ST. LOUIS—Looking to bounce back from a season-opening loss to the Michigan Panthers in Detroit, the St. Louis Battlehawks will make the team’s United Football League home debut Saturday at The Dome at America’s Center with a 7 p.m. kickoff against the Arlington Renegades.
Unlike last year, when the Battlehawks played three road contests before coming home, the schedule lines up for the team to go no longer than a week without playing in front of a fanbase that is the envy of the spring football set.
The UFL’s week one attendance totaled 44,918 fans across all four league venues last weekend. St. Louis has the potential to surpass that number by itself in week two.
The Battlehawks set the modern spring football attendance record last April and paced the XFL’s attendance and social media leaderboards. The club’s performance in the stands was noticed by the XFL’s former spring rival, the USFL, before they merged into the UFL.
Daryl Johnston, the FOX Sports broadcaster in addition to his duties as a UFL executive, watched from afar when he had a similar role with the USFL as the Battlehawks set the modern spring football attendance record last April and paced the XFL’s attendance and social media leaderboards.
“What St. Louis did last year surpassed any expectations that I think anybody had,” said Daryl Johnston, the UFL executive who was previously in a similar role with the USFL, in addition to his FOX Sports broadcasting work. He glowed about what it means for the former USFL teams to have a chance to play here.
“I can’t wait to get here because we can do everything we can to create a professional experience for our players, help them feel validated in the effort that they’re putting in but the one thing we don’t have a lot of control over is the gameday experience and the fact that we’re gonna have a bunch of guys, get the opportunity to play here in the course of the season and truly get that gameday feel, what does it feel like to be a professional football player, this stadium is going to provide that,” he said.
If week one is any indication, Battlehawks fans aren’t waiting for the team to play at home to see the team in person.
Head Coach Anthony Becht said they all made a difference in Detroit.
“I saw a ton of St. Louis fans there. In the crowd, on the sidelines. It’s really exciting, the dedication by the fanbase to hit the road, travel, whether they flew or drove it’s just a big commitment…and it’s not just like, you know, twenty, it’s like hundreds of people there in St. Louis stuff so I can’t wait to come home,” Becht said Monday.
The UFL retained Washington D.C. as a distant outpost but lost others, including Seattle and Orlando. Detroit, Memphis and Birmingham are all within eight hours on the road.
Joe, a Battlehawks season ticket holder since 2020 and a Rams ticketholder before that, used the week one opener in Detroit as a chance to work toward a family goal of seeing all 50 states.
The team couldn’t bring home a win, but his daughter came away with a keepsake.
Joe said he and his wife plan to combine the Battehawks’ road trip to Birmingham May 11 with their wedding anniversary plans.
It’s that kind of fan engagement that the UFL hopes spreads to other markets.
“It certainly is the standard for what we’re trying to do across the league and build throughout in every market,” UFL President Russ Brandon told Spectrum News last month. “The way this fanbase is, I have no doubt they’ll travel…..we’re hoping that they travel and I anticipate they will. It’s a little bit of the Green Bay of the UFL as far as what we anticipate with this great fanbase.”
