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XFL popularity reaches the Internet

By GREG AUMAN

© St. Petersburg Times, published February 9, 2001

How quickly will the XFL be accepted into the family of sports leagues? Faster than you'd think, if the Internet is any indication.

In its first week, the fledgling football league was the biggest climber on the latest most-searched list at 50.lycos.com, vaulting from No. 30 to No. 7 and drawing more hits than the Super Bowl, Pokemon or even Jennifer Lopez.

With crowds averaging better than 35,000 and impressive TV ratings in its opening week, the league is making news agencies reconsider their approach to coverage.

Sportsline.com added the XFL to its main navigation bar atop its front page, right next to "Auto Racing." ESPN.com added a vague "Other Football" link on its main page (above its NFL and baseball links), and while that page has information on the Arena, NFL Europe and Canadian leagues, none of those will be in season for another two months.

To find XFL coverage at CNNSI.com, fans must click on the "Pro Football" page (essentially an NFL page, and justifiably so) and then a "More Football Leagues" link.

Traffic is up online as well -- ESPN.com reported a 372 percent increase in page views of XFL-related content from Feb. 2 (the day before the season started) to Monday. Sports Illustrated has the league on its cover this week, but overall, sites are taking a wait-and-see approach to the week-old phenomenon.

"We're aware that there's a lot of initial interest in the league," said Steve Robinson, executive vice president and general manager at CNN/SI. "We have covered it not only on the field but as a marketing phenomenon. From this point on, we will watch and see how the ratings and attendance are and base our coverage on that."

To help fans looking for an XFL fix, the league bought banner ads at CNNSI.com and ESPN.com in recent weeks.

MSNBC.com expanded its coverage Thursday with a special weekly Webcast called "Inside the XFL," featuring highlights, interviews and game previews, plus explanations of the differences between XFL and NFL rules, straight from league stars such as John Avery of the Chicago Enforcers.

NEW LOOK: Less than a week before pitchers and catchers report, the Tampa Bay Devil Rays will unveil a redesigned official site today at devilrays.com. All 30 teams have made upgrades in the off-season as part of a collective effort from baseball's online home, mlb.com. Team officials say to watch for features to be added up to opening day.

TID-BYTES: First Randy Moss rips into the Vikings, then last week, somebody hacked into vikings.com and sent out an e-mail with a virus attached to everyone on the team's e-mail newsletter. What's worse, fan site vikingsupdate.com broke a story that 28-year-old running back Robert Smith is retiring. ... ESPN.com added Pulitzer Prize-winning author David Halberstam to its Page 2 section. Halberstam's first column was solid, detailing how he watched the Super Bowl while on a fishing trip in Argentina. ... NBA.com's coverage of this weekend's NBA All-Star Game includes audio broadcasts in 14 languages, online voting for the slam-dunk contest and game MVP honors and fan-controlled "NBA.cams" for special views of the festivities.

- If you have a question or comment about the Internet or a site to suggest, send an e-mail to staff writer Greg Auman at aumanac1@aol.com.

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