XFL The XFL was a professional American football league that played for one season in 2001 . The league was founded by Vince McMahon , the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the World Wrestling Federation ( currently known as " World Wrestling Entertainment , Inc . " ) . The XFL was intended to be a major professional sports league complement to the offseason of the NFL , but it failed to find an audience and folded after its first and only season . Founding . Created as a joint venture between NBC and the World Wrestling Federation under the company name " XFL , LLC " , the XFL was created as a " single - entity league " , meaning that the teams were not individually owned and operated franchises ( as in the NFL ) , but that the league was operated as a single business unit . Vince McMahon ' s original plan was to purchase the Canadian Football League ( after the CFL initially approached him about purchasing the Toronto Argonauts ) , while NBC was moving ahead at the time with Time Warner to create a football league of their own . The concept of the league was first announced on February 3 , 2000 . The XFL was originally conceived to build on the success of the NFL and professional wrestling . It was hyped as " real " football without penalties for roughness and with fewer rules in general . The loud games featured players and coaches with microphones and cameras in the huddle and in the locker room s . Stadiums featured trash - talk ing public address announcers and scantily - clad cheerleader s . Instead of a pre - game coin toss , XFL officials put the ball on the ground and let a player from each team scramble for it to determine who received the kickoff option , which led to the first XFL injury . This type of " coin toss " has since been referred to as the " injury zone . " The XFL chose unusual names for its franchises , most of which either referenced images of uncontrolled insanity ( Maniax , Rage , Xtreme ) , evil ( Demons ) or criminal activity ( Enforcers [ a reference to mob enforcer s ] , Hitmen , Outlaws , and the Birmingham Blast , a reference to the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in 1963 as well as Eric Rudolph ' s 1998 bombing of a local abortion clinic ) . After outrage from Birmingham residents , the XFL changed the name of the Birmingham team to the more benign " Birmingham Thunderbolts . " The Los Angeles Xtreme name also formed a pun with the team ' s initials , " LAX " ( a gimmick that had previously been used by the Los Angeles Express of the USFL ) . The XFL had impressive television coverage for an upstart league , with three games televised each week on NBC , UPN , and TNN . Contrary to popular belief , the " X " in XFL did not stand for " extreme , " as in " Extreme Football League . " When the league was first organized in 1999 , it was originally supposed to stand for " Xtreme Football League ; " however , there was already a league in formation at the same time with that name , and so promoters wanted to make sure that everyone knew that the " X " did not actually stand for anything ( though McMahon would comment that " if the NFL stood for the ' No Fun League ' , the XFL will stand for the ' extra fun league ' " ) . The other Xtreme Football League , which was also organized in 1999 , merged with Arena Football before ever fielding its first game . Draft . The first and only main draft for the league took place over a three day time period from October 28 , 2000 to October 30 , 2000 . A total of 475 players were selected initially , with 65 additional players selected in a supplemental draft on December 29 , 2000 . 2001 season . The XFL ' s opening game took place on February 3 , 2001 , one year after the concept of the league was announced , and immediately following the NFL ' s Super Bowl . The first game was between the New York / New Jersey Hitmen and the Las Vegas Outlaws at Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas . The game ended with a 19 - 0 victory for the Outlaws , and was watched on NBC by an estimated 14 million viewers . During the telecast , NBC switched over to the game between the Orlando Rage and the Chicago Enforcers , which was a closer contest than the blowout taking place in Las Vegas . The show had a 9 . 5 Nielsen rating . Although the XFL began with better - than - expected TV ratings ( the opening - week games actually delivered ratings double those of what NBC had promised advertisers and the Saturday broadcast had more viewers than the NFL Pro Bowl ) and fair publicity , the audience declined sharply after the first week of the season , going from a 9 . 5 rating to a 4 . 