This should have been a landmark weekend for all those around the various ventures Vince McMahon oversees; the XFL, now with warmer weather coming, new faces established, media partners engaged and innovation in game presentation rising, would continue to see an uptick as March Madness came to an end, while thousands would have filled Raymond James Stadium for WrestleMania. 
Instead, the XFL has gone dormant, and WrestleMania became a taped, two night Pay Per View experience from the WWE Training Facility in Orlando. It was still great storytelling, but without the energy that is driven from a live event. Still it was better than the endless repeats and simulations that have tried to fill the void for live sports in the past few weeks.
That’s the bad news.
However there are signs of what at least the near future may bring through what the WWE has done this past weekend, and how the XFL was building its game presentation, that may provide a pathway for the short term should somehow sport try and return in the next few months.
First, WrestleMania.
It was taped and scripted and done in a closed facility, using what the WWE’s Stephanie McMahon said were the strongest guidelines possible to make sure everyone involved was healthy. It had big names past and present, and the storylines and action that WWE fans who would engage for a PPV event would want. So, the idea of doing an event for a global audience that is close to live, proved concept in some ways. You could screen (and screening procedures keep improving) and hold a four walled event that would be interesting and engaging and give millions the ability to enjoy sport on whatever device they have.
That’s the positive. The issues, as pointed out by many diehard wrestling fans, was what LeBron James has talked about when he questioned the NBA playing sans an audience; the excitement and magnetism of a crowd, and how WWE has used that to drive frenzy and engagement. That can’t be replicated in any way, and it was pointed out that that interaction is what may keep games without fans from being amazing to being just OK. Better than not having events, especially for media companies? As a bridge, maybe, but that is still TBD.
Then there is another factor. Leagues are talking about tournaments with multiple teams and multiple days, and showing those games live…and of course, unscripted. That is different from WrestleMania in ways that present exponential challenges hat will need to be dealt with should the “no fans” idea take hold. The Big Three is still talking about a “virus” free event on a network coming up in the next few weeks, maybe that can be a next step back to programming and the learnings will continue. We shall see.
The second piece to learn from WWE goes back to the XFL. The concept of reinventing broadcast looks with more access and more engagement was seen by many as the biggest step the league was taking. Mic’ed coaches and players, new data on screens, betting lines, all were lauded as a new way to imagine how the fan at home would engage starting now, and into the future, and surely all leagues were at least taking notes.
So let’s say you find a way to clear hurdle one, doing events in a safe environment but without fans, whether you are the NBA in June or July or even the NFL in September. Can you take all the best practices of the XFL and use those as ways to reinvent the home experience to make it more engaging for the fan, not in the coming years, but now? Could you lift from whet we have seen with livestreaming of gaming and incorporate new opportunities for fans to stay interested and watching, and for brands to recoup some of what they have lost in this hiatus, into a reimagined presentation that changes things not just for the short term, but for the longer? While AR and VR won’t be ready for short term, isn’t this the time to push that innovation and MAKE the viewing experience more user friendly than before? It is all there, and frankly, it starts with a next page taken from what the XFL was trying, should the leaders of the traditional leagues try to go there in the coming months.
Now there are lots of hurdles to overcome, many of which we don’t know. While President Trump’s call on Saturday with many of the commissioners expressed expectation that the NFL season start on time with fans in the stands, both medical experts and other politicians seemed to doubt that that timeline is realistic right now. Dr. Allen Sills, the NFL’s Chief Medical Officer said himself later in the day that with the current quarantine status, starting mass public sporting events can’t even be considered. But building controlled events, if rapid testing works, without fans by the summer?
Maybe that is possible.
These are trying times for all, and as someone deeply ingrained in sport business, an increasing hiatus of all aspects of work seems disappointing and daunting. The hope is that a safe…very safe…bridge, coupled with best practice earnings morphs into a new engaged business that takes lots of what we had leading to the pause and combines with lessons pulled from what we have picked up, with a collective new being better than the same old of the past.
One thing is for sure; we need to keep looking, listening, learning, and growing by thinking a little differently than before. That is both challenging and exciting at the same time. Whether you like them or not, we may look back on this spring at the XFL (for their innovation for the longer term) and the WWE for pulling off a disease free and engaging WrestleMania, as two key areas that got us to a new place in sport; one that we are adjusting to every day as many sit on the sidelines and ponder what’s next.
Let’s hope we get there soon as it is safe, and that can’t or won’t be fast enough. However these best practices by the folks in the Stamford, Connecticut headquarters help get us there.
