Will the new XFL be a one-and-done league like the first go-round in 2001?
Or will Vince McMahon's revived product fulfill its promise as a 100-year brand?
The answer lies somewhere in between.
Don't judge the rebooted football league based on attendance figures or television ratings from its inaugural weekend.
The original XFL taught us a valuable lesson.
The XFL in 2001 called itself an "extreme alternative" to the unadventurous NFL.
Initially, the hype worked.
NBC earned an all-time high rating for males, age 18-34, on a Saturday night when the XFL premiered nearly 20 years ago.
The sky-high rating of 9.5, which translated to an estimated 54 million viewers, did not last for long.
The brash league lost more than half its audience in Week 2 and continued a steep decline throughout the season until television ratings bottomed out in Weeks 9 and 10 with a 1.5 rating.
"The Million Dollar Game," the XFL's championship game won by the Los Angeles Xtreme, earned a paltry 2.1 rating.
Soon thereafter, NBC backed out of Season 2 and Vince McMahon declared the XFL a "colossal failure."
Despite the successful Week 1 launch, the league imploded because fans and followers did not appreciate the product.
Too much showmanship and not enough quality football.
Bottom line, the XFL looked more like a low-level college football game than a high-level NFL contest.
The play on the field never matched the advance notices off the field.
Before the start of the season, the XFL promised "Football With An Attitude" and some even cheered Vince McMahon's loud opening-night pronouncement at Sam Boyd Stadium.
Who can forget McMahon's deep-throated growl, "This is the XFLLLLLLL!"
The in-your-face attitudes of McMahon's pro wrestling-influenced broadcasting crews did not help the situation.
Respected broadcaster Matt Vasgersian teamed with wrestler-turned-governor-turned-carnival barker Jesse "The Body" Ventura for the league's debut broadcast.
At one point, Ventura criticized New York/New Jersey Hitmen quarterback Charles Puleri for poor play, quitting on his team and "not getting hit that hard" after replays showed repeated hard hits to his head and neck area.
Thankfully, Vasgersian softened Ventura's attacks to escape the XFL experiment with his reputation intact.
Ventura lost what little credibility he owned at the time.
The lawless play was not confined to action between the hashmarks.
Cornerbacks were allowed to mug wide receivers at the line of scrimmage -- "In Your Face" football is right -- until a rule change magically appeared in Week 5 to create more exciting plays in the passing game.
The league's desperate measure to change rules in midseason was a telling indicator of impending doom.
In a total of only 43 games in the ill-fated inaugural season, five games ended in a shutout and nine others saw a team fail to reach double-digits in scoring.
Twenty-eight of the 40 regular season games produced 40 points or fewer.
The eight games played in Weeks 3 and 4 averaged fewer than 24 points per game.
Recreational fans desire lots of big plays and loads of scoring; the XFL featured neither quality.
Two more rebellious rules led to several injuries, including a season-ending injury to Orlando safety Hassan Shamsid-Deen, who was involved in a "scramble" before the start of a game.
The "scramble" replaced the traditional coin flip ("boring" in the words of an XFL press release) to determine which team secured possession at the start of the game.
Two opposing players sprinted from the 30-yard line to gain possession of a loose ball at midfield.
Would you believe Shamsid-Deen separated his shoulder when his arm was caught under Chicago's Troy Saunders when diving for the football in Week 1 of the season?
Wrestling legend Jerry "The King" Lawler, employed as an XFL color commentator, cracked, "I don't think I've ever seen anybody get injured during a coin toss."
Lawlor then went too far by bragging, "This is what makes the XFL different right off the bat."
Different and stupid.
Additionally, punt returners were not allowed to call for a fair catch, furthering the "no-holds barred" approach to football.
Thankfully, the newer version of the XFL relies more on traditional football with fewer stunts and gimmicks.
Every XFL game this season will be televised by ABC, ESPN, Fox or FS1.
ESPN, much more influential in 2001 than today, ignored the league because rival NBC owned half the league in partnership with McMahon.
In 2001, it was hard to find a score of an XFL game on ESPN, much less a positive spin or favorable feature story, so familiar with other sports that serve as ESPN broadcast partners.
The most impressive new wrinkle to the 2020 game is a kickoff rule which positions the placekicker as the only player lined up on his side of the field.
His teammates are positioned at the opponents' 35-yard line with blockers only five yards away, shades of the old table-top Electric Football game from the 1970's.
Only the kicker and receiver are allowed to move before the ball is caught.
Kickoffs that travel through the end zone are placed at the 35-yard line to discourage placekickers from bombing the ball through the end zone..
The XFL scheme is safer than current NFL rules and it feels like the perfect remedy for injury issues at the high school and college levels while keeping the traditional kickoff in place.
It's not a gimmick but rather a smart measure to reduce the chances of concussions and spinal injuries during a dangerous play in a violent, high-speed sport.
Now back to the original question of the XFL's viability:
Let's place the over-under on the league's survival at three or four seasons ( OVER 3 years -180, OVER 4 years -120) with a creative, safety-conscious kickoff rule to be remembered as the league's greatest contribution to the game.
