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Do You Want More Football? Attend The XFL

Feb 10 '01 Write an essay on this topic.

The Bottom Line It will be a matter of keeping the fans' interest during the short season. For sure, there is a void to be filled.

Are you ready for some Football a la WWF? Everybody, from the owners, the players, to the fans claim it is serious,like in serious Football.

Some critics call the new foray of WWF's Vince McMahon and NBC's Dick Ebersol into the Football arena a new way to boost ratings this season. Others go as far as saying that it is just a new approach to the new voyeur/reality shows that are all the craze these days. No matter what the critics and observers may say, the XFL moved from just an idea to the reality of a brand new Football league.

If anything, Vince McMahon appear to be on the way to realize his dreams. No, he is not buying an NFL franchise. He is not buying either the Canadian Football League. He managed to create his own brand of entertainment; he created a Football league claiming to bring the fans back into the game. If we look at the opening of their season with teams named Las Vegas Outlaws, NY/NJ Hitmen, The San Francisco Demons, Memphis Maniax etc and the reaction of the fans, we are ready for some great show or some combination of entertainment and football.

As if the Superbowl was not sufficient for many of us, fans, we felt compelled to watch NBC in its coverage of the XFL. With all the publicity in the days leading to the opening of their limited (Feb-April) season, we could not avoid being brought into the game by all the flashy pictures of hardly clad cheerleaders. To get the game started, two players from the opposing teams had to fight their way to the ball on the turf to earn the rights to start. No more coin toss. There are also a few other rules that were created to add more meat or substance to the game.

Total Access Football

This may mean that the fans have access to everything that is occurring on the field. The battery of cameras will zoom over where the action is at. As in the games between the teams opening the games, the search for entertainment was on. If the cheerleaders were shaking their bon bon, the cameras were there to show. If a player receives so bad a hit that he can't even get up, the cameras were there too. To a large measure, Vince McMahon is relying on his huge success with WWF to build this new league. First, The Rock came forward to announce the game. Then, we had the former wrestler turned Governor of Minnesota turned commentator, Gov. Ventura representing the hard-nosed, hard core, gladiator-like part of the new league.

One more thing that is worth being mentioned here is the fact that all the players are equipped with a mic. The fans get to see and hear what is under the helments and how the blows affect the players. A lot of them accepted to go through the exercises and practice camps without any pay. Kickers get paid $35,000, Quaterbacks, 50,000 and players, 45,000. There is also a $2,500 bonus for the members of the winning team. To get to that stage, Butkus summarized it this way, "Quaterbacks will be chewed by their coach live..."

NBC does not have to rent any longer

Being co-owner of the XFL, Dick Ebersol finds a rating tool for NBC. It is a good way for the network to boost its Saturday primetime ratings during the rating sweeps.

McMahon and Dick Ebersol may be out to teach some lessons to the NFL crowd.

The tickets are affordable. The idea is to invite the fans back into the game.

Let's see who can better. Will it be the XFL or NFL?

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