The New Jersey Generals USFL football team finished their reboot season with a 9-1 record, defeating the Philadelphia Star 26-23 at home. With that victory, the USFL regular season ends and the Generals will face off next weekend against the Stars in the playoffs.
Sadly, few people were at the game and lackluster attendance in the league, which was played in a bubble setting at Protective Stadium in Birmingham, Alabama. That decision to play the entire season in Alabama could jeopardize the future of the league, but league officials have not officially confirmed a 2022 season as of now.
A lot is up in the air, and one of the biggest complaints about the league has been the emptiness of the stands in all games except for the hometown Birmingham Stallions. For the USFL to succeed, it needs to get people in the seats at hometown games across the country. How many New Jerseyans have gone out to see the five home games of the Generals if they were played at Met Life Stadium?
The disassociation between hometown fans and teams that play their entire season in Alabama dealt the league a blow. Each week games were held before embarrassingly empty stadiums.
This week, the Generals finished a fantastic season, but does anyone in New Jersey actually know or care about it? The team is competing against a New York Yankees team that is on absolute fire and the great end of the season run by the New York Rangers.
For people to get into spring football in New Jersey, in 2022, the Yankees and Rangers both essentially need to suck in 2023, and that prospect is highly unlikely. Or the league needs to get the Generals actually playing in New Jersey to get fans more engaged and interested.