Editing XFL (2001) (section)

==Broadcast overview==

===Camera perspectives===
Although the XFL was not the first football league to feature the "[[skycam|sky cam]]",<ref name=skycam>{{cite news |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2001-feb-07-sp-22325-story.html |title=XFL, NBC Working Out Kinks |author=Stewart, Larry |newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]] |access-date=March 10, 2009 |date=February 7, 2001}}</ref> which enables TV viewers to see behind the offensive unit, it helped to popularize its unique capabilities. For the first several weeks, the league used the sky cam and on-field cameramen (nicknamed the "Bubba Cam" after WWE's cameraman, Bubba, who couldn't get medical clearance to cover the XFL)<ref name=skycam2>{{cite news |url=http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Journal/Issues/2011/05/16/Leagues-and-Governing-Bodies/XFL-Bubba-Cam.aspx |title=Bubba Cam put cameraman into the game |author=Tefton, Terry |work=Sports Business Daily |publisher=[[American City Business Journals]] |access-date=May 17, 2011 |date=May 16, 2011}}</ref> extensively, giving the television broadcasts a perspective similar to [[video game]]s such as the ''[[Madden NFL|Madden]]'' series.

During player interviews, particularly later in the season as attendances declined, the television crews took extensive efforts to avoid capturing the empty stands on camera. When they did show the stands, it was just mostly close ups of individual sections that were full. Player interviews at sparsely-attended games were often shot from a camera angle in close proximity and low to the ground pointed upward, giving the perspective of the camera being operated by a little person.<ref>{{Citation|title=The only XFL championship was also the worst| date=February 7, 2019 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9pRFTLDtgeQ|language=en|access-date=January 15, 2022}}</ref>

After the XFL's failure, the sky cam was adopted by the [[National Football League|NFL]]'s broadcasters; the device has subsequently come into use on all major networks. NBC in particular switched back to the XFL camera angles in [[2017 NFL season|2017]], when traditional cameras were too far away to cut through thick fog and smoke on some of the ''[[NBC Sunday Night Football|Sunday Night Football]]'' games that year; response was so positive that the network opted to use two of its ''[[Thursday Night Football]]'' games to experiment with intentionally broadcasting most of the game through that angle.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.oregonlive.com/nfl/index.ssf/2017/11/nbcs_skycam_will_provide_madde.html |title=NBC's 'skycam' will provide Madden-like view of tonight's Titans-Steelers game |date=November 17, 2017 |publisher=Portland Oregonian |via=oregonlive.com}}</ref>

===Broadcast schedule===
At the beginning of the season, NBC showed a feature game at 8&nbsp;p.m. [[Eastern Time Zone|Eastern Time]] on Saturday nights, also taping a second game. The second game, in some weeks, would air in the visiting team's home market (as was the case in week 6 for the Enforcers-Maniax game, and in week 7, for the Maniax-Hitmen game) and be put on the air nationally if the feature game was a blowout (as was the case in week one) or encountered technical difficulties (as was the case in week two). Two games were shown each Sunday: one at 4&nbsp;p.m. Eastern on [[Paramount Network#The National Network, the New TNN, and professional wrestling (2000–2003)|TNN]] and another at 7&nbsp;p.m. Eastern on [[UPN]]. The XFL also had a fairly extensive local radio presence, often using nationally recognized disc jockeys. The morning radio duo of [[Rick and Bubba]], for instance, was the radio broadcast team for the [[Birmingham Thunderbolts]]. [[Super Dave Osborne]] was a sideline reporter for Los Angeles Xtreme broadcasts on [[KNX-FM|KLSX]]; [[WMVP]] carried Chicago Enforcers games.

Unusually for a professional league, the XFL did not feature a studio wraparound. The network offered ''XFL Gameday'', a pregame show featuring radio shock jocks [[Opie and Anthony]] for the first four weeks of the season, but the show was not carried nationwide and most affiliates joined in just before the game. Halftime consisted mostly of live look-ins into the player locker rooms, as coaches discussed their strategy and halftime adjustments with their players, as well as cheerleader performances. The XFL also, at McMahon's request, followed a somewhat different format than traditional professional football telecasts: The announcers more closely followed the model of professional wrestling where the [[color commentator]] had a [[Heel (professional wrestling)|villain-like role]], while the [[sideline reporter]]s (who were predominantly male, a rare example of the XFL being more conservative than the NFL at the time, which was incorporating attractive female sideline reporters) were former players and experienced sportscasters who were relied upon for more expert analysis than usual.

