Television Debut Draws Big Ratings
The XFL’s television debut was deafening, dizzying and strewn with double-entendres, relegating the mediocre football itself to sideshow status.
And that formula, devised by the fledgling league’s owners NBC and the World Wrestling Federation, could be precisely why the show drew impressive preliminary ratings Saturday night for the Las Vegas Outlaws against the New York/New Jersey Hitmen.
An average of 10.3% of television households tuned in at any given moment, giving NBC a prime-time victory over the other networks.
That rating--based on the country’s 49 biggest markets, each preliminary point represents roughly 675,000 TV homes--is more than double what advertisers were told to expect.
It also is about 25% higher than NBC’s broadcast of Game 4 of the American League championship series between the Yankees and Mariners drew on a Saturday night in October.
“As long as [the rating is] somewhere between 3, 4, 5, we’re gold,” WWF owner Vince McMahon said.
Said NBC Sports Chairman Dick Ebersol: “We’re trying to bring Saturday night viewers back to NBC, and last night’s game more than doubled the time period.”
The network averaged a 4.2 prime-time national rating on Saturdays last month by broadcasting movies. The national rating for the XFL opener will be released today.
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Memphis 22, Birmingham 20--Rashaan Salaam scored on runs of 39 and one yard, and Marcus Crandell threw a 49-yard touchdown pass to Daryl Hobbs as the Maniax won before 35,321 at Birmingham, Ala.
The Thunderbolts had only 65 yards rushing, and a lot of those came on missed tackles by the Maniax.
As Birmingham quarterback Casey Weldon struggled through a 10-for-21 first half, fans started chanting for backup Jay Barker, who led Alabama to the 1992 national championship.
As the boos mounted, the camera zoomed in on Barker standing on the sideline. A cheer went up.
The camera zoomed in again as Barker talked to a coach. The cheer got louder. “We want Barker” fans screamed.
Barker never made it in and Weldon didn’t fold--he threw a 15-yard touchdown pass to Damon Gourdine and followed that with a 32-yard touchdown pass to Quincy Jackson.