XFL 2020 Season

[Sykotyk]

14 hours ago, DG_Now said:

 

I don't think you can discount this. XFL was killed constantly by all media, particularly sports media. It was never treated as a legitimate sports league (in part because it didn't treat itself as legitimate), but national media was not kind to XFL at all.

 

There seems to be more a willingness to take it on this time around, even if as a nostalgic curiosity. Everyone needs #content, and XFL is definitely that.

Well, SportsCenter and ESPN as a whole was against XFL and did attack it mercilessly. However, when that overnight rating came in, the league treated Week 2 so much better the following weekend. They did point out, quite a bit, the dead air incident, but they actually aired the highlights like any other league or game. It wasn't until around Week 5 when the ratings had already slipped enough they went back to just making fun of the league.

[Scrumptious Ham]

"I stand for the flag and kneel for the cross!!"

 

That's the target audience this time around. That means we might see names like Glory, Liberty, or Ethnic Cleansers.

[habsfan1]

Like it was mentioned on a BASS episode, the whole Xtreme phase is a product of the mid-to-late 90s/early 2000s, no further than that.

 

But there's more than one reason I don't see the second go-round working, just like it flopped the first time. I don't think we need yet another Football League. The NFL cannot be competed against. For NFL alternatives, we already have College football, which consists of over 100 teams, countless games every Saturday, we have the CFL, and we might still have the Arena Football League, if they air their games on TV somewhere. In Canada, we also have U Sports Football, the Laval Rouge et Or games are aired here, maybe they're aired elsewhere too. Did I leave one out?

 

The wrestling community already justifiably complains about WWE airing too much wrestling with 3-hour long, thrown together shows that drag too much. Do we really need more Football and watch Vince make the same mistake he's making now, as he enters buisness into another sport??

[tigers]

People do love an underdog.

[BBTV]

7 hours ago, habsfan1 said:

Like it was mentioned on a BASS episode, the whole Xtreme phase is a product of the mid-to-late 90s/early 2000s, no further than that.

 

But there's more than one reason I don't see the second go-round working, just like it flopped the first time. I don't think we need yet another Football League. The NFL cannot be competed against. For NFL alternatives, we already have College football, which consists of over 100 teams, countless games every Saturday, we have the CFL, and we might still have the Arena Football League, if they air their games on TV somewhere. In Canada, we also have U Sports Football, the Laval Rouge et Or games are aired here, maybe they're aired elsewhere too. Did I leave one out?

 

The wrestling community already justifiably complains about WWE airing too much wrestling with 3-hour long, thrown together shows that drag too much. Do we really need more Football and watch Vince make the same mistake he's making now, as he enters buisness into another sport??

 

1.  HE HASN'T SAID HE'S COMPETING WITH THE NFL.

2.  Stop with the CFL.  At the end of the day, it's irrelevant to this discussion.  

3.  Arena is a totally different sport.  There's barely any of the same elements.  I enjoy watching full-field football, but simply can't stomach even 5 minutes of Arena football.

4.  I'm likely in the minority on this, but if I was to watch one, I'd choose XFL over NCAA, because I have no NCAA allegiance and am generally against the corruption inherent in the sport (which makes me a hypocrite on some levels for watching NFL, but I think NCAA is far worse.)

5.  He faces a lot of obstacles - his own ego being one of them - but none of the things you mentioned are included in those.

[IceCap]

1 hour ago, BringBackTheVet said:

Stop with the CFL.  At the end of the day, it's irrelevant to this discussion.  

It is though. Vince will end up competing with them for talent. 

[MJWalker45]

11 minutes ago, Ice_Cap said:

It is though. Vince will end up competing with them for talent. 

If the CFL players feel they'll get more exposure in the XFL, they'll jump. Look at Devier Posey, if  wasn't playing in the Grey Cup he might not have been signed by Baltimore. He's been playing in the CFL for 2 years but maybe 1 big year in the XFL gets him back in the NFL that much quicker. Some will stay up north if the salaries are similar but if the minimum in the XFL is a bit higher you'll see movement back to the USA. 

[BBTV]

10 minutes ago, Ice_Cap said:

It is though. Vince will end up competing with them for talent. 

