The Dome at America’s Center for the Battlehawks’ home opener for the 2024 United Football League season showed why quarterback AJ McCarron came back to St. Louis.

A crowd of 40,317 witnessed the Battlehawks beat the Arlington Renegades 27-24 on April 6.

Last year, McCarron returned to the field for the first time since he sustained a torn anterior cruciate ligament during an NFL preseason game on Aug. 21, 2021. His showing with St. Louis helped McCarron return to the NFL with the Cincinnati Bengals for the 2023 season.

But McCarron asked the Bengals to release him from his contract early, so he could rejoin the Battlehawks in time for training camp this year.

“I love the city of St. Louis,” McCarron said after the victory over Arlington. “It’s why I came back. It’s why I said I would only come back to play here. The support here is unbelievable. I say it all the time: It reminds me of Bama and the passion and the energy that this city brings, the love for football, and it’s just awesome to be back in St. Louis and to get a win.”

The crowd in St. Louis for the Battlehawks’ Week 2 win was the largest announced crowd for a professional spring-football game since the revival of the gridiron niche with the Alliance of American Football in 2019. Since then, there have been seven announced crowds of at least 30,000, and six of them have been in St. Louis.

The attendance at the other three United Football League games last weekend in Detroit, Memphis and Washington totaled 31,318.

Before becoming an All-American at Alabama, McCarron was an All-State football and baseball player at St. Paul’s Episcopal in Mobile. He got his first taste of Alabama’s passion for the Crimson Tide in his hometown.

“When I compare Bama fans to Battlehawks fans, it’s including Mobile, of course,” McCarron said. “I think Mobile’s heavily favored to the Alabama side more than Auburn. I think, like I said after the game, the passion my city of Mobile has for Alabama football is the same passion that St. Louis fans bring to their sports, whether it’s the Blues, the Cardinals, the soccer team. …

“It’s awesome to be able to play at home and play in front of 40,000 people. Always wish we would have more and fans would get there earlier to fill the Dome. It’s awesome. The amount of energy that crowd brings, how they stay involved into the game throughout the whole game is awesome. It’s something special to see. It reminds me a lot of Alabama and college days It’s a huge positive and a really good thing for us as a team when you play at home and you have a crowd like that to be able to affect the game.”

The Battlehawks won’t have their home backing in Week 3 as St. Louis faces the San Antonio Brahmas at 2 p.m. CDT Sunday at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas. ABC will televise the game.

The Battlehawks have a 1-1 record but could be 2-0. The Brahmas have a 2-0 record but could be 1-1.

After McCarron threw a touchdown pass with 49 seconds to play, Michigan’s Jake Bates, who hadn’t made a field goal since high school, boomed through a 64-yard kick with three seconds remaining to lift the Panthers to an 18-16 victory on March 30.

After opening the season with a 27-12 victory over the D.C. Defenders on March 31, San Antonio defeated the Memphis Showboats 20-19 in Week 2. Quarterback Chase Garbers threw two touchdown passes in the final 48 seconds to lift the Brahmas to a road win.

The thrilling game came before an announced attendance of 8,791 at Simmons Bank Liberty Bowl Stadium in Memphis. The Brahmas drew 13,164 for their opening game at the Alamodome.

St. Louis’ attendance last week was not an all-time record for a spring-football pro game. The original USFL announced 73 crowds of at least 40,000 during its 1983 through 1985 existence, with a top total of 73,227 for the New Jersey Generals’ 28-26 victory over the Jacksonville Bulls on March 4, 1984, at the Gator Bowl.

Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.