The XFL American football league, which played a single season in 2001, could return in 2020:
Television ratings for the N.F.L. have fallen 17 percent over the past two seasons. The league is embroiled in a continuing crisis over concussions, and youth participation rates are falling.
All of this suggests a difficult future for the sport, yet the N.F.L.'s most notorious competitor, Vince McMahon's X.F.L., has a comeback in the works. McMahon, the chairman and chief executive of World Wrestling Entertainment, announced on Thursday that he would take a second crack at professional football, with play scheduled to start in early 2020.
McMahon first tried to reimagine pro football 17 years ago. The old X.F.L. was a joint venture between the World Wrestling Federation (W.W.E.'s former name) and NBC, which had lost rights to broadcast N.F.L. games. Violence was amped up: An opening scramble replaced the coin toss and fair catches were banned. So was the sex appeal, with cheerleaders who were even more scantily clad than the ones in the N.F.L., and advertising that included innuendo about them.
[...] Other than the name, this version will have little in common with the old X.F.L., he said. There will be no cheerleaders, McMahon said. Players with criminal records will not be welcome. Political statements, such as kneeling during the national anthem, will be prohibited.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 27 2018, @06:25PM (1 child)
Give me a break.
Besides the fact that NFL games are also broadcast OTA, people bought cable packages specifically to watch sports; indeed, sports channels have always been the big selling point.
Thus, if people are cutting cords, it must be that sports aren't all that interesting anymore. Why could that possibly be? A shift in the culture? No. A shift in the sports. People (men and women), when they "go to war", don't want to be lectured about breast cancer, inclusiveness, and how much black lives matter. They want action; they want sex; they glory; they want excitement; they want the yin and yang of masculine dominance and feminine allure.
Well, people ain't getting that from the NFL anymore.
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 28 2018, @12:37AM
Or, and hear me out, the cable has gotten too fucking expensive.