Should the NFL buy the XFL?

The XFL made its much-anticipated return to our TV screens this year. The return has been a success with viewership and fan attendance being positive. At the moment, it seems like a good product to watch whilst the NFL is taking a break.

Even though the XFL has enjoyed some recent success, it would be naive to think that the Dwayne Johnson owned company could ever surpass the juggernaut which is the NFL. To accelerate the growth of the company they should partner together.

Formally own by WWE founder Vince McMahon, the XFL had its first season in February 2001. It was McMahon’s answer to the NFL, however after initial excitement about the league, audiences seem to lose interest in the product. This led to the XFL not returning for a second season. 17 years later, there were plans to reboot the failed league.

Yet, due to the Covid-19 pandemic this didn’t happen, and McMahon filed for bankruptcy in 2020. This led to Johnson and his business partner Dany Garcia purchasing the company for around 15 million dollars. The 2023 season kicked off in February this year. The relaunched seems to be a success with viewership on certain weeks averaging over a million views.

The XFL season is played in the spring, this is to avoid a clash with the NFL. This links to the idea that a potential partnership between the two companies could be very prosperous. A reason for this is the XFL could be a good feeder system for the NFL.

What is meant by a feeder system is a competition that provides a place for a less experienced player to work on their craft. A feeder system could be a good addition to the NFL, the reason for this is there are a lot of players who get drafted and take a while to develop in the league. An example of this is Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen, who’s first years in the league left people having some doubts about his ability to become an elite quarterback.

However, he had a breakout year in his third season, this shows that given the chance a player can develop relatively quickly. A less pressured environment such as a feeder system could give a competitor a chance to develop at their own pace. This would mean that the NFL would be more competitive because players coming into the league won’t have such a big learning curve.

The NFL sometimes misses out on great players due to not recognising their potential come draft time, an example of this is former five-time pro-baller Cameron Wake. Wake was released by the New York Giants after being signed as an undrafted free agent. This resulted in Wake missing out on two years of his career as he went to play in the Canadian Football league before being sign by the Miami Dolphins.

If the XFL were to become a feeder system, it would give undrafted players a chance to showcase their skills to a wider audience. Yet, this would only work if the XFL was associated with the NFL, because a player could be brought up to an NFL roster straight away. There are examples of feeder systems being successful in other sports, what comes to mind is the G league in basketball.

This is when franchises are affiliated with teams that are in the G league and have the ability to bring a player up to the NBA. This could work for the NFL as they can turn the XFL into a G league type system. Two-way contracts have been a success in the NBA and would likely work in the NFL.

This type of contract is where a player would sign with a franchise, but would also be allowed to play for their feeder team. This would be a useful tool for NFL teams as it would give them the opportunity to evaluate players in NFL games whilst not have them as a full-time member on the roster.

However, at this moment in time the XFL does not have enough teams so that NFL Franchises can have one each. This means the most likely option is matching up XFL divisions with NFL conferences, for example the south division in the XFL could matchup with the AFC, and the north division can be matched up with the NFC.

This means that only AFC franchises can look at a player in the south division, the same would apply for the NFC and the north division. It would be important to keep a limited number of teams in the XFL because even though in this scenario its owned by the NFL, you still want it to feel like its own league. This is because you don’t want to risk losing its original audience.

It is extremely unlikely that the XFL would eclipse the NFL because it will never attract the best player, coaches etc. This means that if they were to partner up, they can share resources and improve the quality of the game.