The XFL has made a return with a simple promise: giving football back to the fans. The new and improved XFL gave the football fans what they wanted: pure transparent football. 

These past four weeks of football have been something no one has expected. Critics and football fans in general didn’t think that the XFL would be this successful right off the bat. 

The league wanted to let people into the minds of the coaches and players on the field by being as transparent as possible. They let fans hear the coaches talking to their players and let them hear what play is about to be called before the snap.

I personally thought that being able to listen to the coaches going over plays and talking them over with their quarterback was a great addition to the broadcast and something I wasn’t expecting. Not only did they let you into what they were talking about on the field, but they also let you into what they were talking about in the booth. 

Some people might not like that every play in the XFL is automatically reviewed. The flip side to this is that you as a fan are able to see what they are reviewing and listen to them spit balling what could be the outcome of the play — you can even see why it takes them so long. 

Critics thought that the quality of play wouldn’t compare to what we see in the NFL. What many don’t know is that a majority of the players in the XFL have had stints in the NFL and played that high level quality of play and understand how to bring that intensity into this league. 

There’s many notable names that have been brought into the league and also rising stars already after week four.

A couple notable names would include Landry Jones, a notable Oklahoma quarterback that had a good stint in the NFL with the Pittsburgh Steelers, Cardale Jones, who won a National Championship at Ohio State in 2015 and played most of his brief NFL career with the San Diego Chargers. The league also includes Antonio Callaway, who some people would remember had a promising career with the Browns until he ran into issues with the NFL’s substance abuse policy and was suspended for 10 games — he later had a handful of off the field issues. Others dot the list.

There are also some new names making their professional football debut in the XFL. Some names include Kenny Robinson, a cornerback who is the only player in the XFL who still has college eligibility — he was expelled from West Virginia after violating the school’s academic integrity policy. Many say he won’t be staying long in the XFL, with him possibly being eyed by scouts for the upcoming NFL draft. 

Attendance has not been a problem for the XFL yet. In the opening weekend each of the opening teams had around a little over 17,000 fans in attendance. 

There was a lot of good that came out of the XFL in the past four weeks, and there is still a lot more good to come. It’s going to be interesting to see how the rest of the season unfolds. While there is the talent, can it bring in as many people that they’re trying to reach?

The attendance numbers were larger than expected for the first week of the league, with about 69,818 people in attendance around America, and from there the number started climbing.  

From then on the XFL’s attendance numbers began to increase, with an almost 10% increase of fans in Week 2 with 76,285 fans in attendance around the league. This was followed by an increase of roughly 8% more fans to 81,942 fans, which was due large in part to the St. Louis Battlehawks having their opening weekend, which drew a large attendance to that game with football being back in St. Louis. 

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This is the New XFL

The longevity of the XFL is starting to become shaky, after increasing every week on fan attendance week four was a major set back for the XFL. Week four they only had 70,214 people in attendance which was a 14% drop in fans from the week before and also right after they had the best week yet with fan attendance. 

While the increase of fan attendance is good, that’s not the whole audience. The XFL TV numbers have only been dropping — and it’s going to get worse. 

Now that the XFL has to compete with the ending of the NBA and NHL seasons, with teams in those leagues are fighting for playoff spots, and now the start of Spring Training for the MLB, TV space is going to be limited and the XFL is going to be on the backburner for sports fans in general. 

While the league seemed to be in good hands at the start, it might be a struggle to see where it might end up. The league has many good qualities that some debate should be added to the NFL.

The XFL also stands as a proving ground for players that didn’t have an NFL career, wanting to prove that they can complete and have the talent worthy of making it to the NFL.

Overall, the XFL has the potential to become something, but it has to prove its worth and evolve into what it wants to become: a better alternative to the established power in professional football, the NFL.