In a Jan. 10-12 poll of 2,201 U.S. adults, 49 percent of self-identified avid or casual sports fans said they would be open to watching a new professional football league during the NFL offseason, including 68 percent of avid fans, who account for just under a third of total fans.

Fifty-six percent of adults who said they are at least somewhat interested in the NFL said they’d be open to a new league, compared to 58 percent of adults who are at least somewhat interested in college football.

Margins of error for responses from the groups range from 3 percentage points to 5 percentage points.

What potential XFL fans want

Sports fans who said they’d be open to watching a new league during the NFL offseason identified quality of play and player safety as the most important factors in determining whether they would regularly watch or attend XFL games or follow the league. More than half of these fans deemed both factors “very important.”