The UFL is struggling to put fans in the stands in seven of the cities where it plays. In one of them, the stands are full.
For the third time in three home games, the St. Louis Battlehawks drew more than 30,000 fans.
Via Mike Mitchell of SI.com, 32,969 attended for Saturday’s 22-8 victory over the Houston Roughnecks. It was the Battlehawks’ fifth consecutive victory.
Separately, 38,559 went to a Cardinals game at Busch Stadium on Saturday.
This raises the question of whether St. Louis should have an NFL team again. In 1960, St. Louis attracted the Cardinals from Chicago. After the Cardinals left for Arizona in 1988, St. Louis had the Rams come to Missouri in 1995. Twenty years later — after persistent lies from the Rams and the NFL about the team’s intentions — the Rams returned to Los Angeles and St. secured a $790 million settlement due, in part, to the tangled web of untruths.
Perhaps more time needs to pass before the NFL wants to return to St. Louis, because anyone who has to pay that much money finds a way to blame someone other than themselves for the outcome. For its part, St. Louis may not yet be in the mood to welcome back the NFL, given its experience in recent days with the Rams.
At some point, St. Louis should be an option. Especially if St. Louis loves football enough to support putting taxpayer money toward building a stadium.
They were willing to do that with the Rams, but owner Stan Kroenke was dead set on moving to Los Angeles. They may not be willing to do it again, in part because no city currently appears willing to do so.
Regardless, if the NFL wants to play in a place where dumb people will be sitting, it needs to take St. Louis seriously.