 

From that perspective, sure, I'll agree with you.  In my perfect world, he's also competing with D1 football for talent, but that's a long road.  He's talking about a viewership / fanbase / saturation perspective though.  Through that lense, it's a non factor.

[IceCap]

8 minutes ago, MJWalker45 said:

If the CFL players feel they'll get more exposure in the XFL, they'll jump. Look at Devier Posey, if  wasn't playing in the Grey Cup he might not have been signed by Baltimore. He's been playing in the CFL for 2 years but maybe 1 big year in the XFL gets him back in the NFL that much quicker. Some will stay up north if the salaries are similar but if the minimum in the XFL is a bit higher you'll see movement back to the USA. 

If salaries are similar? Sure. At the same time though? Vince will have to prove his league can make it past one season before significant talent starts jumping ship.

The CFL (Ottawa not withstanding  ) is a proven commodity among players. They know it’s always there, and it pays. Right now? Vince has the opposite reputation in the realm of football. 

 

8 minutes ago, BringBackTheVet said:

 

From that perspective, sure, I'll agree with you.  In my perfect world, he's also competing with D1 football for talent, but that's a long road.  He's talking about a viewership / fanbase / saturation perspective though.  Through that lense, it's a non factor.

Habsfan was talking about it from the Canadian perspective though. Granted, Canadian viewership likely isn’t going to make or break the XFL 2.0, but from a Canadian perspective? It’s going to be difficult to see where it fits alongside pre-existing loyalties and viewing habits. 

[habsfan1]

I just don't see where it's going to fit, to be successful. I definitely don't fully know every other market. It just hard for me to imagine a new league gaining a certain amount of TV audience, looking at the current football landscape. Maybe there could be a demand for XFL football somewhere, even though I'm not seeing it. 

[Mac the Knife]

A little nugget for thought, one which I discovered this weekend while going through the one (and only) piece of XFL memorabilia I have.

 

In the original version of the standard XFL player contract, there was language basically stipulating everything that people are either crediting/discrediting McMahon for with the planned 2020 version, including a clause (i) certifying that the player signing it didn't have any type of criminal record, and (ii) voiding the contract if the player were convicted of any crime for which imprisonment was a possible result.

 

So at least in this respect?  He'll be doing nothing differently than was the case 20 years before; it's just being viewed in a different light today than it was then.

[Gothamite]

6 hours ago, BringBackTheVet said:

From that perspective, sure, I'll agree with you.  In my perfect world, he's also competing with D1 football for talent, but that's a long road.  He's talking about a viewership / fanbase / saturation perspective though.  Through that lense, it's a non factor.

 

I don’t think it is - there’s no evidence that there is a large untapped market for football.  Which means he is indeed going to compete with all established leagues for talent, fans, merchandising dollars, and sponsors. 

 

You grow the pie or you have to slice it into smaller and smaller pieces.  And we’ve heard nothing from him to think he can grow the pie.  Until he can articulate that, he’s indeed competing against all current pro and college incarnations of the game. 

[dfwabel]

8 hours ago, Mac the Knife said:

A little nugget for thought, one which I discovered this weekend while going through the one (and only) piece of XFL memorabilia I have.

 

In the original version of the standard XFL player contract, there was language basically stipulating everything that people are either crediting/discrediting McMahon for with the planned 2020 version, including a clause (i) certifying that the player signing it didn't have any type of criminal record, and (ii) voiding the contract if the player were convicted of any crime for which imprisonment was a possible result.

 

So at least in this respect?  He'll be doing nothing differently than was the case 20 years before; it's just being viewed in a different light today than it was then.

So Jim Druckenmiller was good to be signed under the former Vince contract. I doubt he'd be drafted or signed today or in 2019.

 

4 hours ago, Gothamite said:

 

I don’t think it is - there’s no evidence that there is a large untapped market for football.  Which means he is indeed going to compete with all established leagues for talent, fans, merchandising dollars, and sponsors. 

 

You grow the pie or you have to slice it into smaller and smaller pieces.  And we’ve heard nothing from him to think he can grow the pie.  Until he can articulate that, he’s indeed competing against all current pro and college incarnations of the game. 

