Ten years ago, after week three of the XFL, it already looked like Vince McMahon's football league was doomed. Ratings plummeted faster than Eric Bischoff can say "Big Surprise Next Week!" The XFL, as I wrote, didn't seem nimble when it came to responding to media derision out of the gate. It took itself too seriously, while the product itself didn't warrant that yet.

There were a lot of factors that led to the doom of the XFL, and it was probably inevitable. But the fundamental lack of understanding that if you loosen the rules for defenders, it's going to thwart offensive production, lead to hard-hits but low scoring games, and turn away viewers, was among the big ones. But there were many others, too. I'll keep posting flashbacks from the dying weeks of the XFL here at my blog.

By the way, I'll still looking for the rolls of film I took at the XFL press conference. I either lost the rolls of film and never developed them, or dropped them off somewhere to be developed and forgot to ever pick them up. There were some good pics in there! I've been waiting for the mystery rolls of film to show up one of these years. The press conference was one of several occasions when I upset the easily irked Basil Devito because I hounded Vince McMahon with too many questions during the media time after the press conference.

WADE KELLER'S END NOTES
"XFL - ALREADY DOOMED"
PUBLISHED IN PRO WRESTLING TORCH NEWSLETTER #642
COVER-DATED FEB. 24, 2011

XFL - Already Doomed? So how bad is the XFL debacle? Is all hope lost? Is there a chance for a second season? There is, but the third weekend continued the trend of dropping ratings. The one important factor to remember in this XFL story as it relates to the health of the WWF is that the WWF split the expenses with NBC and the budget was kept low to begin with. When McMahon began the league, he didn't even expect to be on NBC.

XFL Marketing Ideas: While no one can say with a straight face that the XFL was given a fair chance by the media, and it was a situation where the media bashing probably did turn some people away, there were major mistakes made by the XFL in the early weeks, too. I stick with my suggestion made in last week's cover story that the XFL should have continued to follow ECW's marketing approach and market themselves as the targets of media hatred. Ads should - and still could - ask viewers to decide for themselves and see what all the fuss is about.

The XFL's commercials instead are marketing the games as if the football players and rivalries matter. It's not a bad approach to take, either, but the current commercials almost come across like the XFL is oblivious to its overwhelming public image as a joke.

The XFL has an image of taking itself too seriously and overpromising the extreme nature of the game without actually delivering. There is a great opportunity for the XFL to make fun of its public image at this point. Why not promote ads making fun of themselves, but going so far that it's basically a parody of the mainstream sports reports. Show players tripping over themselves, wearing their helmets backwards, dropping easy passes, and gawking at cheerleaders in the middle of a play. Then have a narrator ask: "Find out if the XFL players are as bad as the mainstream sports establishment would have you believe. Tune in Sunday on NBC."

They're beyond being taken seriously, so why not show they have a sense of humor about everything. Heck, even advertise the falling ratings. "The few, the proud, the XFL viewers!" Make it seem like an elite group of fans who are sticking with the product no matter what. It could backfire, but what marketing approach by the XFL hasn't backfired yet.

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