Pat McAfee was involved in ESPN’s coverage of the first attempted revival of the XFL. He made it clear on his radio show on Monday that it took extraordinary circumstances to derail that league.
Vince McMahon had secured broadcast deals with both FOX and ESPN. Many of the teams were drawing passionate crowds. McAfee says Dwayne Johnson and his ex-wife and business partner Dani Garcia are smart to incorporate as much from the 2020 league as they can when they re-launch the XFL in 2023, because it was going to be successful if not for a worldwide pandemic.
“It was gonna go,” McAfee said. “I think honestly, first time ever, a spring league was gonna have success. Then Uncle Covid came through, got in the nachos in Seattle. The league shut down. Bankruptcy was filed. It went up for sale and The Rock and Dani Garcia bought it.”
That point can be disputed. A market like St. Louis is proof that there were plenty of XFL fans in many of the league’s home markets, but the TV viewership did decline steadily each week, finally falling below one million viewers for a game in the final week of action.
Still, that is considerably better than 2001 when the league set a record in primetime in Week 1 and then immediately saw its audience disappear.
Eight cities were announced Sunday as the home bases for XFL franchises. Not a lot has changed. Five of the teams are staying in the same cities. One moves from one suburb to another and two have new homes.
McAfee says it is a brilliant move.
“They kept a lot of the very same fan bases, which I think was a very smart idea. They take the Dallas team and move it to Arlington, they take the Tampa team and move it to Orlando, took the Los Angeles team and moved it to Las Vegas.”
Disney will be the media partner of the XFL when it relaunches next year. The company will use ABC, FX and the ESPN networks to air games.
According to Pat McAfee, a successful spring football league wouldn’t just be a big deal for football fans or the league’s media partners. Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson should be excited about more than just what it means for his wallet.
“I don’t know if he ever had like a closing to the chapter of football. If he’s able to build his own f***ing league that’s successful, they’ve already partnered with the NFL, and his business mind is able to give opportunities to guys in his position, I think he would probably say ‘You know, I feel like I kinda closed that whole part of my life up,’ which is good for The Rock. It’s good for players that are going to get an opportunity here too.”
