I personally like the league and am rooting for its success. The league is a major improvement over the last iteration of the XFL and is also a drastic upgrade over its predecessor of last year, the AAF, that didn’t even last one full season. The XFL has true staying power in my opinion.
Some parts of this league are really cool and refreshing, but it doesn’t make it so you can’t recognize it as football. And I do think it’s implemented some things that the NFL should be paying attention to in order to learn from it and try to add it into their league to enhance the NFL experience.
The first thing is the designated ball spotter. One of the biggest gripe in the NFL is that teams want to go faster, but the referees sometimes take awhile to spot the ball and get it down. The XFL easily fixes this by having a ball spotter on the field to take care of that. This process is done within 5 to 10 seconds and then the play can go on pretty seamlessly.
The way it goes in the NFL just takes way too long in between plays. Fans don’t like all that idle time. The XFL eliminates a lot of the in between play idle time with just one simple move like adding a designated ball spotter. It’s an easy thing that can be implemented in the NFL that would be such a good thing.
The next thing is make replay reviews short and easy. The NFL takes way too long to conduct its reviews. Again, fans hate all of that idle time waiting for a decision on a play that shouldn’t take 3-5 minutes. The XFL rules state it should take a minute or less barring some technical issues. The XFL has replay officials in the stadiums instead of everything having to go to New York for review. Additionally, since every play is under review, which is possible with a replay official in every stadium focused on that one game and no others, by the time it goes under further review, it has already been reviewed closely so the final decision can come in easily within a minute. All of it really speeds up the process.
The replay reviews in the XFL are clean, clear and efficient. The process is quick and easy. It’s really refreshing to watch such a quick replay process done with such thorough explanations as to why the call was confirmed, stood or overturned. The NFL can also easily do this, and it would be great for the league.
These simple two rules that the XFL has is part of the reason the XFL typically can keep games to three or less hours. The NFL struggles as games can often times go three and a half to four hours.
Implementing these two simple rules would do more than most think in making games shorter, which would be a welcomed sight for many NFL fans. And neither rule would damage the structure of the NFL. The XFL has some different rules that the NFL wouldn’t adopt, like a 1, 2 or 3-point conversion play rules, one foot in bounds is a catch or the 25-second play clock, but having a ball spotter and implementing quicker replay rules doesn’t make the NFL lose itself. The game will still be the same, just a lot quicker. There are no downsides to these things.
But there is one more thing the XFL has that I wish the NFL, and quite frankly other professional sports leagues, had. And that’s transparency. I’m not saying the NFL has to have everyone mic’d up at all times and are subject to interviews at any time like the XFL. However, the NFL is often too secretive about a ton of things that don’t need to be.
For instance, the XFL had their first major officiating gaffe this past weekend. That stuff has happened countless amounts of times in the NFL, and in all sports. But the difference is the XFL was open and honest about it and owned the mistake instead of hiding and hoping it’d go away. Transparency is the strongest attribute the XFL has and the NFL, and other professional sports leagues, would be smart to learn from how the XFL does that.
The XFL built its league on being the best possible experience for fans. Everything they do is for the fans. It’s a fan friendly experience and people are starting to love it.
The XFL is never going to reach the success of the NFL, but I think it has a real chance to stick around because it is a breath of fresh air that was much needed. Even though the XFL will be the NFLs little brother, I think the NFL can still learn some things from it. And I honestly think both leagues can build off each other to make both leagues as good as they can be.
No comments:
Post a Comment