That's insane. I just found some XFL ratings numbers for the first weekend. Much higher than AAF's but it was also a slightly different time when people watched more broadcast tv than they do today. But ratings dived after the opening weekend. You'd hope the AAF folks would give it a minute or two before talking about expansion but maybe their business model doesn't require the same level of viewers and revenues as the XFL to work.
The XFL ratings need to be taken into context. It was a completely new kind of product with stripper cheerleaders, hot tubs on the sideline, crazy rules, etc. Tons of people tuned in to see what it was about. Also, the promotion of the league online and on television was insane. There was nobody who hadn't heard of the XFL come kick off. McMahon made sure of that.
The AAF was announced last year, and there was hardly any promoting of it online, or on tv. There were people on this board who had no idea a league even started.
As for the gameplay...it's no different than giving a new HC some time. The o-lines, and QB play especially,
should leave a lot to be desired after playing together for just a few months, and absolutely ZERO games. I imagine we're going to see a lot of low scoring sloppy games for a bit.