I wasn’t going to do this writeup next, originally. Going in chronological order, the World League of American Football would have come before the 2001 XFL. However, this article was originally set to go up the week of the 2020 XFL Championship. Now that that’s been cancelled, I thought it would be best to get my 2001 XFL ratings and retrospective up now, before it becomes even less timely.
So Vince McMahon wanted to bring WWF attitude to football. Mixing underserved markets with the biggest cities in the U.S., combined with some pretty rad color schemes, the XFL was the first league to seize on the fact that people want football even after the Super Bowl has been played and college football is over.
The schedule structure was similar to the one the AAF and the second XFL would follow: ten games, six within the division. Most weeks were composed of all division games or all inter-division games, but not every week.
The first week of play saw incredibly strong ratings but it fell off from there. Viewers just weren’t willing to tune in for rougher play combined with wrestling-type gimmicks.
The way the schedule played out shows just how much a strong finish outweighs a strong start. The Chicago Enforcers, for example, put their 0-4 start behind them and earned a playoff bid in a weak East. The Hitmen also came close, with a Week 9 loss to the Enforcers being the difference—for the playoffs and the ratings both.
The Orlando Rage, on the other hand, started out 6-0 but didn’t have many big wins. They would end the season with two close wins, two blowout losses and a home loss to the Demons in the playoff semifinal.
Most of the teams were at or near .500—only the Thunderbolts finished more than a game under and just two teams, the Rage and Xtreme, finished above. This meant there was little margin for error when it came to the postseason.
Notably, the Demons swept the Maniax in the regular season to earn the tiebreaker over them for second place in the West. The two were responsible for the only three losses the Xtreme had—the Maniax even swept LA, but it wasn’t enough to overcome losses at home to the Rage and Outlaws.
As I sort of alluded to earlier, the semifinal games in this XFL were cross-divisional. The goal was to avoid putting teams up against each other for the third time in a season. While the Xtreme easily dispatched the Enforcers, the Demons upset the Rage, setting up a rematch of the regular season finale.
The Xtreme easily won the Million Dollar Game in their home stadium, 38-6.
After one season, NBC wasn’t taking another gamble on the XFL, and the league shut down without a deal.
The most important point I want to make about these ratings is the closeness of the teams in the 3 to 7 range. The teams in that range are a touchdown away from moving above or below the rest. The Rage, for example, could easily have been the third- or even second-best team in the league if a couple games had gone in their favor even more than they already did. But the system largely favors teams who finished well over teams who didn’t, which can explain how an 8-win team ends in the red.
I’m not really sure how to end this article. I suppose I could note the biggest takeaway once again: a strong start to a season is usually going to be outweighed by a strong finish. The league itself mirrored that: lagging ratings at the end were never going to save it for a 2002 return.
Next time, I’ll go back in time a little and look at the first two years of the World League of American Football.
So Vince McMahon wanted to bring WWF attitude to football. Mixing underserved markets with the biggest cities in the U.S., combined with some pretty rad color schemes, the XFL was the first league to seize on the fact that people want football even after the Super Bowl has been played and college football is over.
The schedule structure was similar to the one the AAF and the second XFL would follow: ten games, six within the division. Most weeks were composed of all division games or all inter-division games, but not every week.
The first week of play saw incredibly strong ratings but it fell off from there. Viewers just weren’t willing to tune in for rougher play combined with wrestling-type gimmicks.
The way the schedule played out shows just how much a strong finish outweighs a strong start. The Chicago Enforcers, for example, put their 0-4 start behind them and earned a playoff bid in a weak East. The Hitmen also came close, with a Week 9 loss to the Enforcers being the difference—for the playoffs and the ratings both.
The Orlando Rage, on the other hand, started out 6-0 but didn’t have many big wins. They would end the season with two close wins, two blowout losses and a home loss to the Demons in the playoff semifinal.
Most of the teams were at or near .500—only the Thunderbolts finished more than a game under and just two teams, the Rage and Xtreme, finished above. This meant there was little margin for error when it came to the postseason.
Notably, the Demons swept the Maniax in the regular season to earn the tiebreaker over them for second place in the West. The two were responsible for the only three losses the Xtreme had—the Maniax even swept LA, but it wasn’t enough to overcome losses at home to the Rage and Outlaws.
As I sort of alluded to earlier, the semifinal games in this XFL were cross-divisional. The goal was to avoid putting teams up against each other for the third time in a season. While the Xtreme easily dispatched the Enforcers, the Demons upset the Rage, setting up a rematch of the regular season finale.
The Xtreme easily won the Million Dollar Game in their home stadium, 38-6.
After one season, NBC wasn’t taking another gamble on the XFL, and the league shut down without a deal.
The most important point I want to make about these ratings is the closeness of the teams in the 3 to 7 range. The teams in that range are a touchdown away from moving above or below the rest. The Rage, for example, could easily have been the third- or even second-best team in the league if a couple games had gone in their favor even more than they already did. But the system largely favors teams who finished well over teams who didn’t, which can explain how an 8-win team ends in the red.
I’m not really sure how to end this article. I suppose I could note the biggest takeaway once again: a strong start to a season is usually going to be outweighed by a strong finish. The league itself mirrored that: lagging ratings at the end were never going to save it for a 2002 return.
Next time, I’ll go back in time a little and look at the first two years of the World League of American Football.
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