The XFL hopes to do what the Alliance of American Football (AAF) – and the previous version of its own league – couldn’t.  Football fans have a love/hate relationship with the Super Bowl because it is always a huge celebration, but also marks the end of the season.  This year, that season ended on February 2, and some fans, with a certain amount of guarded trepidation, waded into the inaugural season of the new XFL this past Saturday.  By most accounts, these first games lived up to the hype, and football fans are generally pleased.

The XFL is giving football fans a way to slowly break the habit until the next NFL season, instead of having to quit cold turkey.  The results are proving to be positive and the action much better than anticipated.  Differences in rules between the NFL and the XFL result in teams having to take more chances, which was seen on Saturday during the inaugural game between the DC Defenders and the Seattle Dragons.  The Defenders were essentially forced to go for it on fourth and six, and it paid off when Rashad Davis caught a 31-yard pass for a touchdown that would give his team the lead.  DC would go on to win the game, 31-19.

That game saw 17,163 fans take a seat at Audi Field, the turf the Defenders share with DC United from MLS.  More than likely, more than just a few were out to see what all the hype is about and get a feel for the NFL alternative, but they walked away more impressed with what they saw than they had imagined.  Sports reporter Darren Rovell pointed out on Twitter, “The XFL, before kickoff, has already surpassed ticket sales revenue for the entire season of the AAF.”

In fact, attendance at all four games was above 17,000 – a good sign for the league’s possibilities.  At home, viewership averaged 3.3 million for the Defenders-Dragons contest, a number that grew to four million in the last 15 minutes.