Friday, May 11, 2001

Media criticism sank XFL

League tested the waters, found them much rougher than expected

By Andy Hanacek, Associate editor

So what went wrong? Lots of things did, if you ask mainstream media members, who probably watched two games total all season. There was no way this league could survive, according to them. And that is what doomed this league — the fact that the majority of those with the loudest mouths in the conservative sports media gave this league about a pinch of credibility. And in this media-driven nation, if you can’t please or impress the loudmouths of the country, you’re doomed to fail, since so many people believe the TVs and radios in our houses and cars.

Basically, it all boils down to the league’s preparation. The XFL spent a year promoting itself, something it did very, very well. Why else would the first game have a TV rating hovering around 10? But what it didn’t do was prepare the media or the players. XFL president Basil DeVito Jr. said so himself: that the league should have met with the media and gotten its story out there first, instead of letting the media formulate their own opinions. Better spin doctoring, if you will. That would have helped the league tremendously.

Also, the XFL and NBC were so concerned about protecting the game’s broadcasting innovations that they didn’t have a preseason. They had a run-through for the TV crews, but really nothing of substance for the players. They needed a preseason. If they had had a preseason, the quality of football played would’ve been a lot better that first week. The theatrics alone would not have killed this league. All this talk of the cheerleaders and the other "extras" surrounding the broadcast dragging the league to its grave is flat-out garbage. Had the football been good the first few weeks, I believe the extra stuff would’ve been bearable for the average football fan.

I did not cry when I got the word. I did not get angry. None of the critics in the office came to my cubicle and taunted me. It was fun during its short life. I guess that’s easy for me to say, since I’m not losing my job like the XFL personnel and staff. Many of them are good enough football people that they’ll find jobs elsewhere.

It was nice to be one of the few media types who watched the games and liked them for what they were, not what they weren’t. Yeah, I’ll admit I got a little power-trippy about it, enjoying the media pass I had to the Enforcers’ games and the fact that I was probably one of the few "experts" on the league across the country. But it was worth it, and I believe that we at PFW didn’t make a mistake in covering the league. I hope you, the readers, agree.

It’s unfortunate the XFL didn’t last. It was nice, it was bonus sport and it wasn’t this evil thing that many folks seem to believe.

The saddest thing about the whole XFL experiment is that I think that we’ll never see a new professional sports league in the big four of sports: football, baseball, basketball or hockey. The XFL showed that we can’t have anything different, but it can’t be the same as what we have now either. The XFL tried to be different, and the media tore it to shreds for sex, drama, violence, whatever was supposedly bad. And then when the XFL tried to be more football-oriented, the media ripped it for being a poor-quality NFL wannabe. Who wins in this Catch-22? No one. Who loses? As usual, it’s the fans and, in the XFL’s case, the players who had another chance to show their stuff.

The Archives
2000 - 2001 Season