It has been a rollicking honeymoon for the BattleHawks, as football-starved St. Louis has embraced the XFL team beyond almost everyone's realistic expectations. But bumpier roads could be ahead.
First, the present.
The team drew nearly 30,000 fans for its home opener, the biggest crowd in the upstart league through its first four weeks. Then last weekend just over 27,500 turned out, the league's third-largest in-person audience. That has prompted the club to open parts of the upper deck of The Dome, for the first time, for its next home game.
Television ratings for the B-Hawks have been pronominal, quite frankly.