XFL's Extreme Measures

The XFL takes a no-hold-barred approach to building a young male audience online.

The new extreme football league, the XFL, looks as if it could find a happy home on the Internet with its wild assortment of gratuitous violence, cheerleader voyeurism, and flamboyant personalities.

The XFL is the brainchild of Vince McMahon, the bombastic leader of the World Wrestling Federation. Few organizations have marketed as well as the WWF, and McMahon's approach could revolutionize the way we watch football, or all sports, for that matter.

NBC certainly seems to think so. The television network has invested heavily in the league, which is aimed at the "hard-to-reach young males," says Kevin Monaghan, vice president of business development for NBC Sports. This demographic is generally impatient, and forms a niche group that wants what Monaghan refers to as a "backstage pass."

According to Monaghan, the strategy for marketing the XFL plays into the philosophy of Dick Ebersol, the president of NBC. "Ebersol is the ultimate believer in insider TV," says Monaghan. "He believes in ultimate reality TV, and that means ultimate access TV. Our goal as broadcasters is to provide the ultimate inside pass. It's like as if you were a kid. Your first wish would be the backstage pass for a Christina Aguilera concert."

Moreover, this demographic group also ranks very high in computer use. That's why Monaghan and others at NBC Sports believe streamed content will work. These viewers will watch an event on two different platforms, TV and computer, says Monaghan.

"It is a completely different league," says Monaghan. "There will be wild stuff going on on the sidelines. Streaming content will help the XFL. You don't think that a complementary stream of the cheerleaders is something the fans are going to want to watch?"

But Jeff Shapes of the WWF plays down the emphasis on streaming content (including cheerleader cams) as a way for the XFL to build an audience. "It's not the focus of the league — football is. We want a quality product on the field," he says.

More than 65,000 users reportedly registered at XFL.com from June to November 2000. At the site, fans can buy season tickets, watch streamed team events such as uniform unveilings, and link to audio e-mails for news.

But even though the Web may be an ideal medium for XFL content not suitable for television coverage (McMahon plans on having all the players miked so fans can hear the on-field trash talk), the league's overall streaming media strategy remains on hold.

Back to story