{"id":79511,"date":"2019-05-10T12:13:33","date_gmt":"2019-05-10T17:13:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/?p=79511"},"modified":"2019-05-10T12:13:33","modified_gmt":"2019-05-10T17:13:33","slug":"xfl-rule-changes-and-marketing-strategy-detailed-in-depth-in-washington-post-article-today","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2019\/05\/10\/xfl-rule-changes-and-marketing-strategy-detailed-in-depth-in-washington-post-article-today\/","title":{"rendered":"XFL rule changes and marketing strategy detailed in-depth in Washington Post article today"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"pwtor-505838742\" class=\"pwtor-before-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><hr \/><b>SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)... <\/b>\r\n\r\n<iframe src=\"https:\/\/widget.spreaker.com\/player?show_id=3076978&theme=light&playlist=false&playlist-continuous=false&autoplay=false&live-autoplay=false&chapters-image=true&episode_image_position=right&hide-logo=false&hide-likes=false&hide-comments=false&hide-sharing=false&hide-download=true\" width=\"100%\" height=\"140px\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe>\r\n<hr \/><\/div><p>Vince McMahon&#8217;s second attempt at the XFL includes a lot less McMahon bombast and a lot more planning. The original XFL game quality was hampered by rushing the game onto the field and the ill-conceived notion that softening defensive restrictions would make the game more exciting (as opposed to what happened, which was crippling the offenses&#8217; ability to score). This time around, a lot more planning and more prudent and thorough vetting of rule changes is taking place.<\/p>\n<p>Today&#8217;s Washington Post detailed the XFL&#8217;s approach this time around, which includes zero quotes from Vince McMahon about the NFL being the &#8220;No Fun League&#8221; and no references to celebrity color commentators or cheerleaders. It&#8217;s all about &#8220;reimagining&#8221; pro football into a swifter, more exciting sub-three-hour experience. (Yes, ironic considering WWE &#8211; the NFL of Pro Wrestling, one might say &#8211; bloating their cable shows and Sunday PPVs for extra revenue and &#8220;hours consumed&#8221; bragging points.)<\/p>\n<p>The Washington Post article describes the strategy this way: &#8220;This time around, the XFL didn\u2019t race to market with colorful packaging. Instead, it opted for a methodical approach, applying principles borrowed from Silicon Valley on launching a start-up business and fine-tuning a product to suit customer desires.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Game play changes include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li data-elm-loc=\"5\">Shorter games with less downtime and more impactful plays.<\/li>\n<li data-elm-loc=\"5\">The traditional kickoff won\u2019t resemble anything seen before.<\/li>\n<li data-elm-loc=\"5\">The overtime will look more like a hockey shootout.<\/li>\n<li data-elm-loc=\"5\">There could be 9-point scoring opportunities (scoring the points-after-touchdown from the 15 yard line).<\/li>\n<li data-elm-loc=\"5\">Multiple forward passes on a single play and a shorter play clock.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\u201cI think there\u2019s a really fine line between innovating and being gimmicky and we\u2019re trying to stay on the proper side of that,\u201d Oliver Luck, head of the XFL, said recently. In another conversation, he pointed out, \u201cWe don\u2019t want to do gimmicks. Gimmicks in XFL 1 didn\u2019t work very well. These are legitimate improvements to the game.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Football fans won&#8217;t have trouble finding the XFL. As announced a few days ago, <a href=\"https:\/\/touchdownwire.usatoday.com\/2019\/05\/07\/xfl-espn-fox-abc-fs1-tv-rights-television-rights-broadcast\/\">the XFL will be broadcast on ESPN and Fox<\/a> in prime time slots starting next spring. While ESPN and Fox are not paying any broadcast right fees, they are paying production costs, so there&#8217;s a partnership element with all parties having something to gain and a mitigation of the incentive to cut their losses if it doesn&#8217;t take off early.<\/p>\n<p>The Post article ultimate brings up key questions: &#8220;The XFL will no doubt face litmus tests that have crushed so many similar ventures in the past. Will fans watch second-tier players? Does anyone really want football in the spring? Can the XFL become economically viable?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Read the full article, which also details the various ways the XFL has done &#8220;test runs&#8221; so far and consulted football experts for feedback and guidance.<\/p><div id=\"pwtor-260591760\" class=\"pwtor-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280 __336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p><strong>FULL ARTICLE:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/sports\/2019\/05\/10\/xfl-doesnt-just-want-avoid-aafs-fate-it-wants-change-football\/?utm_term=.3d42b8206205\">The XFL doesn\u2019t just want to avoid the AAF\u2019s fate. It wants to change football<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"pwtor-end-article-groups pwtor-entity-placement\" id=\"pwtor-1555495565\"><div id=\"pwtor-2653344408\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\nTHANK YOU FOR VISITING<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>Vince McMahon&#8217;s second attempt at the XFL includes a lot less McMahon bombast and a lot more planning. The original XFL game quality was hampered by rushing the game onto the field and the ill-conceived <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2019\/05\/10\/xfl-rule-changes-and-marketing-strategy-detailed-in-depth-in-washington-post-article-today\/\" title=\"XFL rule changes and marketing strategy detailed in-depth in Washington Post article today\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":54555,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-79511","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-prowrestlingnews","category-news_wwe"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/post\/2018\/01\/McMahonVinceXFLdesk_3x2_600.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79511","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=79511"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79511\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":79512,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79511\/revisions\/79512"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/54555"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=79511"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=79511"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=79511"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}