The XFL returns to Washington next year and for some reason many people care about minor-league football in the spring.
Washingtonians gravitated to the D.C. Defenders, averaging 16,000 over three games in 2020. I attended one on a cold, cold February day. Sitting atop Audi Field, so high the beer vendor had to run halfway down the end zone stands to get a WiFi signal to process credit cards and flights coming into nearby Reagan National Airport seemed beneath us, there was a serious buzz in the crowd.
Millennials want something to connect them to a new city and for many the Washington Commanders are no longer it. Sporting gear from a dozen different cities and colleges that day, nearby fans wanted to cheer for a local team and owner Dan Snyder's alleged past misconduct and poor teams have stripped the once automatic loyalty to the now Commanders.
Fans enjoyed themselves, creating a beer snake of plastic cups many yards long that was naturally hauled to a recycling bin. They wanted something that didn't cost much and within a reasonable walk to a metro station.
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It wasn't the XFL's modest play that drew fans as much as it was the opposite of a Commanders experience. The XFL can't compete with the NFL for those who love great football. But, the XFL taps into a college atmosphere that bonds fans. In its lust for money, the NFL has forgotten that. And in Snyder's overzealous lust for fans' money, he has lost it.
TV contracts pay for everything. Washington will receive $249 million this year as its equal share of the NFL deal. The Green Bay Packers annual report, the NFL's only public release because it's owned by shareholders and not privately held, showed a $66 million profit last year as the NFL's smallest market.
Snyder doesn't need fan support to survive, much less thrive. If the team has fallen from an alleged 200,000-person season ticket waiting list 20 years ago to barely drawing 15,000 locals plus visiting fans per game, so what? That money is extra. It just pays the fuel bill for the Lady S as Snyder sails international waters away from Congressional summons servers.
The NFL has beaten back upstart leagues regularly since the USFL in the 1980s. Some leagues didn't even finish seasons like the XFL's last try in 2020. And, this XFL won't be more than an offseason filler for the NFL.
But the Commanders and the NFL can learn from the XFL over fan treatment. Oh, the XFL's experimental rules and player development are curiosities, but the NFL needs to remember its roots. Smaller sports thrive through customer loyalty where the Commanders barely have a pulse.
It will be good to sit in the stands on a cold day and watch Washingtonians come together again. If it takes watching modest football, that's fine. At least it will be fun.
Rick Snider has covered Washington sports since 1978. Follow him on Twitter: @Snide_Remarks.