Anything less than that standard simply won't cut it, and while the NFL has its problems, it genuinely shows good, competitive games with high-quality athletes. Hell, even college football looks better than the XFL did at times. Trying to wedge into those markets was ridiculously stupid. The NFL is, ever so slowly, sliding its timeframe later and later in the year, and before long, they'll be playing the Super Bowl on February 15th. That won't sit well with multi-sport fans, and the league would do well to stick to the autumn time frame.
Football season is football season.
Athletes who are playing against one another, not acting and performing stunts. Even wrestling fans who watch football have switches in their brains that cause them to want different things from their different fixes. When the XFL packaged itself the way the WWF did, and when they telecast games in much the same way, they ruined the credibility of their games and players. They made it look like a big sideshow, and that wasn't what the football fans wanted. Fortunately, the NFL stays away from flashy promotions and super-hyped productions, but they do stray that direction once and a while.