6 in just one week , and the media attacked the league for what was perceived as a poor quality of play . A further problem was that the XFL itself was the brainchild of Vince McMahon , a man who was ridiculed by mainstream sports journalists due to the stigma attached to professional wrestling as being " fake " ; many journalists even jokingly speculated whether any of the league ' s games were rigged , although nothing of this sort was ever proven . Teams . Eastern Division Western Division XFL rule changes . Despite boasts by WWF promoters of a " rules - light " game and universally negative reviews from the mainstream sports media early on , the XFL played a brand of 11 - man outdoor football that was recognizable , aside from the opening game sprint to determine possession and some other changes , some modified during the season . In fact , most of the rule changes were inherited from the 1970s World Football League . Grass stadiums . All XFL teams had to play in outdoor stadiums with grass surfaces . No domed stadiums , artificial turf stadiums , or retractable roof stadiums were allowed . ( This happened to occur during Giants Stadium ' s brief experiment with natural grass ; the stadium ' s turf did not hold up well in the winter and early spring weather and the stadium reverted to its traditional artificial turf in 2003 . ) Opening scramble . Replacing the coin toss at the beginning of each game was an event in which one player from each team sought to recover a football 20 yards away in order to determine possession . Both players lined up side - by - side on one of the 30 - yard lines , with the ball being placed at the 50 - yard line . At the whistle , the two players would run toward the ball and attempt to gain possession ; whichever player gained possession first was allowed to choose possession ( as if he had won a coin toss in other leagues ) . The scramble infamously led to the first XFL injury : Orlando Rage free safety Hassan Shamsid - Deen separated his shoulder in the scramble during the XFL ' s opening weekend . This injury would keep Shamsid - Deen out for the rest of the season . No PAT ( point after touchdown ) kicks . After touchdown s there were no extra point kicks , due to the XFL ' s perception that an extra point kick was a " guaranteed point . " To earn a point after a touchdown , teams ran a single offensive down from the two - yard line ( functionally identical to the NFL / NCAA / CFL two - point conversion ) , but for just a single point . By the playoffs , two - point and three - point conversions had been added to the rules . Teams could opt for the bonus points by playing the conversion farther back from the goal line . This rule , as originally implemented , was similar to the WFL ' s " Action Point , " and was identical to a 1968 experiment by the NFL and American Football League , used only in preseason interleague games that year . Overtime . Ties were resolved in similar fashion to the NCAA and present - day CFL game , with at least one possession by each team , starting from the opponent ' s 20 yard line . There were differences : there were no first downs – teams had to score within four downs , and the team that had possession first in overtime could not attempt a field goal until fourth down . If that team managed to score a touchdown in fewer than four downs , the second team would only have that same number of downs to match or beat the result . If the score was still tied after one overtime period , the team that played second on offense in the first OT would start on offense in the second OT . Bump and run . The XFL allowed full bump and run coverage early in the season . Defensive backs were allowed to hit wide receivers any time before the quarterback released the ball , as long as the hit came from the front or the side ( similar to the NCAA ) . In an effort to increase offensive production , bump and run was restricted to the first five yards from the line of scrimmage ( similar to NFL ) following the fourth week of the season . Forward motion . Unlike the NFL , but like the World Football League , Arena Football League and the Canadian Football League before it , the XFL allowed one offensive player to move toward the line of scrimmage once he was outside the tackles . Halo rule / live punts . The heavily - hyped " no fair catch " rule ( announcers tended to mention it on almost every punt / kickoff ) was paired with a five - yard zone excluding players of the kicking team around potential returners before the ball touched them or the ground , similar to rules in Canadian football , rugby union , and contemporary NCAA rules ( where the term " halo " was applied , though the XFL called it instead the " danger zone " ) . But instead of making punt returns more exciting , it often had the opposite effect , since the XFL players ' inexperience with the rule caused a high number of game - delaying penalties . The fair catch had previously been abolished from Canadian rules , NCAA rules ( but only for the 1950 season ) , and rugby league . Another difference was that after touching ground 25 yards or more beyond the line of scrimmage , punts could be recovered and advanced by all players of the kicking team . This led to more quick kick s being taken on third - down - and - long situations in the one season of the small league than had been seen in the NFL over several preceding decades of longer seasons . This XFL rule was similar to a rule that had been in effect in American football in the 1910s and part of the 1920s . XFL penalized 10 yards from the succeeding spot for punts going out of bounds , even if they first touched the ground ( but not a player of the receiving team ) . For the initial weeks of the season , the XFL forbade all players on the kicking team from going downfield before a kick was made from scrimmage on that down , similarly to a rule the NFL considered in 1974 . For the rest of the season the XFL modified it to allow one player closest to each sideline downfield ahead of the kick , the same modification the NFL adopted to their change just before their 1974 exhibition games started . The purpose of these provisions was to keep play going after the ball was punted , encouraging the kicking team to make the ball playable and the receiving team to run it back . Roster and salaries . The XFL limited each team to an unusually low 38 players ( roughly analogous to the 42 for CFL rosters , as opposed to 53 on NFL teams and 80 or more on unlimited college rosters ) . This resulted , most commonly , in each team only carrying two quarterbacks and one kicker who doubled as the punter . The XFL paid standardized player salaries . Quarterback s earned U . S . $ 5 , 000 per week , kickers earned $ 3 , 500 , and all other uniformed players earned $ 4 , 500 per week , though a few players got around these restrictions ( Los Angeles Xtreme players Noel Prefontaine , the league ' s lone punting specialist , and Matt Malloy , a wide receiver ) by having themselves listed as backup quarterbacks . Players on a winning team received a bonus of $ 2 , 500 for the week , $ 7 , 500 for winning a playoff game . The team that won the championship game split $ 1 , 000 , 000 ( roughly $ 25 , 000 per player ) . Furthermore , players did not receive any fringe benefits , meaning players had to pay for their own health insurance . Broadcast overview . Sky cam . Although the XFL was not the first football league to feature the " sky cam " , which enables TV viewers to see behind the offensive unit , it helped to popularize its unique capabilities . The sky cam is currently used in NFL broadcasts on all major networks . This perspective was originally available only in standard definition , but is now broadcast in high definition during most major NFL games each week . Broadcast schedule . At the beginning of the season , NBC showed a feature game at 8 p . m . Eastern Time on Saturday nights , also taping a second game . The second game , in some weeks , would air in the visiting team ' s home market and be put on the air nationally if the feature game was a blowout ( as was the case in week one ) or encountered technical difficulties ( as was the case in week two ) . Two games were shown each Sunday : one at 4 p . m . Eastern on TNN ( now Spike TV ) and another at 7 p . m . Eastern on UPN ( which has since merged with The WB to form The CW ) . The XFL also had a fairly extensive local radio presence , often using nationally recognized disc jockeys . The morning radio duo of Rick and Bubba , for instance , was the radio broadcast team for the Birmingham Thunderbolts , while Opie and Anthony had covered pregame for NBC . Super Dave Osborne was a sideline reporter for Los Angeles Xtreme broadcasts on KLSX ; WMVP carried Chicago Enforcers games . In the third week of the season , the games were sped up through changes in the playing rules , and broadcasts were subjected to increased time constraints . The reason was the reaction of Lorne Michaels , creator and executive producer of " Saturday Night Live " , to the double - overtime win by the Los Angeles Xtreme against the Chicago Enforcers . The game ended at 11 : 45 p . m . Eastern , with the start of " SNL " pushed back to 12 : 20 a . m . Sunday morning . This angered Michaels , who expected high ratings with Jennifer Lopez as the night ' s host . Lopez had just become the first actress - singer in history to record the top - selling album in the United States ( " J . Lo " ) and to star in the most popular movie ( " The Wedding Planner " ) at the same time . In a rare " SNL " move , the Lopez show actually started on time for its live audience and was broadcast via tape delay . For the rest of the season , the XFL cut off coverage at 11 : 00 Eastern Time , regardless of whether or not the game was over . Media response . The XFL aimed to attract