Remember the XFL?

[Ron78]

On the heels of yet another Spring football league failure, the All American Football League (AAFL), I find myself reminiscing about the XFL. I admit, I am one of the few people who actually enjoyed the XFL. I found it entertaining despite some production flaws and poor decisions. Jerry "The King" Lawler and the other guy from "RAW" doing commentary on NBC definitely didn't help the league's credibility. But all missteps aside, I felt the XFL was a concept worth supporting because the NFL will always benefit from a developmental Spring professional football league. The XFL paid its players more than the other developmental leagues (CFL, AFL, and NFLE), which allowed the XFL to consolidate the best secondary talent available. That is the best scenario for developing unfound talent for the NFL. In fact, a number of XFL players graduated to the NFL after the XFL collapsed (just as did many in the USFL before it). Many of those players also went on to play in Superbowls (e.g., Rod Smart of the Carolina Panthers and Kelly Herndon of the Seattle Seahawks).

For me, professional football is way ahead of other professional sports (with the exception of MMA, which is a close second), so I would rather watch developmental league football than the NHL, NBA, or MLB. I always thought consumers should have been a little more patient with the XFL because the concept had potential and showed improvement throughout the season. Plus, we would have gotten a team at RFK stadium in season 2.

[skinfan2k]

I dont care for football after football season. MLB, NBA, college sports are defintely enough for me. its only July that kills

[dcnativenerd]

Heh...I remember it.
"He Hate Me"

Good times.

[SC3]

I wouldn't mind watching some football in the off season right now. I guess I can try to follow the AFL for now.

[33]

Kurt Gouveia Baby. #54

Las Vegas Outlaws.

[Walking Deadman]

I remember Rod Smart (aka He Hate Me)

I did watch the XFL championship (Tommy Maddox was the MVP) and I remember Vince putting more sex and more focus on the cheerleaders (which rubbed off at least in skimpy outfits in the NFL).

Outside of that.......nothing.

[Ron78]

I wouldn't mind watching some football in the off season right now. I guess I can try to follow the AFL for now.
AFL doesn't do it for me because...

1. There is no Washington, DC team (thanks to Dan Snyder).

& 2. It is so very different from outdoor football.

[StillUnknown]

i think if it were owned by anyone other than Vince McMahon it could've survived in a similar numbers as the Arena Football League. The games were actually kinda good towards the end of the season.

[Riverwolf]

It was a fairly good idea.Just misrepresented with Vince Mcmahon which I think is sad because it would've allowed more players to make a name 4 themselves.:2cents:

[Coach Williams]

I played against 23 players from the XFL the year after they broke up.....Lemmie tell ya.....

they whipped our butts......that team even had 2 ex-nfl practice squad guys....

sure, guys like jimoh suck compared to DG but compared to yer avg joe they are a BEAST!!!!!

[Heidenreich]

I was an XFL season ticket holder. Too bad the NY/NJ Hitmen sucked ass....

The XFL would have worked if the media gave it a chance.

It pulled better numbers than the NHL, WNBA, Arena League (at least back then), Womens College Basketball, etc, but those leagues are still around.

Vince's biggest mistake was wanting too much too soon. Signing that NBC deal turned out to be a mistake. If he let the league grow for a couple of years before signing a big network deal, maybe things would have been different.

There was a year 2 planned. I got a season ticket renewal form in the mail about a week before they announced that the league was cancelled.....

[Mark The Homer]

The cameras were cool. Didn't the NFL adopt the floating camera thing from the XFL? I think so...

[Kosher Ham]

The power of the NFL is the reason for the failure of the XFL.

No Fun League
Extreme Fun League

But so much money is wrapped up in the NFL, that it is going to be hard for a start-up league to get going. People still dont watch the WNBA, Womens NCAA is getting better (but still not given enough exposure), NHL (I haven't watched it since the lockout/strike whatever it was), Arena League has action and no defense, I have never watched more than 5 minutes of a game.

[Mr. S]

The cameras were cool. Didn't the NFL adopt the floating camera thing from the XFL? I think so...

Yeh I believe so. Small things like that are what survived from that league. Otherwise, the league had no credibility.

