The XFL, a forthcoming rival league, floated a large blimp designed to resemble the XFL's signature red and black Spalding football over the Oakland Coliseum during an Oakland Raiders playoff game on January 6, 2001. The league intended to do so again on January 14 for the AFC championship game, but on the 9th, the blimp was let loose unmanned after a failed attempt to land it at Oakland International Airport, and it crashed over a waterfront restaurant on the Oakland Estuary after getting caught on a sailboat mast. The blimp sustained US$2.5 million worth of damage, and the incident was later considered to be an omen for the XFL's eventual failure.