16,000 DC Defenders fans showed up in week 3 at Audi Field. (Photo from DC Defenders)

The DC Defenders took down undefeated St. Louis 34-28 on Sunday

It’s a movement, not a trend

On Sunday the DC Defenders (2-0) welcomed the St. Louis Battlehawks (2-0) in the most prominent game of the 2023 XFL season thus far. A back-and-forth 34-28 affair saw plenty of action on the field and between plays. With an over/under total of 36.5, this smashing of entertainment expectations can only be called an absolute win for the league. 

There are multiple precedents from an afternoon that saw highlights on offense, defense, and special teams: many of which don’t even take into account the game flow. If developing a sports league is about capturing the public with entertainment, then the XFL has found a cultural pillar to lean on in Washington.

Washington is a Football Town

This has always been the case. Washington D.C.’s beloved NFL franchise has slowly withered with the mismanagement of current ownership. This is no secret to the rest of the country who has often seen breaking news headlines highlighting legal disasters. 

The psychology of a fanbase is interesting because no matter what an organization changes, the fanbase will likely find ways to be optimistic about those changes.

This has not been the case surrounding Washington’s NFL franchise. A lack of changes at the top has made the approach stale.

In steps the Defenders, who now for a second time have captured the city of Washington. Audi Field sits 20,000 fans, and on Sunday 16,000 attended the week 3 matchup versus St. Louis. 16,000 is roughly the average attendance of DC United home games – a team that has had a long successful tenure in our nation’s capital. 

As long as the XFL is around, the Defenders are here to stay.

Beer Snake

Long-standing sports franchises have traditions. In a lot of cases, these traditions take place the instant a fanbase is formed and last for decades. For example, unlike most NFL teams, the Washington NFL franchise has always had a massively popular in-stadium marching band.

The west end zone beer snake is your first XFL tradition to stay. This is something spring football leagues have searched for since the promising first USFL folded in the late 1980s.

If you’re in tune with the movement on social media, there are highly driven promotional campaigns on the Defenders main page, the official Defender’s beer snake account, and Barstool DMV. The call to action is getting fans at games for team support and building a larger beer snake. This movement stands out for multiple reasons.

Yes, the Commanders have young fans, and they may have more than we know. But for now, they struggle to capture a larger youth audience. Washington’s NFL franchise has rode the backs of older fans who remember the days of winning football. In the Defenders’ case, there are no fresh scars. 

The youth audience is on board.

“There’s History Here”

It’s said far too often to a national audience that likely doesn’t understand why.

Football has been and always will be the most popular sport in southern Maryland and northern Virginia. Heck, they made a movie about the positive impact of the sport on Alexandria, Virginia’s desegregation of public schools in the 1970s. In some ways, it quite literally “just means more”. 

The community growth sport can cause is undefeated. As a born Washingtonian, my parents lived through Remember the Titans. And they, like many others, can attest that the story launched growth in support behind Washington’s NFL team at the time.

The city of Washington won’t quit on football whether it’s the Commanders or the Defenders. The NFL better take notice if they ever want to re-capture the market for themselves. 

 

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