Some cities then were diminishing spring football audiences (BMH, MEM).

 

ESPN's Tom Lugingbill, son of the LA Extremes HC Al Lugingbill, was on the Extreme staff and told the NCAA podcast, "The Audible w/ Stu & Bruce" that intellectual, the management was excellent (he's also worked for the Cowboys), but the lack of TV revenue hurt the business.  FWIW, he said, "those who attended a game have always said they loved the experience."

 

The 2/5/18 podcast is where Tom talked XFL:

https://audioboom.com/channel/theaudible

 

Personally, I don't think TV would've assisted their survival as the gate was so poor..  Back in 2000, they had the over 5,000 dudes tryout or give resumes to the XFL.  That is before the age of Hudl/XO and other sport scouting software. Just more dudes today who think their a$$ has game. 

[habsfan1]

Minor League football games here are aired on smaller TV stations, in non-primetime spots. When it's on a smaller scale, it's less pressure imo. The XFL could be another platform for players to play, if they don't make the NFL, etc.

 

But if Vince's goal is to make this thing become huge or if they need to become huge to survive, I don't see how they get it done. Previous track records of the likes of the WBF, WWF New York, the XFL 1.0, just about all of Vince's previous non-wrestling endeavours have flunked. How's this gonna be different? If they aim for goals that are easier to reach, maybe it could work somewhere...

[dfwabel]

2 hours ago, habsfan1 said:

Minor League football games here are aired on smaller TV stations, in non-primetime spots. When it's on a smaller scale, it's less pressure imo. The XFL could be another platform for players to play, if they don't make the NFL, etc.

 

But if Vince's goal is to make this thing become huge or if they need to become huge to survive, I don't see how they get it done. Previous track records of the likes of the WBF, WWF New York, the XFL 1.0, just about all of Vince's previous non-wrestling endeavours have flunked. How's this gonna be different? If they aim for goals that are easier to reach, maybe it could work somewhere...

We've spent weeks talking about nearly all your WWE issues with the XFL.  Seriously, we have.

 

The former XFL had 320 players yet less than 40 got back to NFL rosters after it folded. So telling me there's a need for a league for 10-15% of those dudes who aren't on a roster or practice squad is a false premise as folks won't pay $35-50/game to see such a mess.

 

Go back and read it all before you reply again home.

[Skycast]

Maybe only 10-15% made it onto NFL rosters, but that still leaves 85-90% that go to continue following their dreams, playing football and getting paid to do it.

[MJWalker45]

13 hours ago, dfwabel said:

We've spent weeks talking about nearly all your WWE issues with the XFL.  Seriously, we have.

 

The former XFL had 320 players yet less than 40 got back to NFL rosters after it folded. So telling me there's a need for a league for 10-15% of those dudes who aren't on a roster or practice squad is a false premise as folks won't pay $35-50/game to see such a mess.

 

Go back and read it all before you reply again home.

They also got extra reps. What are the percentages of the World League that actually stayed on NFL rosters, not just practice rosters? Yo Murphy played for years in World League and NFL Europe but outside of Arena League he wasn't able to get any extra work because of it. Marco Martos was a foreign player that was allowed to stay on NFL rosters for 3 years without affecting their roster caps but outside of being a feel good story to plug during the year didn't really add much. If we expect more than 20% of a minor league to move up when that doesn't even happen at the NCAA level, which more than likely will be a higher level at the start, i think we're asking too much of the XFL. 

11 minutes ago, Skycast said:

Maybe only 10-15% made it onto NFL rosters, but that still leaves 85-90% that go to continue following their dreams, playing football and getting paid to do it.

That extra percentage could also parlay the XFL into a CFL career.

[OaklandIsBack]

On 1/28/2018 at 11:11 AM, Cosmic said:

Watch The Founder; it’s on Netflix. It’s a good movie, except (spoiler alert) the bad guy wins.

Update:

 

just watched it. :censored: Ray Kroc 

[Wings]

Oliver Luck named XFL Commissioner & CEO. 

[Atomic]

 

Sounds like they're finally getting something going. 30 markets though? C'mon now.