If only the NFL would just sanction a US spring/summer league, that should make everything work out. NFL Euro wouldn't work cause it was in Europe where soccer will always reign.

[Mark The Homer]

Womens NCAA is getting better (but still not given enough exposure) Then let's expose it: GO MARYLAND. :)

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncw/ncaatourney08/bracket

[Old Bay]

I was pretty excited about this league, but it had some flaws.

Some things were dangerous or just didn't sit well. The chasing the football instead of the coin toss has merit, but just too cheesy for me. The live punts are way too dangerous, there's a reason that the NFL doesn't make it live. Didn't they disalow fair catches too?

I think the fact they had to earn their pay instead of a lot of it being guaranteed promoted the best play possible. That was a good move. The 'pick your own name' thing was pretty funny, but it made the league look less credible. I think that happened a lot. They tried to make it so extreme and so anti NFL that they hurt themselves.

[Koolblue13]

I lived in Vegas and we loved the Outlaws.

Only football game I ever went to was an XFL game and I had press passes. It was cool being on the field. I got kicked out and went and hid behind the cheerleaders. :)

[Blackest Eyes]

I remember watching it. It was fun. Then again, Vince with sports just seems really strange.

[MattGeorge85]

I distinctly recall in some of the very first games that the interviews would sometimes be conducted in the crowd. The profanity filters did not work well at all. It was very funny hearing some of the random things that would be yelled by the fans.

[Heidenreich]

The cameras were cool. Didn't the NFL adopt the floating camera thing from the XFL? I think so...

Yes it was.

Other things lifted from the XFL.

Mic'd players during the game.
Interviewing coaches while the game is being played, not just at halftime.

The access of the XFL was one of things that made it good. Too bad you never heard of any of the players.....

[zoony]

The problem with the XFL was fairly simple. The action on the field sucked.

...

[Heidenreich]

The problem with the XFL was fairly simple. The action on the field sucked.

...


The same can be said about the Arena League. Or the WNBA. But they're still around.

The XFL's biggest problem was that it wanted too much too fast, and people expected too much too fast.

[zoony]

The same can be said about the Arena League. Or the WNBA. But they're still around.

The XFL's biggest problem was that it wanted too much too fast, and people expected too much too fast.


The Arena league has ammended the rules of the game to get the most out of marginal talent. No sidelines, no motion penalties, small field, etc.


There is no explaining why/how the WNBA is still around.


Fact is, the XFL was BORING. I think 95% of people who tuned in for a game would say the same thing.

[DGreenistheBest]

I think I watched one game and my biggest problem with it was I didn't care what happened.

[Heidenreich]

There is no explaining why/how the WNBA is still around.




The WNBA is still around because the NBA floats it. It's written into their TV rights that you have to take the WNBA as well....




I think I watched one game and my biggest problem with it was I didn't care what happened.

That is very true. There wasn't a rooting interest in the league because it just started. Especially here in NY. During February/March there's plenty of other teams (Rangers, Devils, Knicks, Islanders, Nets, etc) to watch.

That's why the league did better in Memphis & Vegas. Because that was the only game in town.....

[SlobberknockerSkinsFan]

Too bad you never heard of any of the players.....

I guess Jim Druckenmiller is one of those names you never heard of? Maniax QB

Also he's my neighbor across the street, btw.... Big drunk, but otherwise a cool person that was supposed to be Young's replacement in S.F.

[Thanos]

The XFL wanted to be a circus rather than a credibe league.Sure the cheerleaders were hotties and the bells and whisltes were a cool distraction,but the on field product reeked.

They would have done better reinventing rollarderby.

[Warhead36]

I was so excited about XFL because I thought it would be football exactly like wrestling. I was expecting linebackers to chairshot QBs and all that.

Instead it was just a terrible boring mediocre brand of football. :(

[Ron78]

The XFL would have worked if the media gave it a chance.
There was definitely a media campaign against the XFL. I thought consumers should have been able to see past that and give the XFL more of a chance to grow.

