XFL promises to speed up its games after overtime contest

David Bauder

Wednesday, Feb. 14, 2001 | 11:56 a.m.

NEW YORK -- If ratings for the XFL keep sinking, its operators might consider pitting angry NBC executives against one another -- no pads allowed.

The XFL promised Tuesday to speed up its games after Saturday's double-overtime contest caused a 45-minute delay starting "Saturday Night Live," reportedly infuriating the show's founding producer, Lorne Michaels.

The resurgent "SNL" was hoping for one of its biggest shows of the year with movie and singing star Jennifer Lopez as host. Instead, the ratings were deflated by the late start.

The unpleasant irony for NBC, co-owner of the XFL with the World Wrestling Federation, is that NBC Sports President Dick Ebersol used to produce "Saturday Night Live."

"Dick Ebersol totally understands and empathizes probably better than anybody with the importance of 'SNL' getting on at 11:30," NBC Entertainment President Jeff Zucker said. "To the degree that he can assure us and Lorne that he'll be off on time, he's done that."

Ebersol wasn't talking Tuesday, but his spokeswoman, Cameron Blanchard, said the XFL will cut its pregame introductions by at least five minutes, shorten the halftime breaks and try to keep the clock moving.

For example, the time clock will start when the ball is placed on the line of scrimmage following incomplete passes and changes of possession, instead of waiting until the ball is snapped.

The first Saturday night XFL telecast ran 23 minutes long. Since there was a repeat "Saturday Night Live" on that week, nobody seemed to mind.

But this past week's game between the Los Angeles Xtreme and Chicago Enforcers was delayed because of a power outage and a serious injury that caused a 14-minute stoppage of play. In addition, the game went into double overtime.

Zucker stopped short of saying NBC will cut away from XFL games in the future if they run over their allotted time.

"This was a string of unbelievable things that I don't think can be repeated ever again," he said. "We're not going to pull the plug on an overtime situation, but I don't think we'll be in that situation again."

Michaels was not available for comment on Tuesday. There were reports he was so angry on Saturday he briefly considered ordering a repeat "SNL" episode aired. The actors actually began the show on time, and it was aired via tape delay across the country.

The XFL audience dropped from 13.9 million its first week to 6.5 million last week, according to Nielsen Media Research.

NBC sports and entertainment representatives were even arguing over what caused an upsurge in NBC ratings around 11:30 on Saturday night. The entertainment side believes that's when viewers tuned in expecting "SNL," while sports says the competitive game had something to do with it.

Preliminary ratings for the Lopez show were lower than they were for a rerun the week before. That's a bitter disappointment at "SNL," which has been on a hot streak with its political humor and expected a surge of interest because of two Thursday night prime-time specials.

The Los Angeles-based Zucker was in New York on Monday to deal with the fallout.