two distinct audiences to games : wrestling fans and American football fans . The XFL also tried to attract fans from other areas of entertainment ( e . g . , movies ) . Many American football fans distrusted the league because of its relationship to pro wrestling . They had a hard time accepting that a close , come - from - behind win or a controversial ending had not been scripted in advance , although there was no evidence to support this . The league was panned by critics as boring football with a tawdry broadcast style , although the broadcasts on TNN and to a lesser extent UPN and the Matt Vasgersian - helmed NBC coverage were comparatively professional and workmanlike . Longtime WWE play - by - play man Jim Ross , who has otherwise received praise for his calling of wrestling matches over the years , got the bulk of the criticism for his play - by - play calls of XFL games despite his 30 + years of experience in calling wrestling matches as well as calling play - by - play for the NFL ' s Atlanta Falcons in the early 1990s . Scoring was so scarce that bookmakers could not set the over - under total low enough . Wise gamblers who took the under , often in the mid 30s , would win consistently — they could even parlay the under for all four games in a weekend and win on a regular basis . Towards the end of the season , bookies needed to make the totals in the upper 20s , highly unusual in pro football gambling circles . The league was forced to change rules during the season to afford receivers more protection , but the mid - season rule changes did little to bolster league credibility . In 2000 , before the XFL ' s launch , the league aired a series of cheerleader commercials on NBC , featuring adult models such as Pennelope Jimenez , Karen McDougal , and Rachel Sterling . The most famous one featured them as some of the cheerleaders taking a shower in the locker room . Using clever camera angles and strategically placed objects , the commercial gave viewers the titillating illusion that the cheerleaders were nude in the shower with little left to the imagination . The edgy XFL commercials backfired and caused a controversy . Deemed too risqué by the media , the commercials were quickly withdrawn before the debut of the league . End of season and failure . On April 21 , 2001 , the season concluded as the Los Angeles Xtreme defeated the San Francisco Demons 38 - 6 in the XFL Championship Game ( which was originally given the Zen - like moniker " " The Big Game at the End of the Season " " , but was later dubbed the " Million Dollar Game " , after the amount of money awarded to the winning team ) . Though paid attendance at games remained respectable , if unimpressive ( overall attendance were only 10 % below what the league ' s goal had been at the start of the season ) , the XFL ceased operations after just one season due to low TV ratings . Facing stiff competition from the NCAA Basketball Tournament , the NBC telecast of the Chicago / NY - NJ game on March 31 received a 1 . 5 rating , at that time the lowest ever for any major network primetime television broadcast in the United States . ( On July 19 , 2006 , ABC ' s premiere of reality game " " broke that record with only a 1 . 3 – that show would be cancelled before airing another episode . ) Despite initially agreeing to broadcast XFL games for two years and owning half of the league , NBC announced it would not broadcast a second XFL season , thus admitting failure in its attempt at airing replacement pro football . WWF Chairman Vince McMahon initially announced that the XFL would continue , as it still had UPN and TNN as broadcast outlets . In fact , expansion teams were being explored for cities such as Washington , D . C . and Detroit . However , in order to continue broadcasting XFL games , UPN demanded that " WWF SmackDown " broadcasts be cut from two hours to one and a half hours . McMahon found these terms unacceptable and he announced the XFL ' s closure on May 10 , 2001 . " The situation is very bad , " he was quoted as saying . One reason for the failure of the league to catch on , despite its financial solvency and massive visibility ( perhaps infamy ) , was the lack of respect for the league in the sports media . XFL games were rarely treated as sports contests , but rather more like WWF - like sensationalized events . With few NFL - quality players , save Tommy Maddox , the league ' s MVP , and with little thoughtful analysis or even consideration by sports columnists , the XFL never gained the necessary recognition to be regarded as a viable league . The fact that the league was co - owned by NBC made ESPN ( which was part of the same corporation as ABC ) and Fox Sports Net ( owned by Fox TV ) disinclined to report on the XFL , though Time Warner properties such as " Sports Illustrated " , as well as