In the third week of the season, the games were sped up through changes in the playing rules, and broadcasts were subjected to increased time constraints. The reason was the reaction of [[Lorne Michaels]], creator and executive producer of ''[[Saturday Night Live]]'', to the length of the [[Los Angeles Xtreme]] versus [[Chicago Enforcers]] game that went into double overtime. The double overtime periods combined with a power outage earlier in the game due to someone not fueling a generator before the game delayed the contest, causing the start of ''Saturday Night Live'' to be pushed back from 11:30&nbsp;p.m. Eastern Time to 12:15&nbsp;a.m. Sunday morning.{{sfn|Fritz|Murray|2006|page=172}} This angered Michaels, who expected high [[Nielsen ratings|ratings]] with [[Jennifer Lopez]] as the show's host.{{sfn|Fritz|Murray|2006|page=172}} For the rest of the season, the XFL cut off coverage at 11:00 Eastern Time, regardless of whether or not the game was over (there were exceptions, for the Chicago and Memphis markets for the Enforcers-Maniax game in week 6, and in New York and Memphis markets for the Maniax-Hitmen game in week 7). NBC Sports has retained this policy for other sports it runs in Saturday night time slots since the XFL's closure; in 2018, [[2018 NHL Stadium Series|a National Hockey League telecast]] was cut off under similar circumstances.<ref name="USA Today">{{cite news |url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nhl/2018/03/03/lights-temporarily-go-out-navy-stadium-delaying-play-between-capitals-maple-leafs/392928002/ |title=Lights temporarily go out at Navy stadium, delaying play between Capitals, Maple Leafs |newspaper=USA Today |date=March 3, 2018 |access-date=March 4, 2018}}</ref>

In the face of declining ratings, NBC and the XFL aggressively promoted that the week&nbsp;6 game between the Orlando Rage and Las Vegas Outlaws would feature a behind-the-scenes visit into the locker room of the Rage's cheerleaders at halftime. The heavily promoted event was actually a pre-recorded [[sketch comedy|sketch]] with McMahon and a cameraman, who knocks himself unconscious on the locker room door trying to run in. This was followed by a suggestive [[dream sequence]] with the cheerleaders, including a surprise cameo by [[Rodney Dangerfield]].<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://www.gq.com/story/xfl-culture-wars |title=Vince McMahon Is Bringing Back the XFL and Diving into the Culture Wars |publisher=Condé Nast |magazine=GQ |language=en |access-date=October 26, 2019}}</ref> The ''New York Daily News'' reported that the scene would likely be the "[last] salacious WWF-style stunt for the rest of the season", citing internal sources indicating that NBC wished to pivot the telecasts back towards a football-oriented product, including hiring NFL alumni as analysts, and reinstating Vasgersian as the lead commentator.<ref name="nydn-cheerleaders">{{cite news |title=XFL stops going to extremes |url=http://www.nydailynews.com/archives/sports/xfl-stops-extremes-article-1.916919 |newspaper=[[New York Daily News]] |publisher=[[Mortimer Zuckerman|Daily News L.P.]] |access-date=March 11, 2017}}</ref><ref name="espn-slidebarely">{{cite web |title=XFL ends ratings slide – just barely |url=http://www.espn.com/otherfb/xfl/news/2001/0311/1147486.html |website=ESPN.com |publisher=ESPN Inc. |access-date=March 11, 2017}}</ref>{{sfn|Fritz|Murray|2006|page=173}}

===Broadcast teams===
[[File:JR and The King No Mercy 07.jpg|thumb|right|[[Jerry Lawler]] and [[Jim Ross]] came over from WWF to fill similar roles on XFL broadcasts.]]
* '''NBC (national telecasts)''':
** Week 1, [[Matt Vasgersian]], [[Jesse Ventura]], [[Fred Roggin]] and [[Mike Adamle]].
** Week 2–5: [[Jim Ross]], Ventura, Roggin and Adamle
** Week 6–10: Vasgersian, Ventura, Adamle, Roggin and [[Chris Wragge]]. Adamle moved from the sidelines to the booth with Vasgerian and Ventura.
* '''NBC (regional telecasts)''':
** Week 1: Ross, [[Jerry Lawler]], [[Jonathan Coachman]]. For week 1, Ross and Lawler were billed as their WWF personas, "J.R." and "The King."
** Week 2–5: Vasgersian, Lawler, and Coachman. McMahon personally demoted Vasgersian to the regional telecast after openly criticizing a suggestive shot of the cheerleaders as "uncomfortable" on-air during the week 1 broadcast.
** Week 6–10: Ross, [[Dick Butkus]] or [[Dan Hampton]], and Coachman. Lawler left the XFL (and WWF) in protest after week five in the aftermath of the firing of his then-wife, [[Stacy Carter]], as well as his own dissatisfaction with being pressured into commentary on XFL games; Lawler openly admitted on-air that he had virtually no interest or background in football, an unusual trait for a color analyst. After Lawler's departure, NBC brought Vasgersian back up to the main broadcast team. Hampton and Butkus rotated as the regional color analyst for the rest of the season.
* '''TNN''': [[Craig Minervini]], [[Bob Golic]], [[Lee Reherman]] and Kip Lewis.
* '''UPN''': [[Chris Marlowe]], [[Brian Bosworth]], [[Chris Wragge]] and [[Michael Barkann]].