A LOOK AT THE EVENTS THAT TRANSPIRED DURING XFL's 464-DAY RUN
2000:
2/3: WWF Chair Vince McMahon unveils plans to launch an eight-team pro football league. McMahon: "This will be real American football on a 100-yard field, but with a lot more fun and a lot more attitude."
2/4: McMahon said, "If the [NFL] stands for the ‘No Fun League,’ the XFL will be the extra fun league.”
3/30: NBC and the WWF announce a strategic partnership to jointly own and operate the XFL. NBC Sports Chair Dick Ebersol: "This is not a standoffish investment. We're partners -- heart and soul -- in editorial input and production." Ebersol says a 4.5 Saturday night rating is a "conservative" projection.
8/22: Anheuser-Busch, AT&T, Burger King, Honda, M&M Mars and Quaker State/Pennzoil sign on as charter advertisers for the league.
11/15: In an ESPN The Magazine interview, McMahon calls NFL QBs "pantywaists" and promises XFL players will be encouraged to date cheerleaders.
11/16: Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura is named an XFL commentator.
11/17: Ventura: "I think I'll be free to express my opinions whether they be right or wrong and I think it'll be a lot of fun." McMahon: "I would suggest the way we're going to cover this [league] is going to revolutionize not only the way football is covered, [but] in all likelihood, sport itself."
11/27: XFL President Basil DeVito reports the XFL has sold 39,000 season tickets, 25% of its goal.
2001:
1/10: XFL promotional blimp crashes on Oakland's waterfront.
1/22: DeVito says the league has sold 406,671 tickets, over 50% of its 800,000-ticket goal.
1/25: DeVito reports 60% of the ad inventory on NBC, UPN and TNN has sold out.
1/31: The Wall Street Journal's Joe Flint: "For NBC, a 4.5 rating, the equivalent of six million viewers, shouldn't be too hard to attain."
2/5: The XFL debuts on NBC with Hitmen-Outlaws. A sellout crowd of 30,389 watches players such as "He Hate Me." The broadcast earns a 10.3 overnight rating, NBC's highest-rated Saturday night since September 30, 2000.
2/6: UPN earns a 4.2 overnight rating for its first XFL game. USA Today's Christine Brennan: "I'm surprised that NBC, the network of John Chancellor and Bob Costas and David Brinkley, all those wonderful people, that they would put this junk on the air." FSN's Jim Rome: "The XFL is really about one thing -- bad football." Other reax include "the talent is not there," "tawdry titillation and lousy football" and "worse than imagined."
2/12: For week two, NBC's overnight ratings "plummet" over 50% to 5.1.
2/12: Fan Wally Hopkins, who attended an XFL game at Giants Stadium, "A friend of mine said this was like the Cincinnati Bengals playing the San Diego Chargers at Hooters."
2/21: Honda pulls its ads from XFL telecasts.
3/1: S.F.-based KRON-NBC Dir of Programming Pat Patton: "We aren't going to live with crappy numbers forever. The numbers have got to improve."
3/2: To increase offense, the XFL drops its bump-and-run rule.
3/5: The XFL says it is considering signing players out of high school who do not qualify academically for college.
3/8: WWF CEO Linda McMahon said while the company "continues to evaluate the XFL on a weekly basis, we stand committed to our long-term goal of making the XFL a viable brand of alternative football."
3/15: Vince McMahon: "We've made mistakes, and I think our biggest one was our selection of announcers. We need football announcers, not WWF announcers."
3/16: Vince McMahon has memorable interview with Bob Costas on HBO.
3/21: NBC's Saturday night XFL rating hits an all-time primetime low when Thunderbolts-Outlaws earns a 1.6.
3/26: Ebersol tells the Washington Post he is "prepared to pull the plug on the XFL if the ratings don't improve during the playoffs." McMahon: "I hope NBC steps up with us, but if they can't, they can't. ... If we have no network TV partner, we have no league."
4/23: XFL Championship game, "The Million Dollar Game," earns a 2.5 overnight rating.
5/11: Vince McMahon fails to convince either NBC or UPN to continue televising XFL games and announces the league will fold. McMahon: "Some risks pay off, some don't. I don't regret any of this wonderful experience."
5/14: Ending reax: "An embarrassment for sports and for NBC," "hopefully this will be the last effort in that direction," "good riddance" and "Final X-it. The Ex-FL, X-tinguished. X marks the splat"
