Will The XFL Fold Like The AAF Did? Oddsmakers Say No

• The XFL is coming back to televisions everywhere on February 8.
• The first and only season for the league took place in 2001.
• Sportsbooks have a wager on the ability of the league to make it through a complete season.

STAMFORD, Conn. – The XFL (eXtreme Football League) season is upon us after a 20-year resting period and bookmakers are asking the question, will they be able to finish a complete season? The league played their one and only season in 2001. However, they did not receive enough fans to continue beyond that point.

The first go-around of the XFL went heavy on the “X” and was too much to keep fans interested.

It was concluded that viewers wanted to see more of the actual sport of football rather than entertainment antics. To find success in their reboot, the league has changed a few things and to get NFL fans excited, they ran an advertisement during the Super Bowl.

The league consists of eight teams, the Dallas Renegades, the Houston Roughnecks, the Los Angeles Wildcats, the Seattle Dragons, the DC Defenders, the New York Guardians, the St. Louis BattleHawks, and the Tampa Bay Vipers.

The reboot promises to be more centered on football while still maintaining their unique style.

Marketing will be needed to keep the XFL exposed to a wider fanbase. That was the demise of the Alliance of American Football (AAF).

They thought they could run off the hype of the NFL and didn’t market themselves. But the XFL’s Super Bowl ad shows they’re aware they need to get the word out there in order to be successful.

BetOnline is running a wager on the XFL quitting before playing a full season. The favored answered is “No” (-2000) while “Yes” has odds of (+700).

So far, league owner Vince McMahon has turned things around for the league so that it will see a more favorable and profitable outcome and not a repeat of the 2001 season.

Understanding The XFL

Some new rules of the game include timing, plays, and points. All the games will go under three hours.

To make this happen each team will only get two timeouts, the play clock will last 25 seconds and half time is 10 minutes long. The clock will continue to run despite going out of bounds or having incompletions.

Clocks will also stop at the end of every play after the two-minute warning of each half so no one team can run the clock out in order to win.

Overtime will be in the style of soccer where each team will be given five chances to score from the 5-yard line. In the end, the team with the most points will be the winner.

No extra points will be allotted like the field goal point after a touchdown during a regular football game. Instead, teams have the choice of running a new play from either the 10, 5, or 2-yard lines to score an extra 1-3 points depending on what yard line they chose to run the play from.

Multiple forward passes in one play will be allowed within the rules of the XFL as well. This would expand upon the imagination of plays being run by the athletes on the field.

McMahon is investing over $500 million into this reboot venture. He has gotten coaches and players from colleges to fill his rosters.

Most players and coaches are working with the XFL in hopes that it’s a stepping stone to a career with the NFL. Whether the league folds or not, expect to see many of these coaches and athletes in the news for other future endeavors.

News tags: AAF | Dallas Renegades | DC Defenders | Houston Roughnecks | Los Angeles Wildcats | New York Guardians | NFL | Seattle Dragons | St. Louis BattleHawks | Super Bowl | Tampa Bay Vipers | Vince McMahon | XFL