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In 2001, the XFL was America’s upstart football league headed by WWE head honcho Vince McMahon. Along with Dick Ebersol, who had turned NBC Sports into a titan, McMahon took the XFL onto television screens with drab football and hype that died quickly. Now, 18 years later, the XFL is gearing up for a return and many onlookers believe it will succeed where the original failed. The XFL will see eight teams take to the gridiron this season with the New York Guardians playing in New Jersey at MetLife Stadium as one of the XFL’s marquee teams. With the New York Jets and Giants doing poorly in the NFL, the Guardians could be New York City football fans’ answer to success in the Big Apple.
XFL cities
Six of the remaining XFL teams will take up residence in cities already occupied by at least one NFL team. St. Louis lost the Rams back to Los Angeles in 2015 and the XFL’s Battlehawks could see the biggest attendances across the season due to a lack of NFL competition.
The original XFL began with eight teams with only five being located in cities that already possessed an NFL franchise. Los Angeles, Memphis, Birmingham, Las Vegas, and Orlando were full of football craving fans, yet no NFL teams called any of the cities home in the early 2000s. Since the XFL’s demise, two teams (Rams and Chargers) relocated to Los Angeles while the Oakland Raiders will head to Las Vegas next season.
The problem the XFL has right out of the gate is convincing hardcore football fans to accept or completely follow another team in their city. It is a tough sell but the XFL’s brain trust hopes to tap into America’s love of sports betting to get fans watching games. There is also a mega TV deal in place that will assure the league is seen by fans. ESPN, Fox Sports, FS1, and ABC are all on board to air the league’s 43 game season. Still the question remains: will the XFL be a success this time around?
Spring football’s last chance
Spring football has long been the golden goose that never lays eggs. The USFL tried and failed due to an owner greedy to take on the NFL. The original XFL did not have the financial might that McMahon offers in 2019 and the product on the field was panned by fans and sportswriters. The Alliance of American Football showed promise last season, but financial mismanagement saw the league die just a few weeks after beginning.
While it feels like onlookers want the XFL to succeed, actually being successful is another story. A recent ESPN interview with XFL play by play announcer Steve Levy shed his thoughts on the NFL’s position. In Levy’s opinion, the NFL wants the XFL to succeed and become a part of America’s spring sports fabric. There were talks that the AAF would become the NFL’s minor league in early 2019 before it disappeared. The XFL could become that feeder league, but with McMahon in charge, egos are bound to get in the way.
Perhaps the best thing going for the XFL in 2019 is the executive team the league has assembled. Eighteen years ago, the XFL was a ramshackle group of WWE ‘yes’ men who knew nothing about football. Now, it is a made up of football experts, coaches, and general managers that know the game inside and out. On February 20, 2020, the world will see XFL 2.0.
