Dan Barnes of the Toronto Sun reported on some exciting figures provided Meltwater and the CFL. There is a large and growing interest in the ‘talks’ between the CFL and XFL on social media.
“From March 10-12, league posts related to the formalization of talks with XFL ownership garnered more than 2.8 million impressions and 150,000 engagements; a staggering year-over-year increase of 1,000%.”
It is hard to make the comparison from last year due to the pandemic dominating the news cycle. But these numbers are still promising.
In 2021, if there were no talks between the CFL and XFL. The build-up to the return of the Canadian Football League would not garner this type of interest and social media buzz.
“During a 24-hour period from March 10-11, there were more than 650 traditional media pieces published in 22 countries, for an estimated ad value of $10.6 million…. almost 20 per cent of visitors to cfl.ca during that time were U.S.-based.”
Even though the XFL only played 5 games, there is already a loyal fan base. Plus the massive NFL interest in the US is sure the bleed into curiosity about the XFL and CFL talks.
It also helps to have one of the biggest stars in the world talk about his time in the CFL.
“Dwayne (The Rock) Johnson. A CFL Instagram post featuring a 2018 video of Johnson talking about his brief stint with the Calgary Stampeders and his passion for the game has more than 50,000 views, significantly more than normal for a league post on that platform.”
This is exactly what the XFL and CFL had hoped for when CFL commissioner Randy Ambrosie announced that both sides were “talking about talking.” The question is how long will it last. There is still no word on when the start of the CFL season will begin.
XFL News Hub will keep you posted on this fluid situation.
