeles home opener, the Wildcats had 14,979 fans in attendance at Dignity Health Sports Park for their 25-18 loss to Dallas. This was the smallest crowd to date, but still a respectable number. Click-bait news sites attempted to downplay the LA attendance by using social media images taken during the pregame warm-up which showed the stands relatively empty. However, as is a norm in the LA market, the stands filled out nicely once the game was underway.
A packed CenturyLink Field also gave the Seattle Dragons a boost, since fan noise became a factor for the opposing Tampa Bay Vipers.
In week three, the XFL may see even stronger overall attendance numbers since there is another home game in Seattle, and the opening home game in St. Louis, where it is reported the game is very nearly sold out.
Only about 30 tickets remain for the BattleHawks home opener next Sunday on the primary market!
BattleHawks released potentially the last chunk of reserved tickets yesterday.
