Alternative football
A View From the Press Box
It’s no secret television ratings for the NFL are down this year.
I know, I know. Protesting the National Anthem really hurt the league. I think that’s true to an extent but what has hurt football more — specifically television ratings — are factors unrelated to pregame protests.
Look at the NFL this year. Two NFL teams, the Giants and Jets, call New York City home. New York is the largest TV market in the country
The Giants and Jets are not only going to miss the postseason, they are bad football teams. It’s not exactly been a national secret for the past couple of months that they have no chance at a Super Bowl.
Chicago and Houston are also major TV markets with floundering teams. Granted the Texans are suffering due to injuries and the Bears...they are suffering due to stupidity. Start with ownership and work your way down.
I’m a lifelong Bears fan. I suffered through the Bobby Douglass era. I’m allowed to badmouth them.
Factor in disgruntled fan bases in San Diego, St. Louis, and Oakland from franchises that have abandoned loyal fans (Rams and Chargers) or who are about to do so (Raiders).
Now figure in the number of stars who have missed most of this season, for example Aaron Rodgers, Odell Beckham, Jr., Deshawn Watson, and the Seattle Seahawks’ secondary.
So let’s review: bad teams in big markets, jilted fans in three cities, and loss of star power.
Again, the protests have hurt NFL viewership but they are far from the only thing to impact the game.
I point these things out to show that when blood is in the water it will draw sharks.
Last Thursday, Vince McMahon, the CEO and owner of World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) sold 3.34 million shares of WWE stock for about $100 million. He filed details of the sale with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission - you know, the other SEC.
According to the filing the purpose of the stock sale was “primarily to fund a separate entity from the Company, Alpha Entertainment LLC, which Mr. McMahon established to explore investment opportunities across the sports and entertainment landscapes, including professional football.”
Alpha Entertainment was founded in September of this year by McMahon. According to the U.S. Trademark and Patent Office, Alpha Entertainment filed for five trademarks related to the XFL.
The XFL was a professional football league co-owned by McMahon and NBC and brought the flamboyance of professional wrestling to the gridiron.
It was brash, flashy, tacky, and loud — kind of like your former sister-in-law at a New Year’s Eve party.
It lasted one season. McMahon and NBC each lost about $35 million.
And now it appears McMahon has an interest in reviving his failed sports league, either under the name XFL or under another name (he also sought to trademark URFL).
I think it’s safe to say that McMahon is planning on restarting a rival football league — be it the XFL 2.0 or something called URFL, which I’ve got to be honest sounds a little too much like an e-mail error code.
In any event I like the thought of another football league. Competition only makes for a better product. As regular readers of this column know I was a huge fan of the USFL — the last true challenge to the NFL.
Unfortunately, a handful of USFL owners abandoned the future of league in an effort to force merger. And when I say merger I don’t mean as in AFL-NFL. It would have been more like ABA-NBA, when four teams were absorbed by the older league.
And a potential new league can be successful if they will do the following:
• Put teams in cities who will support a professional football team, not just large markets — San Diego, Oakland, and St. Louis come to mind.
• Follow common sense rules — if someone catches a football, it’s a catch; forget the nonsense about the angle of the equator and the level of the Dow Jones Index when the receiver went down.
• Kill the archaic touchback rule — stop rewarding a defense for being inept. If an offensive player fumbles through the end zone, mark it down at the one-yard line. Stop giving the ball to the incompetent team at their own 20-yard line.
• Stop with the glitz and showmanship of the WWE. Let quality football sell itself. There’s no need for novelty uniforms and half-naked cheerleaders — the NFL already has those things.
• Play games one day a week and stop saturating the schedule with games. Too much of a good thing is bad — fans get tired of so many games and short weeks are not safe for players.
• Do not play games in Europe or Asia. There are plenty of places in North America to play football without having to televise games at 9 a.m. on Sunday.
• Hire a legitimate commissioner — someone with more love for the game than for his or her own salary. Hire someone who will stand up to all owners. Let me put in a word for an old fat guy who still dreams of putting on shoulder pads and helmet one more time.
• Have the toughest PED policy for any professional sports league. Given the history of McMahon and WWE, this is a must.
• Do not just target marquee players to sign. Look for quality players who can build a team. Build your own stars. That’s when the AFL became successful, when they had stars of their own to present to fans.
Will McMahon find a TV partner again? Will he try to create a better league or merely another cash cow to milk?
Time will tell but I’m hoping for the best.
It might be the only thing that will return the NFL to its former place of glory.