No NBA playoffs to help rate the XFL Championship Game?

Saturday at 8:00 PM EST on ABC (or ESPN+) in San Antonio, Texas at DC Defenders (9-1) will face the Arlington Renegades (4-6) in the XFL championship game at the Alamodome. But will anyone watch it?

The league hopes so as the NBA playoffs have an off night. The XFL has a chance to take center stage, and they need it. Check it out here Sports Media Watch last week:

“The USFL secured two of its biggest spring football audiences last weekend — its first weekly win in three weeks of going head-to-head with the XFL — as Memphis-Houston drew a 0.47 rating and 776,000 viewers hit on FOX last Saturday. Pittsburgh-Philadelphia 0.46 and 761,000 on NBC Sunday.

The two FOX windows last week — Memphis-Houston on Saturday and New Jersey-Michigan on Sunday (0.35,563,000) — won back-to-back games with the XFL playoffs on ESPN (Arlington-Houston: 0.38,675,000; Seattle –DC) : 0.28, 478K).

No USFL or XFL game has topped a million viewers in the three weeks the leagues have played each other. The XFL drew a 0.51 and 832,000 for DC-San Antonio on ABC the previous week, while the USFL drew a 0.48 and 798,000 for Memphis-Birmingham on FOX.”

A Defenders win will be a good day for black coaches

If the quarterbacks win, it will be a good day for black coaches, who as we know struggle to find and keep head coaching jobs in pro football. Last April, the XFL announced Hines Ward, Terrell Buckley, Reggie Barlow, Rod Woodson, Wade Phillips, Bob Stoops, Anthony Becht and Jim Haslett as coaches for this season. Four of the eight coaches were blackwhich is groundbreaking considering the NFL has only three coaches who identify as Black, which just two more than in the league in 1921.

The defenders Reggie Barlow could become the first coach in any competition to win the XFL Championship in the league’s inaugural year in the new iteration on Saturday nights.

Records could be set on Saturday – in TV ratings and diversity.