ORLANDO, Fla. — XFL president Basil DeVito is all too aware of the abysmal television ratings his football league has drawn in its inaugural season.
And with league co-owner NBC issuing a warning that it may drop its coverage if viewership doesn't increase for the playoffs, which begin Saturday night, DeVito realizes how important this weekend is for the league's future.
But the scant number of television viewers is only part of the XFL's story, DeVito said. Look at the attendance at the games, look at the amount of merchandise sold.
"By and large, when you stack up the positive attributes and our willingness to be in this for the long term against the fact that we have simply not gotten ratings on Saturday night, we think that there's reasons to be optimistic," DeVito said Friday, the day before the Orlando Rage were to host the San Francisco Demons in the XFL's first-ever playoff game.
The XFL's average rating on NBC is 3.3, with each rating point representing a little more than 1 million TV households. Set aside the XFL's early helped-by-curiosity viewership numbers, and its games averaged 1.7 the last five weeks.
NBC's XFL broadcast on March 31 had a 1.5 rating, believed to be the lowest-ever prime-time night among the big three networks in Nielsen history. That broke its own dubious record of 1.6 set two weeks before.
Last month, NBC Sports chairman Dick Ebersol said ratings for the playoffs had to improve if the network was to fulfill its commitment to the league.
"We have a two-year commitment . . . but it's going to have to show a marked swing in the ratings in the postseason for it to have a real shot beyond this year, just from an advertising standpoint," Ebersol said.
DeVito acknowledges that Ebersol's demand is fair. However, he rejected the notion that the XFL will live or die depending on the number of television viewers.
"We are aggressively trying to create ratings, we are hopeful we will get ratings," DeVito said. "But we have a much longer point of view, and you have to look at it from a different perspective."
DeVito said there were many positive signs surrounding the league. Attendance, projected before the season at 800,000 for 40 regular-season games and three postseason contests, will probably top 1 million. And merchandise licensing will beat preseason estimates by about 30 percent.
Also, the quality of play on the field has exceeded expectations, according to league officials.
"Each game is competitive as can be, with good players on every team, good coaches everywhere in the league," Orlando coach Galen Hall said. "I thought the quality of play would be good; I'm not sure it's not even better than I thought it would be."