The premiere of the XFL football league Saturday will have many MSU students tuning in.
Daniel Soffin, a chemical engineering and secondary education junior, said he definitely plans to check out one of the 8 p.m. games.
He said the XFL will be an answer to all the complaints that the NFL is “too soft.”
“People like the big hits, the aggressive play and the no-holds-barred attitude,” Soffin said.
However, the XFL shouldn’t call itself a league just yet, he said.
“Right now, it’s more like entertainment, more like a show, as opposed to a league,” he said.
The XFL is the brainchild of Vince McMahon, chairman of the World Wrestling Federation, which co-owns the XFL along with NBC. The new league is priding itself on its anti-NFL format, hoping to inject excitement into the games.
The XFL kicks off its regular season Saturday with the first of 10 weekly Saturday night games on NBC.
“If (the XFL) can get quality players and strong backing behind it, it could become a respected league,” Soffin said.
Some marketing students say the XFL has made all the right moves. The hard-hitting plays as well as the XFL cheerleaders are strategies all geared toward keeping fans entertained.
“I think they’ve done a good job appealing to the younger age groups,” marketing junior Gabe Miller said.
He said the relaxed structure of the rules will draw people in, especially wrestling fans.
“It’s going to have the type of smash-mouth play people like,” he said.
Finance junior Latasha Golden said she’ll watch a game because it will offer something different from the standard way football is usually played.
“I really like sports and I’m really curious to see what it’s all about,” she said.
The league will feature several new quirks, such as microphones and cameras inside huddles and a lot closer to the cheerleaders.
“As long as the camera focuses on the game at least 80 percent of the time, then I don’t care at all about the cheerleaders,” she said.
However, the XFL isn’t sparking everyone’s interest.
English sophomore Stephen DeSchryver said he isn’t interested enough to watch a game.
“I really don’t care about it,” he said. “If that’s the way people feel they need to be entertained, then that’s their business. I’ll stick to the main sports.”
DeSchryver said he is worried the XFL, with its promise of ultimate-fighting-style plays, could tarnish the image of football.
“It may take football, a sport which is loved in this country, and give it a bad name,” he said. “(The XFL) has nothing to do with athleticism.”
DeSchryver said those involved with the XFL are driven by something other than a love of the game.
“I see it as a way for a few individuals to make a lot of money,” he said.
