XFL attendance: How does Dwayne Johnson’s league compare to WWE magnate Vince McMahon’s Week 1 iteration?
The XFL has kicked off with a lot of fanfare, and now it remains to be seen whether Dwayne Johnson can succeed where Vince McMahon failed. After all, this is the third iteration of the XFL. Beginning at the turn of the millennium, the XFL began in 2001 under McMahon before rebooting in 2020 before the COVID-19 pandemic put paid to that, and the league owners declared bankruptcy.
So, to understand how much better or worse the current XFL is doing, we need to check the attendance figures of the respective leagues to see if Dwayne Johnson's star is outshining McMahon's. Attendance figures for the four games over the weekend are given below:
#XFL week one attendance numbers.
Week 1 - LV @ ARL — 12,047
Week 1 - ORL @ HOU — 12,784
Week 1 - STL @ SA — 24,245
Week 1 - SEA @ DC — 12,438
#XFL week one attendance numbers.
Week 1 - LV @ ARL — 12,047
Week 1 - ORL @ HOU — 12,784
Week 1 - STL @ SA — 24,245
Week 1 - SEA @ DC — 12,438
Compared to the 2020 XFL season, the numbers are down. The total above is 61,514, whereas last season, it was 69,818.
If we ignore the game in San Antonio, each game individually is much lower than before by around 30%. This is a significant drop. The breakup of attendance of the 2020 XFL season's week 1 is given below:
Dwayne Johnson failing more than Vince McMahon with XFL at the moment
When Dwayne Johnson rescued the XFL from bankruptcy, he would have seen a product that could attract more viewers than ever before. Instead, they are bringing in far less attendance through the gates.
More than just the raw attendance figures, the trend lines are disturbing. As mentioned before, this is the third iteration of the league, and we have seen a steady drop in attendances across that time.
In 2001, the average attendance per week was 23,410, and nearly a million fans attended the league. From there, it dropped to around 17,000 in XFL 2020. Now, ignoring the highest figure above 24,000, the average figure has dropped to nearly 12,000.
In effect, the total weekly attendance has nearly halved across the three iterations, and the one exception that attracted the most was near the average of the first season. This is a very worrying trend for Dwayne Johnson. Despite his star power and mass appeal that far outstrips McMahon's, he's primarily an entertainer as opposed to the WWE mogul, who is a businessman.
Vince McMahon shut down the XFL 3 years ago after reportedly burning through $200M.
But Dwayne Johnson & his partners purchased the assets for $15M out of bankruptcy, and the league officially returns today.
Add in the USFL, and 46 of 52 weekends in 2023 will have pro football. https://t.co/hoYdyMn7o7
There will need to be some drastic changes for the XFL to rebound even around to its 2020 figures, never mind those of 2001. Given that the season has already begun, fixes must be immediately implemented. Failing that, this version of the XFL will probably perish the same way its forerunners did.