What Can Vince McMahon Do to Make the XFL Work?

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By now, you know the XFL is coming back, baby. I don’t know that we’ll ever see a single game played, but whatever. That’s a problem for the future to sort out. Vince McMahon seems like he’s trying to capitalize on the decline in the NFL’s ratings and popularity by attributing it solely to the national anthem protests and complications in the rules.

I think that’s a little shortsighted – there’s A LOT that’s contributing to the decline in popularity of NFL as a whole.

But, given the right circumstances, I think the crazy sonofabitch just might be on to something.

Play in the Summer

If McMahon thinks that he’s going to go head-to-head with the NFL in the Fall, he is delusional. I mean, would it really surprise anyone if McMahon thought he could take down the NFL? No. Personally, I wouldn’t be surprised if McMahon came out and said he was going to fly into the sun and seriously think he could do it.

But, if the XFL is going to succeed, they should capitalize on that late offseason lull when people are hungriest for football.

Simplify the rules

I do think there is something to be said for the complication of the NFL rules over the last several seasons. I don’t, however, think that it’s the be all end all type of problem that some are saying it is. To me, it’s a drop in the bucket compared to health concerns and the saturation of the product.

But, it does make the game more enjoyable when you understand what’s going on, and this entire “what’s a catch?” debate is completely exhausting.

De-politicize it

The bottom line here is that people don’t want to hear a message when they tune in on Sundays, and the NFL severely misunderstood their key demographics. The reality is most football fans are blue collar dudes who want to escape the dredges of daily life – they care about boobs, beer, and America.

Now, I’ll say this – I don’t mind the anthem protests. I don’t know why we’re even playing the anthem at sporting events anymore to begin with. And, I certainly understand that if you want to force your message, you’re going to make people uncomfortable. But, there are conversations that we need to be having, and there should be an outlet for that.

You can’t be mad at the players for this when the NFL allowed it to happen. And, because the NFL allowed it to happen, they’ve lost the boobs, beer, and America subset of their fan base. People are walking away from the product. Period.

So, we’re talking strictly from a business standpoint here. No one cares about my personal take on the matter, and, most people don’t think like I do anyway, especially here in Tennessee. A lot of people were deeply offended and started changing the channel.

By essentially saying players will be asked to stand for the anthem, McMahon is specifically targeting that subset of people who have walked away from the NFL. And, there’s enough of ’em that it could work.

But, McMahon also can’t say he’s going to remove politics from football, because just doing so is a political statement in and of itself.

Offer jobs to high school kids

I thought Poppa Bear wrote an excellent piece on the impact the XFL could have college football. That’s a great way to get over the perception that the XFL is second-rate talent.

It’s like any other pro league that isn’t the NFL – the general perception is that it’s filled with guys who couldn’t cut it in the real pros. But, that wouldn’t be the case if McMahon were to offer guys contracts right out of high school, or even freshmen and sophomores in college.

Stream it

The NFL experimented with games on Twitter a season or two ago, but it never really panned out. We all know the bubble is getting ready to burst in terms of these big money TV contracts, so why not get ahead of it? Create your own streaming service, or add XFL to platforms such as Hulu or Netflix. Make it as easy as possible for the 2020 citizen to consume.

Separate himself from it

This one’s easy, folks – don’t make the XFL seem like pro wrestling on the gridiron, and people won’t feel like they’re stooping to the level of watching pro wrestling (even though watching pro wrestling is great).

Embrace the nostalgia

Embrace how awful the first XFL run – make it a humorous cultural phenomenon if you can. If I’m McMahon, I’m getting “He Hate Me” jerseys and shirseys up on the XFL site like YESTERDAY. How many people would love to have a “He Hate Me” shirt? Or, a Memphis Maniax hoodie? C’mon, man – people eat that stuff up.

Geographic Strategy

You can’t just waltz into New York City and command attention from a town that already has two NFL teams, two NHL teams, two MLB teams, and  two NBA teams. Of course, not every NFL city is like that, but where it’s present, the NFL is king.

So, step one, for me, would be eyeing places that already have appropriate venues that the NFL has left. Get a team in St. Louis, San Diego, and Oakland. Especially Oakland, where the football fans are rabid. Also, the NFL has already been rumored to have started looking at possible franchises to replace the Raiders in Oakland. The XFL can get ahead of that and maybe snatch up some of the market share.

Also, look at smaller cities with smaller venues – Birmingham, Alabama is a town where football is basically religion but they have no major sports teams. Places like Louisville, Raleigh, Orlando, and Columbus come to mind here, too.

Don’t try and make this the NFL. Don’t go into a city and demand a 100,000 seat stadium. It’s okay to go the route of MLS and build these smaller stadiums, geared towards an attendance of 20,000-25,000. With the right combination, it could really work.

I think if these things fall into place properly, the XFL can actually make something of itself.

Stoney Keeley is the Editor in Chief of The SoBros Network. He is a strong supporter of Team GSD and #BeBetter. “Big Natural” covers the Tennessee Titans, Alabama Crimson Tide football, the WWE, and a whole wealth of nonsense. Follow on Twitter @StoneyKeeley

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