The XFL was a professional American football league which played for one season in 2001.

Foundation

Created as a joint venture between NBC and World Wrestling Entertainment under the company name "XFL, LLC," the XFL was created as a "single-entity league", meaning that the teams were not individually owned and operated franchises, but that the league was operated as a single unit.

The concept of the league was first announced on February 3, 2000. The XFL was originally conceived to build on the success of the National Football League and professional wrestling. It was hyped as "real" football without penalties for roughness and with fewer rules in general. The loud games featured players and coaches with microphones and cameras in the huddle and in the locker rooms. Stadiums featured trash-talking public address announcers and very scantily-clad cheerleaders. Instead of a pre-game coin toss, XFL officials put the ball on the ground and let a player from each team scramble for it to determine who received the kickoff option.

The XFL also did something that prior leagues (the WFL and USFL) didn't accomplish, getting not only NBC to televise its games, but also two other outlets: UPN and TNN.

It should be noted that the "X" in XFL did not stand for "extreme," as in "Extreme Football League." When the league was first organized, promoters wanted to make sure that everyone knew that the "X" did not actually stand for anything.

2001 Season

The XFL's opening game took place on February 3, 2001 between the Las Vegas Outlaws and the New York/New Jersey Hitmen. The game, a 19-0 victory for the Outlaws, was watched on NBC by an estimated 54 million viewers.

Although the XFL began with reasonable television ratings and fair publicity, the television audience declined sharply after the first week of the season and the media attacked the league for what was perceived as a poor quality of play.

It was also observed that the XFL seemed to be attempting to attract two distinct types of audience to games - wrestling fans and pro football fans. Ultimately it failed to appeal to members of either group: wrestling fans wanted drama, hype, and more scantily-clad cheerleaders, while football fans simply wanted a better calibre of play on the field.

Also, many football fans distrusted the league because of its relationship to pro wrestling. They had a hard time accepting that a close, come-from-behind win or a controversial ending had not been scripted in advance, although there was absolutely no evidence to support this. The sport was panned by critics as boring football with a tawdry broadcast style.

Both WWE head Vince McMahon and NBC also seemed to have put far too much stock in a football cliche which is frequently mouthed by fans, particularly older ones, about a desire to return to the era of "old-time smashmouth football". While this is often voiced, in fact football is far more popular as a spectator sport now than it ever was in the earlier era supposedly longed for, and the move away from "smashmouth" to a more wide-open offense featuring more passing is largely responsible for this. The league was forced to change rules during the season to afford receivers more protection.

One of the announcers for the XFL was Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura, himself a former professional wrestler, whose involvement was controversial in that some felt that his being an announcer took time away from his job of running his state.

On April 21, 2001, the season concluded as the Los Angeles Xtreme defeated the San Francisco Demons in the XFL Championship Game (the "Million Dollar Game"), 38-6.

Failure

Though paid attendance at games remained respectable in all its markets, the XFL ceased operations after just one season thanks to astonishingly low television ratings. One NBC broadcast received the lowest-ever rating for a major network prime-time television program.

Despite initially agreeing to broadcast XFL games for two years and owning half of the league, NBC announced it would not broadcast a second XFL season. World Wrestling Entertainment President Vince McMahon advised that the XFL would continue, as its television agreements with UPN and TNN were still in place. Just days later however, UPN announced that it would also drop XFL telecasts, and McMahon announced the XFL's closure on May 10, 2001.

The operation of the XFL was estimated by both World Wrestling Entertainment and NBC to have lost approximately $ 70 million.

Teams of the XFL

The teams were the following:

• Birmingham Thunderbolts
• Chicago Enforcers
• Las Vegas Outlaws
• Los Angeles Xtreme
• Memphis Maniax
• New York/New Jersey Hitmen
• Orlando Rage
• San Francisco Demons

Standings, 2001

See List of leagues of American football

External link

• NBC, WWF pull the plug on XFL after just one season of anything-goes football