When the AAF had great ratings for its first week, a lot of people overreacted to the news and said a new era of extra football had begun. Then the AAF flamed out miserably and was the subject of many a long-form commentary. The XFL had some really strong numbers when it came to viewership in its first week and I am happy to report it seems like we all learned our lesson. Everyone seemed to wait with bated breath to find out what XFL ratings would look like in Week 2 and Week 3. Unfortunately for the XFL, the answer seems to be: not great.

The XFL had two games on cable this weekend and ratings are always lower on cable because people either don’t have access to it — mostly by choice, but sometimes by circumstance — so they had to expect that ratings would dip since half the games weren’t on broadcast.