Following the departure of the St. Louis Rams following the 2015 season, the city felt that a piece was missing. After a five year drought, St. Louis received their first XFL team when the Battlehawks arrived in town in 2020. This season has been especially meaningful to the Saint Louis community as the Battlehawks have proved their success. The fans recognize this, and are the most prominent XFL fanbase in the nation. Although bitter feelings are still prevalent towards Los Angeles Rams owner, Stan Kroenke, St. Louis football fans have redirected their energy to support their new football team.
The Battlehawks opened the 2023 season with victories in the first two games over the San Antonio Brahmas and the Seattle Sea Dragons. St. Louis’ team struggled to come out on top in the third and fifth weeks when facing the talented D.C. Defenders. Then, the Battlehawks went on to a three-game win streak in weeks six, seven and eight. Throughout their season, the Battlehawks signified that they did not need the home field advantage as they performed well on the road, only losing one of their five away games.
The Battlehawks closed out the season with a 7-3 overall record, ranking third in the North Division. This winning record is partially due to the consistency of the fans and amount of support shown each week. The team continually sold over 30,000 tickets to the games each week, boasting the strongest support from fans in the XFL as well as the highest average attendance for regular season games. The team’s supporters have been reliable since the start of the season, when the week one game reeled in 1.57 million viewers and 24,245 fans in attendance. Since then, attendance has increased as the team gains popularity among St. Louis. By Week 10, Battlehawks attendance had reached an incredible 33,034. The total XFL attendance for all games played during this final week of the season was 73,030, with Battlehawks fans accounting miraculously for almost half of all tickets sold. On average, St. Louis fans made up about 31 percent of the XFL total attendance each week throughout this season, proving that the city has the pride and spirit to support a pro football team.
During Week 10 of the season, the Battlehawks were set to play the Orlando Guardians at their home field in St. Louis to close out the regular season. St. Louis dominated the game, finishing with a win of 53-28. This set the XFL record for most points scored by a team in a single game thus far. The win was greatly credited to quarterback, AJ McCarron, who threw for 420 passing yards with a total of six touchdown passes. McCarron finished the game with 28 completions and zero interceptions to lead the team to the record-setting win. Although it was not enough to advance into the postseason, an outpouring of support was shown on the team’s social media as the Battlehawks closed out their season. Comments from fans congratulated the team and expressed that they are already looking forward to next season. With such an iconic ending to the 2023 season, it is inevitable that St. Louis fans will be eager for the next season as they look forward to what the future holds for their team.
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