LAUNCHES NATIONAL AD CAMPAIGN AND MODIFIES EXTRA POINT RULE TO CREATE 1, 2 OR 3-POINT CHOICE
April 4, 2001
STAMFORD, CONN., Wednesday, April 4, 2001 – With a $1 million bonus riding on its outcome, the XFL today announced that its April 21 Championship Game, scheduled for 8 p.m. ET on NBC, has been named the “Million Dollar Game.”
Also, to raise public awareness of the “Million Dollar Game” and the April 14-15 playoff weekend, as well as to reintroduce fans to the XFL, the league has embarked on an advertising campaign encompassing national and local market electronic and print media.
In addition, the league has modified its point after touchdown rule by adding two and three-point conversions to its existing one-point effort. Beginning with the two playoff games, teams will choose whether to go for one point from the one-yard-line, two points from the five or three points from the 10.
The winning team in our championship game divides a $1 million bonus, hence the name “Million Dollar Game,” said XFL President Basil V. DeVito, Jr. This further makes the point that while XFL players are paid to play, they are paid more to win.”
As to the new conversion rule, DeVito said, One of the things fans like most about the XFL is the fact teams cant kick extra points but must run or pass for them. The new rule should increase the excitement level surrounding extra points since coaches must choose whether to go for one, two or three points while teams who are eight or nine points down late in a game will have a greater ability to come from behind.”
Under the new rule, should the defensive team return a turnover for a score it will receive the number of points the offense would have received. To date, XFL teams have attempted 169 one-point conversions and have been successful 65 times, for a 38 percent success rate.
To kickoff its “Million Dollar Game” marketing efforts, the XFL last night unveiled a “Million Dollar Game” logo with a 360 wide x 400 high banner containing the logo appearing outside WWF New York, the entertainment complex located in New York City’s Times Square. Nationwide advertising featuring the logo will begin running next week and “Million Dollar Game” merchandise will go on sale at retail outlets the week of the game. The merchandise also will be on sale at the game itself.
The XFL’s ad campaign also begins in full force this week with 30-second TV spots running regionally on the Fox Sports Network, including the network’s National Sports Report program. XFL ads also will air on local telecasts of Major League Baseball in such cities as New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Boston, Dallas, Detroit and Atlanta. Regular XFL tune-in advertising will continue on NBC, UPN and TNN.
The new print advertising campaign, which began recently in USA Today and the New York Times, intensifies this week with placements in more than two dozen major newspapers across the country. These ads will run through the day of the “Million Dollar Game.”
Radio advertising promoting tune-in for the league’s playoffs and “Million Dollar Game” will air in the nation’s top 20 markets on April 12-13 and April 19-20.
