XFL 2020 Season

[walkerws]

Well with the 3 markets, they will tell the XFL what concessions they will give and then from there they will make decisions after that. How close those markets are to AAF teams will also be a concern I am sure. I see the XFL and AAF almost going into a North vs. South model since the AAF hasn't even looked at any areas in the North. It might actually be a designed approach between the two leagues. Fake competition in order to see where the "true" fans are. 

[TBGKon]

15 minutes ago, walkerws said:

Well with the 3 markets, they will tell the XFL what concessions they will give and then from there they will make decisions after that. How close those markets are to AAF teams will also be a concern I am sure. I see the XFL and AAF almost going into a North vs. South model since the AAF hasn't even looked at any areas in the North. It might actually be a designed approach between the two leagues. Fake competition in order to see where the "true" fans are. 

 

I feel like Texas and NorCal would be the areas that could swing either way, and that one league wont have both of them.

[Mac the Knife]

3 hours ago, Wings said:

Oliver Luck named XFL Commissioner & CEO. 

 

Yet another demonstration of where the XFL is doing things differently this time around.  No offense intended to the latter, but Oliver Luck is no Basil DeVito.

 

More interesting is that Luck said they had sent an information prospectus to 30 potential markets in search of their eight in an effort to gauge interest.  While the AAF is revisiting old (and in some cases I suspect, exhausted) markets, that number along with their process is fascinating to compare it with.

[Wings]

4 minutes ago, Mac the Knife said:

 

Yet another demonstration of where the XFL is doing things differently this time around.  No offense intended to the latter, but Oliver Luck is no Basil DeVito.

 

More interesting is that Luck said they had sent an information prospectus to 30 potential markets in search of their eight in an effort to gauge interest.  While the AAF is revisiting old (and in some cases I suspect, exhausted) markets, that number along with their process is fascinating to compare it with.

 

I do remember Vince saying that this time around that football guys will run his football league. 

[dfwabel]

We also know to a degree that Vince is paying well.  Luck was earning $650K at West Virginia as AD and close to $700K with his NCAA job. 

You don't go run the XFL and take a pay cut. 

[Sykotyk]

As for the 30 markets:

 

Nothing wrong with it. Some are probably long shots. But, my guess is they're all 'mid-major' markets or on the periphery of major markets (Hartford/Rutgers for NYC, Evanston for Chicago, etc). Orlando can work again. There's a certain aspect of playing at the old Citrus Bowl that's beneficial compared to UCF for location.  The UCF location benefits from a lot of college kids showing up for weekend games, but if they're not showing up for UCF games, what's to say Alliance Orlando will draw? Camping World Stadium is more geographically centered. And better for fans southwest of Orlando and south (Lakeland, Osceola, Kissimmee, etc).

 

If XFL really wants to go back to 'football the way it was meant to be played' but 'reimagined', playing in the snow and cold is the way many people remember football in the fall as a kid. It may affect attendance, but you can't argue that a snow game isn't entertaining to watch on television. With all the domes, etc, there's so little opportunities. Even the NFL has rescheduled games when huge storms would roll through (Philadelphia played on a Tuesday to avoid a storm that never really materialized, even).

 

So, playing in the north makes sense. Playing in markets untapped by the endless repetition of secondary football leagues.

 

There's burnout. And aside from SLC, Phoenix, and Atlanta, the markets have had burnout. Atlanta certainly looks better thanks to the modified Turner Field now holding 25k or so as Georgia State Stadium. But, Phoenix in Tempe? If you want Arizona, why not be unique and go with Tucson? A huge city that isn't that far from fans in Phoenix, and might latch onto their own 'pro team' compared to being fifth in line in Phoenix, at best.

[MJWalker45]

12 hours ago, Sykotyk said:

As for the 30 markets:

 

Nothing wrong with it. Some are probably long shots. But, my guess is they're all 'mid-major' markets or on the periphery of major markets (Hartford/Rutgers for NYC, Evanston for Chicago, etc). Orlando can work again. There's a certain aspect of playing at the old Citrus Bowl that's beneficial compared to UCF for location.  The UCF location benefits from a lot of college kids showing up for weekend games, but if they're not showing up for UCF games, what's to say Alliance Orlando will draw? Camping World Stadium is more geographically centered. And better for fans southwest of Orlando and south (Lakeland, Osceola, Kissimmee, etc).

 

If XFL really wants to go back to 'football the way it was meant to be played' but 'reimagined', playing in the snow and cold is the way many people remember football in the fall as a kid. It may affect attendance, but you can't argue that a snow game isn't entertaining to watch on television. With all the domes, etc, there's so little opportunities. Even the NFL has rescheduled games when huge storms would roll through (Philadelphia played on a Tuesday to avoid a storm that never really materialized, even).

 

So, playing in the north makes sense. Playing in markets untapped by the endless repetition of secondary football leagues.

 

There's burnout. And aside from SLC, Phoenix, and Atlanta, the markets have had burnout. Atlanta certainly looks better thanks to the modified Turner Field now holding 25k or so as Georgia State Stadium. But, Phoenix in Tempe? If you want Arizona, why not be unique and go with Tucson? A huge city that isn't that far from fans in Phoenix, and might latch onto their own 'pro team' compared to being fifth in line in Phoenix, at best.

