If you listen to or watch the XFL Week In Review podcast, we have talked about how Hurricane Ian was a possible cause of the XFL not releasing team names and logos. Something fans have long awaited. Now we have confirmation that it is, in fact, the case.
Chris Maathuis, Sports Director of KLAS-TV (CBS) in Las Vegas, posted the following tweet.
“Don’t know what this has to do with it, but XFL telling me the delay in naming Vegas team and it’s colors and logo is because of Hurricane Ian. Hmm.”
Just before Hurricane Ian hit the coast of Florida, the XFL had started organizing ‘local activation events‘. The league was sending out emails to members of the XFL The Huddle website and season ticket holders, inviting them to lunches and happy hours. Then they were all canceled.
“Due to the forecasted Hurricane Ian anticipated to hit the Southeast later this week we have made the decision to postpone our planned local activations. We will be looking to reschedule them in the near future and will contact you once a new date has been arranged. The XFL is a league with 8 teams, we were planning events in multiple markets. Out of consideration for the affected areas, we will look to do this at a better time for all of our teams.”
Hurricane Ian rolled over Orlando, with even Disney World closing for a few days. Orlando is one of the XFL’s eight markets. That was September 27th. We are almost a month later, and still no word from the XFL. So why the delay now? There could be several factors.
The Rock is embarking on the biggest Movie premier of his career, with Black Adam hitting theaters on October 20th. His team is focused on hyping the movie as much as possible, with no room for anything else.
Not only does the XFL have to compete with the NFL for media space, but now we have the MLB playoffs, which started October 7th and could go till as late as November 5th.
The NHL season also started on October 7th, with the NBA starting its games on October 18th. So you see, the XFL had a small window to get their big announcement in. But there are more big news cycles on the way.
Election day is Tuesday, November 8th. The nation and news media cycle will be heavily focused on the results the next day, which is also one week from the XFL draft.
So, where does that leave the XFL? Do they wait till the XFL Draft on November 16th to announce team names and logos? Wednesday was the most optimal day for the XFL since it is the lull before the NFL games crank back up on Thursday. The ‘local activation events’ back in September were scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday of that week.
That leaves October 26th, which could be an ALCS Game 7 between the New York Yankees and Houston Astros. There are also ten games on the NBA slate and three for the NHL.
November 2nd, there are 11 games on the NBA slate and two for the NHL. It is also Game 5 of the World Series.
As you can see, Hurricane Ian threw a big wrench in the XFL’s plan. As a frame of reference, the USFL debuted their team cities, nicknames, and logos on November 22nd. Their season started in April.
Your guess is as good as mine. The next possible window is the 26th. If there are no ‘activation event’ emails by Tuesday, then it’s on to the following week and we wait again.
4th&long
October 20, 2022 at 11:13 am
The XFL has not issued a statement that was a response to a question from a reporter. The reporter’s response on 10/19 to an event on 9/28-29 has him saying Hmmm. Especially since its a Hurricane that impacted 2% of the country and partially hit one market. Are you guys hearing anything from the inside?
4th