BattleHawks Release Their 2024 Schedule: What You Need To Know
By Brian Gertler
The 2024 BattleHawks’ regular season schedule was released Monday following a long-anticipated wait from eager fans looking to purchase tickets or hoping to plan their away-game travel plans. As it was last year, the BattleHawks will open their season on the road at Ford Field (which is also home to the Detroit Lions) versus a new opponent from the merger: the USFL’s Michigan Panthers.
Week 2 is the BattleHawks’ home opener against a conference team, the Arlington Renegades. This game will be shown in primetime on ABC (and for good reason); the first BattleHawk home game of the 2023 season set a spring football attendance record of over 38k fans. The UFL would benefit from a strong fan attendance at one of their first prime-time games of the season. For now, this is the BattleHawks’ only prime-time game, but that is subject to flexes in schedule and potential playoff appearances.
Another conference matchup occurs in Week 3 where the BattleHawks travel to the Alamodome in San Antonio, TX where they face the Wade Phillips-led Brahmas. The BattleHawks will revisit this matchup at home on June 1st for the regular season finale.
Week 4 includes the only home matchup against an opponent outside of the 2023 XFL teams, the Memphis Showboats. Some consider the Showboats to be an emerging rival given their close geographical proximity.
Week 5 has the BattleHawks traveling to DC’s Audi Field where a BattleHawk fan may catch a glance at the wretched beer snakes that plague the south side of Defenders home turf. While both teams are still holding out hope for their star quarterbacks to return, there is no doubt that a game between these two will be fierce regardless of who is at the helm of their offenses.
In Week 6, St. Louis welcomes the mighty Houston Roughnecks to the Battledome for the first time in their history. The teams have played each other twice in their short history (once in 2020 and once in 2023) and St. Louis is currently the only team to have beaten Houston at home in their entire regular season history!
Week 7 brings us to Birmingham where the BattleHawks take on Lou Holtz’s Stallions to conclude their USFL conference matchups. The Stallions are the two-time USFL league champions and are arguably the team to beat in their conference.
Week 8 brings the DC Defenders back to St. Louis where the two juggernauts of the XFL will take on each other in a final conference matchup. If you are a fan looking for your first home game to attend, this would be one to circle on the calendar.
In Week 9, we travel down to Arlington where we play the reigning XFL champions at their homefield of Choctaw Stadium. Some of you may remember Choctaw as Globe Life Park, the former Texas Rangers’ home base for 20-plus years until their move across the street to the new Globe Life Field.
To conclude the season, we see the Brahmas again in Week 10, but this time with dome-field
advantage.
Here are some important highlights to keep in mind for the upcoming 2024 BattleHawk season:
-Ticket holders should be aware that UFL games have typically been in flexible scheduling windows and are subject to change generally at least a week in advance and should plan accordingly.
-Many parking lots around the America Center are tailgating friendly. If you’re a planner, there are many season pass options and online payment centers for these parking lots.
-There are rumblings that St. Louis will host the UFL championship on June 16. While the UFL has officially confirmed nothing, many insiders are claiming St. Louis as the championship site.
-The BattleHawks have no consecutive home or away games. This means that fans don’t have to wait more than two weeks to see their team in action!
-The BattleHawks are one of four teams that conclude their season with three straight conference matchups (others are Michigan, Houston, and Arlington).