but did promise the same level of violence like it did in 2001, it’ll be a hit (no pun intended). I think most football fans still want plenty of big hits and blow ups In that sense the XFL was well before its time in 2001, as mainstream football was still plenty violent.
That being said, all it would take legally would be to have the players sign a release and hold harmless agreement before taking the field.
rules but without all the defenseless player stuff, present a normal football game with plenty of violence and it’ll be a success because that’s what the market secretly wants.
Why go halfway? We could dig out a much older set of rules, which were immensely popular a lot longer ago, and you wouldn't have to bother with all that "player release" nonsense. Despite not having ANY TV coverage or Jumbo - trons, the "players" were extremely popular, although many had really short careers.
A game that depends on satisfying the ever increasing lust for MORE violence. Amazing, what goes around will eventually come back around, even if it takes a couple of thousand years. With today's technology, I'll wager we could make the Gladiatorial Games even more popular than they were in Rome (which even had a successful International Division, although it was Provincial)
Then again, maybe unchecked brutality and violence, endlessly progressive grandstanding, posturing and trash talking is really not what Football is all about, and the pendulum will eventually start to swing back.