They should be playing a little later too so avoiding really horrible weather in the Northeast will help.

[Brian in Boston]

On 6/5/2018 at 9:24 AM, Wings said:

Oliver Luck named XFL Commissioner & CEO. 

The XFL is going to need more than Luck to survive.

[Sykotyk]

Sending 30 preloaded XFL branded iPad Pros to the 30 markets to submit their information is a little overkill. But, certainly lets the stadium authority or city know that the XFL is serious and finances aren't really an issue with their league.

[Mac the Knife]

On 6/5/2018 at 4:13 PM, dfwabel said:

We also know to a degree that Vince is paying well.  Luck was earning $650K at West Virginia as AD and close to $700K with his NCAA job. 

You don't go run the XFL and take a pay cut. 

Or... Vince gave him an option to buy into the league down the road if he (and the league) made it, say, 5 years.

 

10 hours ago, Sykotyk said:

Sending 30 preloaded XFL branded iPad Pros to the 30 markets to submit their information is a little overkill. But, certainly lets the stadium authority or city know that the XFL is serious and finances aren't really an issue with their league.

What's your source for this?  I don't dispute it; I'd just like to learn more about it.  I don't think reaching out to 30 markets is excessive, FWIW; if anything, it's brilliant.  They reversed the process in comparison to AAF - the AAF is going to cities; XFL is letting the cities come to them.  Just brilliant.

 

17 hours ago, Brian in Boston said:

The XFL is going to need more than Luck to survive.

:rimshot:  Brian in Boston, ladies and gentlemen... he'll be here all week!

[buzzcut]

There are 5 legitimate cities for the AAF's 8th team: San Antonio, Albuquerque, Las Vegas(at Sam Boyd), Sacramento, and El Paso.

 

Assuming one of these cities wins the 8th slot in AAF, I'll assume Albuquerque, these cities would likely form the XFL's Western Division. For the Eastern Division, It'll likely choose from these markets: Norfolk, Raleigh-Durham, Myrtle Beach(playing at CCU's new stadium), Orlando(Citrus Bowl), Mobile, Shreveport.

 

Why no Midwestern or Northeastern markets? Market saturation.

[dfwabel]

1 hour ago, buzzcut said:

There are 5 legitimate cities for the AAF's 8th teamL San Antonio, Albuquerque, Las Vegas(at Sam Boyd), Sacramento, and El Paso.

 

Assuming one of these cities wins the 8th slot in AAF, I'll assume Albuquerque, these cities would likely form the XFL's Western Division. For the Eastern Division, It'll likely choose from these markets: Norfolk, Raleigh-Durham, Myrtle Beach(playing at CCU's new stadium), Orlando(Citrus Bowl), Mobile, Shreveport.

 

Why no Midwestern or Northeastern markets? Market saturation.

El Paso is FAR from legitimate.

It is 68th in MSA population and an even more underwhelming 90th in GDP. ABQ is 60th and 64th respectively.

 

Even if you account for those in Juarez, not enough money there. Plus, the Sun Bowl is dump. UTEP would love to charge them rent in order to pay for the $15-20M in renovations and the new press box/sun deck.

 

While it'd be cute for Vince to name a team the El Paso Wall, it's not a good candidate.

[Sykotyk]

10 hours ago, Mac the Knife said:

What's your source for this?  I don't dispute it; I'd just like to learn more about it.  I don't think reaching out to 30 markets is excessive, FWIW; if anything, it's brilliant.  They reversed the process in comparison to AAF - the AAF is going to cities; XFL is letting the cities come to them.  Just brilliant. 

 

The overkill is the iPad Pro thing. 30 markets itself isn't exactly a lot. But, my guess is they've already researched quite a few markets and either put them on their 'wish list' or put them on their 'that will never work' list and didn't bother to send out iPads.

 

Rather than just going to one market at a time, or sending some sort of paper questionnaire, the fact they're using iPad profs probably give them immediate returns and allows easy two-way communication for further questions, concerns, discussions, etc.

 

Houston getting one is a bit of a surprise. A market usually overlooked by these 8-team 'new leagues' as there's a lot of financial competition. Playing at BBVA would be great, as they also host a college team, so I'm curious about that market. One I don't think many had on their radar. Could just be a 'what if' long shot to see what type of arrangements could be made.

 

The one downside of the 30 markets, is that it seems like it'll preclude several 'secondary' markets who might be worthwhile but not exactly first choice. I'm also curious of the 7 AAF markets that XFL are interested in. They already talked to Orlando preliminarily a while ago about using Camping World Stadium.

[Cujo]

--

[KDubK414]

A few markets I just thought of that could be extreme possibilities are St. Louis, Sand Diego, and the Bay Area, mostly Oakland, but could tap into Niner fans upset that they left the city limits for SC. That covers A midwestern and two West Coast franchises. Add them to the always mentioned San Antonio and Orlando. Ant that makes five viable locations, that are football hungry, the first three probably the hungriest jilted cities. The hardest thing with any start up league now is there is so much over saturation in certain areas, especially with football between the NFL and NCAA. Is Birmingham still a sought after city, when New Orleans and Atlanta dominate that area, plus the NFL's junior division the SEC. 

