SmackDown! debuted on Thursday evenings in 1999, but on September 9, 2005, the show was relocated to Friday nights. The show is currently titled as Friday Night SmackDown! to reflect this shift. It is broadcast from the Verizon Center in Washington, D.C. Friday night television schedules are often dominated by football games, which is why most people probably don't remember much about the original version of SmackDown! But that all changed when World Wrestling Federation (WWF) decided to compete with the American culture by moving their top show to a traditional Friday night slot complete with commercials. This decision proved to be very successful as live attendance at WWF events more than doubled after the switch to Fridays. In addition to being a huge success on its own terms, this move allowed the company to take advantage of the lucrative Monday night television schedule later on. In fact, SmackDown! became so popular on Fridays that when the WWF moved it to Mondays, they needed another show to fill the spot on Fridays. Thus, Velocity was born. Velocity aired for one season before being canceled due to low ratings. However, this didn't stop the WWF from continuing to use Friday nights as a home base for their shows until they were shut down in April 2011.