Vince's biggest mistake was wanting too much too soon. Signing that NBC deal turned out to be a mistake. If he let the league grow for a couple of years before signing a big network deal, maybe things would have been different.
Vince needed a big network like NBC because he spent so much money on the league. A big TV contract was the only way to get a return on his investment. Even at its lowest television ratings, the XFL still got double the ratings that the Arena Football League gets. The reason the AFL survives is they just don't invest nearly as much money in their product, so so they don't need the same television revenues. Maybe Vince didn't have to go quite as big as he did, but he had to go "big" in order to steal talent from and upstage the AFL and CFL.

[Ron78]

i think if it were owned by anyone other than Vince McMahon it could've survived in a similar numbers as the Arena Football League. The games were actually kinda good towards the end of the season.
Vince MacMahon was a good owner because he had a lot of money to kick around. The problem was his antics and the fact that he tried to involve himself in the production like he does in the WWE. He should have just let it be a football league.

[Ron78]

The cameras were cool. Didn't the NFL adopt the floating camera thing from the XFL? I think so...
Yes. One of the XFL's few lasting contributions to professional football.

[SpringfieldSkins]

I didn't remember the XFL untill now... Thanks.

[Ron78]

The problem with the XFL was fairly simple. The action on the field sucked.

...
There was some ugliness in the beginning. How much of the season did you actually watch, though?

[Ron78]

The XFL wanted to be a circus rather than a credibe league.Sure the cheerleaders were hotties and the bells and whisltes were a cool distraction,but the on field product reeked.

They would have done better reinventing rollarderby.
I didn't think it was that bad. What level of play were you expecting from a "developmental" league?

[Ron78]

I guess Jim Druckenmiller is one of those names you never heard of? Maniax QB

Also he's my neighbor across the street, btw.... Big drunk, but otherwise a cool person that was supposed to be Young's replacement in S.F.
I enjoyed watching the Memphis Maniax. They also had Rashaan Salaam.

[Ron78]

I didn't remember the XFL untill now... Thanks.
Ha!

[squatch66]

i voted for las vegas because wasnt that the team that he hate me was on?

[joeknows]

i for one loved the xfl ...... had a blast


having never been to an nfl game much less a redskins game.....

i can only imagine how much fun some of yall have during the fall at fed ex and i am extremely jealous....


i think the biggest failure of the xfl besides lesser talent was the timing of the season. i think a late summer league that wraps up its championship 1 or 2 weeks prior to nfl week 1 would have had a better chance.

[joeknows]

the one thing i liked the most about xfl coverage on tv was the madden cam angle they used ..... you could see the rec routes the safetys ..... everything from the qb pov...... nfl only does that occasionally on replays



ps .... never heard of the aafl............

[Raub]

It allowed several players to showcase their skills and later get picked up by the NFL. In addition to the two that everyone know....Maddox and Smart, there are also guys like Mike Furrey, Reggie Swinton, and Brian Moorman who got a good start from the XFL. I think a well-planned out spring league would definitely be viable.

XFL also dredged up some NFL busts who were looking for one more chance....like former Skins DE Stirling Palmer and the savior of the 49ers, Jim Druckenmiller.

[BAFGA]

I guess Jim Druckenmiller is one of those names you never heard of? Maniax QB

Also he's my neighbor across the street, btw.... Big drunk, but otherwise a cool person that was supposed to be Young's replacement in S.F.

So Druckenmiller is living in Memphis? I always wondered what happened to him...

[Ron78]

i voted for las vegas because wasnt that the team that he hate me was on?
Yes, Rod Smart. Former Washington Redskins linebacker Kurt Gouveia was also on the Las Vegas Outlaws team.

[Ron78]

i think the biggest failure of the xfl besides lesser talent was the timing of the season. i think a late summer league that wraps up its championship 1 or 2 weeks prior to nfl week 1 would have had a better chance.
The XFL's strategy was to pick up the XFL season right where the NFL season was ending. You may be right though. Why have second-rate football in March when it has to compete with NCAA basketball among other things? The NFLE time-frame (or a little earlier in the Spring than that) may be the best time for a developmental league.

[Ron78]

ps .... never heard of the aafl............
The AAFL was a promising idea for a Spring league that went bust recently due lack of funding. It had heisman trophy winner Eric Crouch and national champ Chris Leak among some other decent talent that didn't quite make the NFL cut.
http://www.allamericanfootballleague.com/