Yes, the official NFL season is over and Patrick Mahomes led the Chiefs all the way to the organization’s first championship in 50 years.
Tom Brady has the world confused on if he plans to return to New England or test the free agency waters.
The Cowboys still haven’t given Dak Prescott a contract deal or officially mentioned franchise tagging him.
However, instead of waiting around for March 18 when the free agent crisis happens, football is still happening.
With the first official game of the XFL happening this past Saturday, the standards previously held for any non-NFL football games seemed low.
The strange thing is the games had a large turnout of fans already donning their teams colors and logos.
The four games drew over 12 million views in total across each streaming platform.
Highlights on YouTube are even reaching millions of views in less than a week of being uploaded.
It seems this eight team league may actually live up to the hype but the question remains: Can they sustain their success?
Previous leagues have died after just weeks of viewership, including the early version of the XFL that only lasted one season back in 2001.
I believe that for those who are truly fans of football as a sport will thoroughly enjoy watching this in the absence of the NFL.
It features some solid teams already that could pose a challenge for the rest of the league and for those with goals of returning or finally entering the NFL its a great showcase.
Overall, the concept of an outside league may seem far-fetched but it is molding into something nice.
By picking large cities, the opportunity for the market to grow remains possible and proper presentation on networks like ESPN, ABC and FOX, the chances are endless.
With so many different new faces and skill sets to memorize, I will be watching as many games as possible because at the end of the day it is just football.
Of course, there are some key differences in the officiating and play rules, but with the ability to alter rules that aren’t set in stone, improvements can always make the XFL a growing little brother of the NFL.