Columnist Dean Juipe: McMahon wrong on two counts

Dean Juipe

Monday, July 17, 2000 | 10:28 a.m.

Dean Juipe's column appears Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. His boxing notebook appears Thursday. Reach him at juipe@lasvegassun.com or 259-4084.

There's a truism Vince McMahon is utilizing in promoting his new professional football league and it goes something like this: No matter the subject or how erroneous the premise, if you repeat something often enough there's a chance it will eventually be perceived as the truth.

When the speaker has the added advantage of reaching millions of people through the power of television messages and interviews, even his most inaccurate statements can influence an unsuspecting audience.

And McMahon is not only TV savvy, he's a high-profile entrepreneur who is currently on a nationwide crusade. He's going around -- as he did in Las Vegas last week -- harping on the necessity of a new football league and attempting to demean the National Football League in the process.

But McMahon is guilty of exaggeration if not outright deception when it comes to the basic premise behind his league's existence. Over and over again he has repeated the same line: "The NFL has lost touch with its fans."

He says it, even if nothing could be further from the truth.

The XFL -- formerly the Xtreme Football League, although the Xtreme part of the equation has already been dropped, perhaps for legal reasons in a conflict with trademarks related to "extreme" sports -- may or may not succeed in Las Vegas when it lifts off in February, and McMahon knows the risks. So rather than say "We're starting a new league even though there isn't demand for one," he has been beating the war drums on the singular subject of the NFL being "out of touch" with its constituency.

That's well and good as an advertising ploy, except he's wrong.

He's also wrong on another count, that the XFL will capitalize on interest in football being at a peak for the Super Bowl. Here again, he continually says that a football fan has an insatiable appetite for the sport and that the fan feels a sense of remorse following the Super Bowl. He says there's a momentum there that will automatically carry over and aid the XFL.

In reality, interest in pro football builds throughout the NFL season and reaches its zenith during December's playoffs. By the time the Super Bowl is played on the last weekend in January, even the biggest fan has had enough for a few months.

But McMahon didn't want to go head to head with the NFL in the fall and winter, so he's relying on repetition and trickery in an attempt to convince the average fan that he has not only been shortchanged by the NFL but that he needs another two-month fix.

The NFL is immensely popular and is easily America's favorite sport. The ticket prices may seem high, yet they're comparable to other sports and those who can afford them are universally envied.

As for the game itself, McMahon derides the NFL for protecting its quarterbacks (as best it can) and banning end-zone celebrations. But fans don't like seeing quarterbacks carried off after taking blindside hits and they're really not too crazy about touchdown celebrations either.

McMahon is toying with you in complaining about the NFL ad infinitum and he's going to keep doing it. He has his mantra and he isn't interested in any new material.