Orlando Rage vs New York New Jersey Hitmen game photos, Sun 25 March 2001 – NY/NJ Hitmen 12 @ Orlando Rage 17
Photos by Orlando Rage Team Reporter, Mark Zelakowski.
(14 May 2001) –On the 10th of May 2001, the Worldwide Wrestling Federation officially put the XFL to bed.
There was supposed to be a second season. According the Vince McMahon, the founder of the fledgling league, the XFL was building a brand and it takes a while to make a mark in the sports world. The XFL was willing to do its time and build that brand.
The fans were satisfied. The XFL would survive. Everybody also knew that the league would get better with time.
This is why the sudden extinction of the league is a real shocker. Why, after all this, did the league fold so fast? Even the some of the league’s top employees were blind-sided by the news.
The XFL is a great business idea. The players are paid little, seats at the stadium are cheap and the whole product is designed to please the fans. Why couldn’t this business idea succeed?
Was Vince McMahon being insensitive to the league’s fans, players and employeees?
In the end Vince McMahon had no choice to fold the league. Once it was realized that UPN would not award a new TV contract for the coming season the end of the league had arrived.
The performance of the XFL was directly linked to the fortunes of the WWFE stock. When the XFL was announced the stock had immediately dipped thirty percent. Over the course of the league the stock price has remained low.
With the announcement of the UPN deal failure the WWFE stock would have nose-dived. In an effort of damage control the announcement to close the league was quickly made. As of the close of business on the week following the XFL departure the WWFE stock rose significantly.
The WWF was saved.
Between the WWF and NBC $70 Million dollars was lost in the initial year of the league. Most of these losses were due to league start-up and were expected. It was all part of the business plan.
When you consider what the XFL accomplished in it’s first year, one might say that the new league was fairly successful. Attendance was above expectations. XFL branded clothing and memorabilia was selling well. The football product was getting better. The XFL was well on it’s way to making it’s mark as a spring football league.
What the XFL was missing was respect. Sports media who wouldn’t usually care about anything other than the major leagues spent a lot of time and energy lambasting the XFL. Why? Mainly because of it’s link to the WWF and Vince McMahon. The media’s reaction the XFL was linked to its founder. The media’s reaction to the XFL was also responsible for the performance of the WWFE stock.
If “Joe Nobody” had started up this league, using the backing of investors, then the league would have been left alone and would have been able to survive to build itself up into a viable football alternative.
The XFL is a great business idea. The players are paid little, seats at the stadium are cheap and the whole product is designed to please the fans. Why couldn’t this business idea succeed?
It’s a catch 22 situation. The XFL could not succeed because it was linked to the WWF and it’s founder Vince McMahon. But the XFL would not have been born if Vince McMahon had not had the vision to start such a football league.
Is there another businessman out there that is willing to invest in this league? Why not? They should be running and not walking to the doorstep of the Vince McMahon to buy the XFL at a fire sale price.
Vince McMahon and the WWF have done all the hard work already. The brand is built. The franchises are in place. The players are available, and will play for next to nothing. And despite what the TV ratings will have you believe the fans in most of the XFL cities are waiting for more XFL football.
And more XFL fans will be born, once the perception of WWF “taint” is taken away and real football fans start accepting the league for what it really was… a very good minor football league with excellent innovative ideas and a solid business plan.
So step up and buy this league. Once ownership changes, and Vince McMahon and the WWF are cut loose, the apparent “taint” that the media has assigned to this league will be gone and an excellent football league will emerge.
By Sonny Sanders – Bolts Team Reporter
Birmingham – (9 March 2001) — Rumors of the demise of the XFL are not new. Since the first announcement by Vince McMahon the media has forecast a short and inglorious reign for the XFL. Every media outlet has spewed forth negativity toward all aspects of the fledgling league.
The XFL was branded a sleazy bastardized version of the NFL. Rumors of proposed nudity and cheerleaders lap dancing with drunken fans spread like wildfire. The XFL would unleash every known perversion for all to see and would do so under the thinly veiled guise of professional football.
The football itself was slighted long before the first player was drafted. The media joked about the games being scripted and fixed. Even after legitimate coaches and players were signed the media’s blast of negativity continued to pound at the XFL. The media has helped sway public opinion to their side.
The XFL is not perfect and should also accept some blame for the loss of fans support. The announcers are not the best in the business but neither are they the worst that have ever covered a game. The talent on the field is below that of the NFL and the media has used this as a battering ram to bash the XFL at every opportunity. They fail to point out that NCAA talent is also inferior to the NFL.
What are the real problems that hinder the XFL? Is it bad games? The NFL has plenty of bad games each week. The NFC Championship game was one of the worst games ever. How many Superbowls have been great? The problem is not the announcers. Nor is it the cheerleaders, players, or level of competition.
The one aspect of the XFL that has the so-called media experts riled up is Vince McMahon. They perceive McMahon as one step above pornography. Their stance is that the WWF is sleazy and caters to the lowest common denominator. I am not going to debate the pros and cons of professional wrestling. It is what it is and does not claim to be anything more.
