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msparks
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Joined: 13 Nov 2003
Posts: 3182
Location: Jammin' at the Frim Fram, Frippin' in the Krotz
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 Posted: 01/18/06 - 13:50 Post subject:
Gee, what's not to like?
The XFL is proof of what can be done when the mega-brains of NBC and the WWF get together and try to make a couple of bucks.
Created as a joint venture between NBC and the World Wrestling Federation 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 NFL 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, which forseeably led to the first XFL injury.
The XFL had impressive television coverage for an upstart league, with three games televised each week on NBC, 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. It should also be noted that this particular XFL had no connection to an indoor league also known as the XFL (Xtreme Football League) that had launched a few years earlier but merged with AF2 before ever playing a game in it's own right (although the leagues did have a connection in both having teams in Birmingham, Alabama).
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