 

There just aren't that many untapped prime markets out there that they have to go into at least a few already established areas, and that costs them a little, or a lot, in that entertainment dollar source. If you live in the New York area, and the XFL came back, would you rather spend your live football dollars on attending ONE Giants or Jets game a year or every other year. Or, would you rather buy season tickets to Hitmen 2.0? In the same vein, I always think of the possibility of this happening in Milwaukee. On one hand it would be cool to go watch a "pro" team play in my city 8 games a year. But I already have the Packers and Badgers in my backyard, so I would rather spend my money on tickets for the rare games I can attend. 

 

I'm very intrigued to see where they end up setting up shop and start playing games. 

[Mac the Knife]

10 hours ago, Sykotyk said:

The overkill is the iPad Pro thing. 30 markets itself isn't exactly a lot. But, my guess is they've already researched quite a few markets and either put them on their 'wish list' or put them on their 'that will never work' list and didn't bother to send out iPads.

 

Rather than just going to one market at a time, or sending some sort of paper questionnaire, the fact they're using iPad profs probably give them immediate returns and allows easy two-way communication for further questions, concerns, discussions, etc.

 

Houston getting one is a bit of a surprise. A market usually overlooked by these 8-team 'new leagues' as there's a lot of financial competition. Playing at BBVA would be great, as they also host a college team, so I'm curious about that market. One I don't think many had on their radar. Could just be a 'what if' long shot to see what type of arrangements could be made.

 

The one downside of the 30 markets, is that it seems like it'll preclude several 'secondary' markets who might be worthwhile but not exactly first choice. I'm also curious of the 7 AAF markets that XFL are interested in. They already talked to Orlando preliminarily a while ago about using Camping World Stadium.

 

Again, I'll politely ask for your source on that in an effort to learn more, but my guess would be exactly what yours was with respect to the iPads.  But in and of itself it makes an impression.  The Indoor Football League used to (and perhaps they still do) send prospective franchisees DVD's with promotional video regarding their league along with a first level questionnaire and NDA; something that also made themselves stand out in comparison to others.

 

I'm not yet aware of the full list of 30 (though I'm sure I'll look into it), but there are NFL markets where I think spring football would do well in today's marketplace.  AAF picked Atlanta and Phoenix, which I don't think will do as well as they hope due to the levels of competition in their markets for discretionary income.  But there are quite a few NFL markets (New York, Houston, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, New Orleans, the Bay Area, possibly Detroit and Tampa) where provided the attendance expectations aren't ridiculous, XFL could do well.

[Gothamite]

3 hours ago, KDubK414 said:

A few markets I just thought of that could be extreme possibilities are St. Louis, Sand Diego, and the Bay Area, mostly Oakland, but could tap into Niner fans upset that they left the city limits for SC.

 

No. 

[MJWalker45]

15 hours ago, Sykotyk said:

Houston getting one is a bit of a surprise. A market usually overlooked by these 8-team 'new leagues' as there's a lot of financial competition. Playing at BBVA would be great, as they also host a college team, so I'm curious about that market. One I don't think many had on their radar. Could just be a 'what if' long shot to see what type of arrangements could be made.

I could see them playing at the University of Houston stadium rather than BBVA. I think Texas Southern already plays there during the fall so the Dynamo would want to have the field to themselves for the first part of the season. The biggest issue might be if they have to pull up the turf or paint over it instead, which would be more likely depending on the rules the league goes with. 

San Antonio put out that they were contacted and it's about 50/50, maybe 60/40 right now on public opinion. The detractors are the usual, "If it's not the NFL it's not real football", or" I'd rather have Cowboys training camp here again". Some of them keep saying that we need to update the dome, not realizing we just did that over the last two years, so obviously they haven't been going to the stadium. El Paso as a league city just won't work because there isn't any financial incentive to be gained playing there. The stadium has slowly gotten updates but isn't near where it needs to be for professional football. 

[dfwabel]

On 6/7/2018 at 7:20 AM, Mac the Knife said:

Or... Vince gave him an option to buy into the league down the road if he (and the league) made it, say, 5 years.

 

 

Or Oliver Luck wisely knew that now is the time to leave the NCAA.

 

1-As of today, the NCAA doesn't allow Nevada to hold championships due to gambling. Well, that number of states increased by one this week with Delaware and NJ is ready for the governor to sign it into law, as well as Mississippi. There might be 25+ states which the NCAA has to work around as soon as the next academic year as they'll allow sports gambling.

 

2-The NCAA amateurism model is failing as well.

 

3-The Power 5 still may break away.

[C-Squared]

On 6/7/2018 at 12:02 AM, Sykotyk said:

Sending 30 preloaded XFL branded iPad Pros to the 30 markets to submit their information is a little overkill. But, certainly lets the stadium authority or city know that the XFL is serious and finances aren't really an issue with their league.

 

I don't think a few grand in iPads is noteworthy in the slightest or indicative of solvency... really an unremarkable drop in the financial bucket.