McMahon, as owner of the WWF, is not encouraged to participate in a legitimate sport. The media wants to persecute him for having the gall to enter into the arena of “real” sports. The media stands back with its high and mighty self-righteous attitude wagging its finger at McMahon and saying bad boy.
Behind all of this ranting about the evils of professional wrestling mixing with real sports is a dirty little secret that they have failed to mention. Until recently Ted Turner owned the WCW. A wrestling organization that is just as sleazy as the WWF was owned by the man that also owns the Atlanta Braves!! The WCW is no different than the WWF. There is partial nudity, profanity, and violence. Ted Turner’s company did the very things that McMahon has been ridiculed for.
Where was the outrage about Turner degrading the MLB and the Atlanta the Braves? Why is it that one man is viewed differently by the media and considered a pariah while another is accepted?
The media’s bias against McMahon is evident and is uncalled for. Football fans should be outraged by the media’s blatant attempt at telling you what you should like. The XFL is football. Is it the greatest football to ever be witnessed? No, but neither is the NFL. Should the XFL be subject to condemnation by the media solely because of McMahon’s involvement? No.
It is a shame that a league with so much promise may be doomed by unjustified criticism.
The XFL has become a punching bag.
Never in the history of American sports has a sporting league been more scrutinized by the media and the public. When The XFL debuted, The sports media expected a three-ring circus. The public expected the most radical sporting league in history. The expectations were high and low.
The question is did both parties get what they expected?
The sports media wants this league to fail. After watching the inaugural broadcast of The XFL on NBC, the media needed only to decide what angle they were going to take. They were going to rip it all along regardless of the outcome or performance.
If cheerleaders were featured heavily, the XFL would have been signified as smut. The cheerleaders in the XFL are no different then any other sports team cheerleaders. So the media couldn’t use that angle to bash the league. Even though some still use that as an excuse.
When the play was proven to be legitimate and not scripted like a movie, television or wrestling. The sports media needed another angle. They went with “this is not the NFL” and why should anyone watch.
Believe it or not, the media has a huge role in painting the public’s perception. Not to say that the public can’t think for itself but the media has control to spin a story and make anyone look good or bad – whatever they want.
In this society, perception becomes reality. If the XFL is perceived by the media to be a league full of semi-pro football failures. Then the public will buy that line. Nothing could be further from the truth. Just look at the backgrounds of all the players in the league. If the media were to do their research, then they’d see the truth, but rest assured they wouldn’t mention it. Instead, The public is fed their agenda motivated garbage.
The public expected the XFL to be something different then any sports league that they have ever seen. Instead, what they got really was football with alot of entertainment features.
The entertainment fans wanted to get what they get out of the WWF. The WWF is kind of an entertainment hybrid. It’s a comic book, it’s cartoonish, it’s a live action, live theatre soap opera within sports setting. When one watches the WWF, they get athleticism, comedy, action, drama, violence and sexuality. WWF fans love the company because it’s a fast paced fantasy world that’s over the top but has the strong human elements of love, hate, competition and betrayal. It’s really a variety show and not just staged wrestling matches.
The WWF fan wanted to see an extreme football league with the same “out of this world” features that the WWF has. The live WWF shows have a rock concert feel. The XFL does not give WWF fans what they want. The XFL has some sexuality, But the stories are not strong enough yet and in the end despite all the fan friendly features, It’s just a football game.
The sports fans want to see good football and many of them expected the XFL to be entirely different then the NFL. The NFL is the king of sports franchises to a sports fan. Nothing can touch it. The sports fan watched the XFL to see if they can get into a new league. The XFL in some cases has provided football from a fresh new perspective but sports fans simply can’t get into a league where they have no loyal ties to any of these players or teams. They expected harder hitting football. The XFL takes you closer and lets you hear all the hits but besides that it’s really not that much more violent then NFL hits. Many of the Sports fans are familiar with some of the players because of their strong college backgrounds but the majority of them are clueless to the origins of the XFL players.
Did the sports fan and public get what they expected? No. Too much football for some not enough football for others. The XFL isn’t the NFL to sports fans. The XFL isn’t the WWF to wrestling fans. It’s hard to please people with those expectation levels.
What is the XFL then?
The XFL is simply a sporting event in a fashion that you have never seen before. It’s an experiment that’s ahead of its time in broadcast sports. It’s a league where team is more important then individuals. A league where success is rewarded and failures are reported. It’s a league that is free and fresh. A league where sports meets reality TV and where sports meets entertainment. Has NBC and WWFE combined those elements perfectly yet? No. Will they successfully put those elements together? Time will tell.
What did you expect?
Mike Mitchell is a freelance sports writer, analyst, and a general lover of all football. Mike was one of the original XFLBoard.com Team Reporters in 2001, reporting on the New York/New Jersey Hitmen. We have welcomed him back to the XFLBoard and love his ongoing insightful contributions.