the Associated Press , devoted coverage to the league . Many local TV newscasts and newspapers ( even in XFL cities ) did not report league scores or show highlights . This led to many football fans treating the XFL as a joke , rather than competition to the NFL . Former ECW announcer Joey Styles mentioned on the " McMahon " DVD ( which has a short section on the XFL ) that if the league had not been as publicly associated with wrestling and the negative stigma that comes with it , the league might have been successful . On the same DVD , Vince McMahon defends the XFL , saying it didn ' t cost a lot of money for him to try and still thinks it was a good idea , although WWE television nowadays occasionally pokes fun at the failures of the XFL . WWE announcer Jerry Lawler , who made amends with WWE months after the league folded and remains employed with the company today , believes that the league could have been a success if given more time . He stated in his biography that Vince ' s novel approach of adding entertainment to the sport would have made it a more appealing alternative to the NFL . However , because the league was immediately compared to the NFL as a direct competitor , he feels that the pressures placed by NBC ruined McMahon ' s model entirely . He states " I knew after the very first week that it wasn ' t going to fly . They said don ' t mention the cheerleaders , don ' t shoot the cheerleaders . I realized then they were going to try to take on the NFL and that was never going to work . The football wasn ' t good enough . " The XFL ranked # 3 on " TV Guide ' s " list of the TV Guide ' s worst TV shows of all time in July 2002 , as well as # 2 on ESPN ' s list of biggest flops in sports , behind Ryan Leaf . In 2010 , TV Guide Network also listed the show at # 21 on their list of " 25 Biggest TV Blunders " . Many stories recapping the history of the XFL show photos of the crash of its promotional blimp , portraying it retrospectively as an ill - omen for the league . The incident occurred a month before the opening game , when its pilot and a student pilot with him , lost control of the airship and were forced to evacuate . The ground crew were unable to secure the vehicle and the " unattended blimp then floated five miles north over the Oakland Estuary , at one point reaching 1 , 600 feet , until its gondola caught on a sailboat mast in the Central Basin marina . It draped over the roof of the Oyster Reef restaurant - - next to where the boat was moored - - and a nearby power line . " While the pilot was hospitalized no other major injuries were reported . The blimp needed $ 2 . 5 million in repairs , the sailboat and restaurant had only minor damages . Also before the season started , a fictional XFL game appeared in the Schwarzenegger movie " The 6th Day " set in 2015 . Legacy . Despite its unimpressive showing among the TV audience , the XFL lasted for twelve weeks , more than the eleven weeks played by the three previous professional outdoor leagues combined : the Regional Football League of 1999 played nine weeks , the Spring Football League of 2000 survived just two , while the Professional Spring Football League of 1992 folded before playing a single game . It restored an outdoor professional franchise to Birmingham , Las Vegas and Memphis — each of whom had lacked an outdoor pro team since their CFL franchises were shuttered in 1995 , but for a single season for the Tennessee Oilers in Memphis before moving to their permanent home in Nashville and becoming the Titans — and to Orlando , which had had no professional outdoor football since the WLAF ( later NFL Europa ) folded North American operations in 1992 . The XFL brought a football franchise to Los Angeles — a market which has lacked an NFL team for years — and demonstrated that a baseball - specific stadium such as San Francisco ' s Pac Bell Park made a suitable venue for football as well . However , none of these novelties translated into overall commercial success . The defunct league also popularized " in - game " interviews . The XFL would interview head coaches between plays . Today , National Hockey League players are interviewed between commercial breaks and Major League Baseball has managers and coaches being interviewed . During Fox ' s " Saturday Game of the Week " , players often wear microphones for a " sounds of the game " segment . NBC continued airing professional league football beyond the demise of the XFL . While no football aired during the 2002 season due to the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City , NBC struck a deal with the Arena Football League and aired games from that league from 2003 to 2006 . In 2006 , NBC returned to coverage of NFL games with " NBC Sunday Night Football " . The occasional use of the " sky - cam " and sideline interviews are the only