Lingerie Football League nears end of inaugural season; Playoffs next week in Hollywood, Fla.

The Lingerie Football League ended its first regular season on Friday and now heads into the playoffs next Thursday, with the championship game on Saturday Feb. 6.
From an outsider’s perspective, it’s hard to tell how well the LFL did in its inaugural season. The main reason for this has been the lack of media coverage.
The mainstream press treated it like professional wrestling – more entertainment than sport.
And bloggers haven’t stepped up to provide a good overview of the sport, its star players and the business behind it. I’ve seen no independent blogs that provide regular coverage of the LFL. Plenty of blogs like to post pictures of the attractive players and their skimpy bikini uniforms.
For the LFL to make progress in its second season – assuming there is one – it will have to make some changes.
First, the LFL needs to overhaul its website.
If it wants to be taken seriously as a sport, it needs to play up its coverage of the games. That means game summaries in stories, statistics, photos and video highlights. It means game previews with key matchups and analysis.
The LFL scheduled 20 regular season games, but only played 18. I can’t find an explanation on the LFL website about why two scheduled games were not played. That doesn’t look good for the league, no matter what the reason.
Even the Lingerie Bowl, which gave birth to the LFL, has had a rocky run.
While this year’s LFL championship game is called Lingerie Bowl VII, this will only be the fourth such game played. Lingerie Bowls IV, V and VI (2007-09) were canceled because organizers couldn’t get their act together.
Second, the LFL needs to boost its media exposure. This will be tougher in the second season because the novelty will have worn off.
The league should develop closer relationships with key bloggers who can provide the in-depth independent coverage that the fledgling league needs for legitimacy. The mainstream media likely will shy away from the sport, not wanting to risk criticism and because they’re increasingly short-staffed.
The biggest coup for the Lingerie Football League so far was being featured in a storyline on the popular CBS drama “CSI: NY” for an episode that aired on Jan. 20.

Related links:

Bleacher Report: “All We Are Saying Is: Give the Lingerie Football League a Chance!” (Jan. 30, 2010)

Lingerie Football League official website and blog LFL Unlaced.

Photo of LFL players from the Chicago Bliss (3-0), who are in the playoffs this week.