Last weekend, I was in Dallas for the inaugural BattleHawks game against the Renegades, so this past Sunday was my first opportunity to experience Battlehawks fandom here in St. Louis.

I'm definitely seeing more BattleHawks signage around Downtown St. Louis, thanks to the new BattleHawks Bar Network, a network of 66 bars throughout the St. Louis metropolitan area that are committed to promoting the team, and holding its own watch parties.

Ballpark Village had an especially nice crowd for the BattleHawks-Roughnecks game - by my estimate, roughly 200-300 people.

Granted, this is early in the XFL season, but I'm VERY encouraged by the energy & enthusiasm coming from the BattleHawks fans. This fan base has been steadily gathering momentum in this city. We're really embracing this football team.

Of course, I guess it's not that big of a surprise. St. Louis sports fans have traditionally been loyal to their teams.

And while the outcome of the game certainly wasn't what we wanted, the crowd still enjoyed a VERY competitive game, probably the best game of the year. There's certainly a LOT to look forward to with this BattleHawks squad.

And The Dome at America's Center will be VERY noisy on February 23rd for the home opener against the New York Guardians, now a sellout.

NOTE: The Blues-Predators game was on at the same time as the BattleHawks-Roughnecks game. It was shown on one of the SMALL video screens.