The XFL focuses on entertainment!

The XFL only lasts one season!  

The XFL was an American Football League consisting of eight teams, which played only one season before being stricken with financial woes from which it could not recover.  The idea of World Wrestling Federation owner, Vince McMahon, the XFL tried to be bigger than life, advertising itself as rougher, tougher and more exciting than its competition, the National Football League (NFL).  

There was much hype in the media in the year before the XFL’s first season.  The XFL was dubbed almost immediately the “extreme” football league, but that was not the meaning of the X that McMahon had intended.  He had meant it only to clarify that they were a separate independent league, not affiliated with the NFL or any previous football leagues.  There had in fact been a previous XFL, but it had become part of arena football. The set-up of the teams was a single-ownership structure, based on the example of the professional soccer league.  NBC came aboard to share the ownership with McMahon and guarantee much-needed television coverage. UPN and TNN also signed on with cable TV coverage. 

Former NFL linebacker, Dick Butkus, was named to coach the Chicago team, giving the league more credibility. Players were selected from three universities near the hosting cities in regional rounds and then from a nationwide open round of all eligible players.  The players were basically the ones that had “almost made the NFL,” which led to many criticisms, including those that called it more of a minor league than a major one. 

There were teams in eight different cities.  The Eastern Division consisted of the Orlando Rage, Chicago Enforcers, New York/New Jersey Hitmen, and the Birmingham Thunderbolts.  The Western Division had the Lost Angeles Xtreme, San Francisco Demons, Memphis Maniax and the Las Vegas Outlaws.  The first and only championship was won by the Los Angeles Xtreme. 

In order to make the game more exciting, the XFL rules had a few changes from the ones used by the NFL.  They mandated that all games be played outdoors on real grass. Instead of starting the game with a coin toss, it was more rough and tumble as the ball was placed on the 50-yard line--two players stood on the 30-yard line--and then they raced to get possession of the ball. There was not a kick for an extra point following a touchdown, but rather the offense ran a two-point conversion for one point. The ‘bump and run” was allowed, with defensive backs given permission to hit wide receivers anytime before the quarterback got rid of the ball. These and other rule changes sought to bring about higher scores and more action, attracting more fans. 

The XFL also had some infamous, scantily-clad cheerleaders and the ex-wrestler and governor of Minnesota, Jesse Ventura, was their announcer.  They popularized sky cams and had so-called action cameras and microphones on players, managers and in the locker rooms to give a gritty realism to all the games. The XFL was also the first to do live interviews with the head coaches during commercial breaks, a practice later adopted by the NFL. 

The XFL did attract a loyal audience of fans and many excellent players who were either ex-NFL or  college semi-stars.  Many did go on to play with the NFL--the most famous being Tommy Maddox, who went on to the Pittsburgh Steelers. Others going on to play professional football after the XFL included Yo Murphy, Jose Cortez, Mike Furrey, Kevin Kaesviharn, Corey Ivy, Rod Smart, Steve Gleason, and Kelly Herndon. 

The final demise of the XFL came when, after the first year NBC started to back out because of poor ratings.  They had also had a lot of negative press, and sports stations such as ESPN would not give the XFL any coverage because of the NBC part-ownership. Both McMahon and NBC had lost in the neighborhood of $35 million each, and decided not to continue with the league.