XFL boss: League would carry on even without NBC

Joseph White

Wednesday, March 28, 2001 | 9:02 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- The struggling XFL will back next year, with or without NBC, the league's president said Tuesday.

Visiting the nation's capital to discuss expansion, Basil DeVito also candidly discussed the numerous mistakes made by a league whose television ratings have reached historic lows.

"We're going to be here," DeVito said. "There was a business plan in place prior to NBC coming in to the XFL, and that business plan still exists, still makes sense."

Over the weekend, NBC Sports chairman Dick Ebersol said there would have to be an increase in ratings for the network to keep the league on the air.

DeVito said if NBC does pull the plug, the XFL would maintain its broadcast agreements with UPN and cable network TNN, where DeVito said the ratings have "fared very well." Without NBC in the picture, DeVito said the league would consider moving its feature games from Saturday nights to the more traditional football viewing period of Sunday afternoon.

After a promising debut that won its time period on NBC, the XFL's ratings have plummeted. The Week 7 broadcast was believed to be the lowest-rated prime-time program ever on one of the three major networks.

"There are some things that quite frankly we were unprepared for," DeVito said. "We didn't do everything well out of the gate."

A 50-50 venture between NBC and the World Wrestling Federation, the XFL had the benefit of two great promotional machines to get off the ground. What got lost, DeVito said, was the actual game of football. DeVito said the league has listened to fan input. A football analyst is now in the broadcast booth, and the league is trying harder to market recognizable "star" players.

"Please give us one Kurt Warner," said DeVito, a reference to the NFL's 1999 MVP whose Arena Football League background gave the AFL some free, positive publicity.