features common to both the NFL and XFL coverage . NBC ' s lead announcer for XFL coverage , Matt Vasgersian , later became an announcer for the " NFL on FOX " . Minervini joined the United Football League broadcast team for Versus in 2010 . XFL team names and logos also appear in movies and television where professional football needs to be dramatized , as licensing for NFL logos may be cost prohibitive . In an episode of " The Simpsons " , Homer is wearing an XFL cap and waving a flag with the XFL logo at the beginning , looking forward to the new season , only to have the news broken to him , by Marge , that the XFL has folded . Marge then tells him that the league MVP told her , and that he was now sweeping up nails at the hair salon . In reality , the league ' s only MVP , Tommy Maddox , would resurrect his once - undistinguished NFL career with the Pittsburgh Steelers and win the NFL Comeback Player of the Year award in 2002 before giving way to Ben Roethlisberger two years later . It was also mentioned in a later episode where Homer mistakenly believed one of the teams was the " Long Island Ice Teas " when asked what was the best team to never win the XFL . The yardage - based conversion rule , which was introduced ( and only used once ) by the XFL , also will see new life . The all - female Lingerie Football League adopted a yardage - based conversion rule similar to that used in the XFL playoffs . In that league , a one - point conversion can be scored from the 2 - yard line while a two - point conversion can be scored from the 5 - yard line . The LFL , which targets a similar audience as the XFL did , does not feature any kicking . The United Football League later placed all four of its inaugural franchises in former XFL markets and stadiums . However , the UFL drew far fewer fans than the XFL average ( though the XFL was marked by a notable disparity between the beginning of the season and the end of the season ) . The difference between the XFL ' s San Francisco Demons and the UFL ' s California Redwoods was particularly striking ; despite both playing in the same ballpark , the XFL Demons drew an average of 35 , 000 fans , compared to only 6 , 000 for the UFL Redwoods . ( The XFL ' s heavy promotion , coupled with a lack of competition against the San Francisco 49ers that the UFL had to face as a fall league as opposed to a winter league like the XFL , are the most likely reasons for this disparity . ) Notable players . Notable players included league MVP and Los Angeles quarterback Tommy Maddox , who signed with the Pittsburgh Steelers after the XFL folded ( Maddox later became the starting quarterback for the Steelers in 2002 and led them to that year ' s playoffs , as well as continuing to start for them into 2004 ) . Los Angeles used the first pick in the XFL draft to select a former NFL quarterback , Scott Milanovich . Milanovich lost the starting quarterback job to Maddox , who was placed on the Xtreme as one of a handful of players put on each team due to geographic distance between the player ' s college and the team ' s hometown . Another of the better - known players was Las Vegas running back Rod Smart , who first gained popularity because the name on the back of his jersey read " He Hate Me . " Smart , who was only picked 357th in the draft , later went on to play for the Philadelphia Eagles , Carolina Panthers , and the Oakland Raiders . His Panther teammate Jake Delhomme named his new - born horse " She Hate Me " as a reference to him . Smart played in Super Bowl XXXVIII becoming one of seven XFL players to play in a Super Bowl . Receiver Yo Murphy also achieved this as a member of the St . Louis Rams in Super Bowl XXXVI ) . Tommy Maddox played for a Super Bowl team ( with the Pittsburgh Steelers ) in Super Bowl XL in Detroit , ( although Maddox , by then a third - string quarterback , did not play in the game , which turned out to be his last appearance in uniform before retiring ) . Lastly , Las Vegas Outlaws DB Kelly Herndon played in Super Bowl XL with the Seattle Seahawks in 2005 , where he is remembered for intercepting a pass and returning it a then - record 76 yards . Although he did not play for an NFL team after the XFL ' s lone season , former Las Vegas Outlaw offensive guard Isaac Davis also had a notable NFL career , playing in 58 games over a six year career . Davis started for the San Diego Chargers in Super Bowl XXIX . Ownership of broadcast rights . XFL games are now part of the WWE Video Library , along with classic highlights of WWE ( and predecessors Capitol Wrestling / WWWF / WWF ) , World Championship Wrestling , Jim Crockett Promotions , the World Bodybuilding Federation , and other past and present subsidiaries of WWE . No XFL game has been rebroadcast in its entirety in any form , on any channel , since the league folded .