Or will Vince McMahon's revived product fulfill its promise as a 100-year brand?
The answer lies somewhere in between.
Don't judge the rebooted football league based on attendance figures or television ratings from its inaugural weekend.
The original XFL taught us a valuable lesson.
The XFL in 2001 called itself an "extreme alternative" to the unadventurous NFL.
Initially, the hype worked.
NBC earned an all-time high rating for males, age 18-34, on a Saturday night when the XFL premiered nearly 20 years ago.
The sky-high rating of 9.5, which translated to an estimated 54 million viewers, did not last for long.
The brash league lost more than half its audience in Week 2 and continued a steep decline throughout the season until television ratings bottomed out in Weeks 9 and 10 with a 1.5 rating.
"The Million Dollar Game," the XFL's championship game won by the Los Angeles Xtreme, earned a paltry 2.1 rating.
Soon thereafter, NBC backed out of Season 2 and Vince McMahon declared the XFL a "colossal failure."
Despite the successful Week 1 launch, the league imploded because fans and followers did not appreciate the product.
Too much showmanship and not enough quality football.
Bottom line, the XFL looked more like a low-level college football game than a high-level NFL contest.
The play on the field never matched the advance notices off the field.
Before the start of the season, the XFL promised "Football With An Attitude" and some even cheered Vince McMahon's loud opening-night pronouncement at Sam Boyd Stadium.
Who can forget McMahon's deep-throated growl, "This is the XFLLLLLLL!"
The in-your-face attitudes of McMahon's pro wrestling-influenced broadcasting crews did not help the situation.
Respected broadcaster Matt Vasgersian teamed with wrestler-turned-governor-turned-carnival barker Jesse "The Body" Ventura for the league's debut broadcast.
At one point, Ventura criticized New York/New Jersey Hitmen quarterback Charles Puleri for poor play, quitting on his team and "not getting hit that hard" after replays showed repeated hard hits to his head and neck area.
Thankfully, Vasgersian softened Ventura's attacks to escape the XFL experiment with his reputation intact.
Ventura lost what little credibility he owned at the time.
The lawless play was not confined to action between the hashmarks.
Cornerbacks were allowed to mug wide receivers at the line of scrimmage -- "In Your Face" football is right -- until a rule change magically appeared in Week 5 to create more exciting plays in the passing game.
The league's desperate measure to change rules in midseason was a telling indicator of impending doom.
In a total of only 43 games in the ill-fated inaugural season, five games ended in a shutout and nine others saw a team fail to reach double-digits in scoring.
Twenty-eight of the 40 regular season games produced 40 points or fewer.
The eight games played in Weeks 3 and 4 averaged fewer than 24 points per game.
Recreational fans desire lots of big plays and loads of scoring; the XFL featured neither quality.
Two more rebellious rules led to several injuries, including a season-ending injury to Orlando safety Hassan Shamsid-Deen, who was involved in a "scramble" before the start of a game.
The "scramble" replaced the traditional coin flip ("boring" in the words of an XFL press release) to determine which team secured possession at the start of the game.
Two opposing players sprinted from the 30-yard line to gain possession of a loose ball at midfield.
Would you believe Shamsid-Deen separated his shoulder when his arm was caught under Chicago's Troy Saunders when diving for the football in Week 1 of the season?
Wrestling legend Jerry "The King" Lawler, employed as an XFL color commentator, cracked, "I don't think I've ever seen anybody get injured during a coin toss."
Lawlor then went too far by bragging, "This is what makes the XFL different right off the bat."
Different and stupid.
Additionally, punt returners were not allowed to call for a fair catch, furthering the "no-holds barred" approach to football.
Thankfully, the newer version of the XFL relies more on traditional football with fewer stunts and gimmicks.
Every XFL game this season will be televised by ABC, ESPN, Fox or FS1.
ESPN, much more influential in 2001 than today, ignored the league because rival NBC owned half the league in partnership with McMahon.
In 2001, it was hard to find a score of an XFL game on ESPN, much less a positive spin or favorable feature story, so familiar with other sports that serve as ESPN broadcast partners.
The most impressive new wrinkle to the 2020 game is a kickoff rule which positions the placekicker as the only player lined up on his side of the field.
His teammates are positioned at the opponents' 35-yard line with blockers only five yards away, shades of the old table-top Electric Football game from the 1970's.
Only the kicker and receiver are allowed to move before the ball is caught.
Kickoffs that travel through the end zone are placed at the 35-yard line to discourage placekickers from bombing the ball through the end zone..
The XFL scheme is safer than current NFL rules and it feels like the perfect remedy for injury issues at the high school and college levels while keeping the traditional kickoff in place.
It's not a gimmick but rather a smart measure to reduce the chances of concussions and spinal injuries during a dangerous play in a violent, high-speed sport.
Now back to the original question of the XFL's viability:
Let's place the over-under on the league's survival at three or four seasons ( OVER 3 years -180, OVER 4 years -120) with a creative, safety-conscious kickoff rule to be remembered as the league's greatest contribution to the game.
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