XFL Debuts in Vegas Before Sellout Crowd

L A S  V E G A S, Feb. 4 -- Moments before the XFL's first red-and-black football was kicked into the desert night, Vince McMahon stood alone at the 50-yard line of Sam Boyd Stadium. Deafening cheers poured down from the packed stands.

"We welcome you to our game!" McMahon shouted. "Thank you forthe privilege of competing before you tonight!"

Both sport and entertainment, both circus and sideshow, the XFLmuscled its way onto the national sports scene with its first twogames Saturday night.

With well-endowed cheerleaders and trash-talking players sharingcenter stage, the Las Vegas Outlaws trounced the New York/NewJersey Hitmen 19-0, while the Orlando Rage beat the ChicagoEnforcers 33-29 in Florida.

Though the slow, choppy and one-sided game in Las Vegas — whichincluded a scoreless second half — left much to be desired, theXFL's scores and highlights might be secondary in the spectacle ofMcMahon's creation.

Only the impresario of the Stamford, Conn.-based World WrestlingFederation would have the audacity to script something like thisupstart league, which unveiled its unique combination ofold-fashioned football, technological innovations and a heavy doseof marketing savvy.

"This is the culmination of a lot of dreams and a lot of hardwork for everybody out here," McMahon said. "This is all aboutfootball, pure and plain and simple."Vince and Football: Perfect Together?

Actually, it was anything but. From the on-field cameramen tothe ubiquitous wrestler-politician in the NBC broadcast booth, theXFL looked like the furthest thing from simple football to the30,389 fans who watched the league's first game.

"People are here to see what this is all about," said DickButkus, the Hall of Fame linebacker who's now the XFL's director ofcompetition. "They know what Vince can do, and they like thecombination of Vince and football."

The XFL already has made a splash in Las Vegas, a town wheregarish spectacles are routinely and unabashedly embraced as qualityentertainment.