Another New Football League: the FXFL

[DarkJourney]

End this Xperiment

I don't understand this sentiment. It pops up everytime one of these new leagues emerges.

Why wish for it to fail? You'd think on a message board devoted to sports branding that having another league -- whether to mock or enjoy -- would be welcome. It just doesn't make sense. Seems counter productive.

I don't have a problem with the sports branding side of it. I'm a big follower of sports branding. It's the business side that I'm focused on. I would love to see a serious football league with great sports branding and a serious business plan to back it up. That's the problem with these start up leagues. They get everyone's hopes up with good branding ideas but fail miserably on the business/economic side of things and go under before even taking a snap.

[Cosmic]

End this Xperiment

I don't understand this sentiment. It pops up everytime one of these new leagues emerges.

Why wish for it to fail? You'd think on a message board devoted to sports branding that having another league -- whether to mock or enjoy -- would be welcome. It just doesn't make sense. Seems counter productive.

I don't have a problem with the sports branding side of it. I'm a big follower of sports branding. It's the business side that I'm focused on. I would love to see a serious football league with great sports branding and a serious business plan to back it up. That's the problem with these start up leagues. They get everyone's hopes up with good branding ideas but fail miserably on the business/economic side of things and go under before even taking a snap.

Was this the league that pulled out of California, because they didn't want to be as nice to their players as California would require them to be? If so, that's a pretty good reason to dismiss this league (IMO).

[Tyrano123]

End this Xperiment

I don't understand this sentiment. It pops up everytime one of these new leagues emerges.

Why wish for it to fail? You'd think on a message board devoted to sports branding that having another league -- whether to mock or enjoy -- would be welcome. It just doesn't make sense. Seems counter productive.

I don't have a problem with the sports branding side of it. I'm a big follower of sports branding. It's the business side that I'm focused on. I would love to see a serious football league with great sports branding and a serious business plan to back it up. That's the problem with these start up leagues. They get everyone's hopes up with good branding ideas but fail miserably on the business/economic side of things and go under before even taking a snap.

Was this the league that pulled out of California, because they didn't want to be as nice to their players as California would require them to be? If so, that's a pretty good reason to dismiss this league (IMO).

That was the A11FL

[Cosmic]

End this Xperiment

I don't understand this sentiment. It pops up everytime one of these new leagues emerges.

Why wish for it to fail? You'd think on a message board devoted to sports branding that having another league -- whether to mock or enjoy -- would be welcome. It just doesn't make sense. Seems counter productive.

I don't have a problem with the sports branding side of it. I'm a big follower of sports branding. It's the business side that I'm focused on. I would love to see a serious football league with great sports branding and a serious business plan to back it up. That's the problem with these start up leagues. They get everyone's hopes up with good branding ideas but fail miserably on the business/economic side of things and go under before even taking a snap.

Was this the league that pulled out of California, because they didn't want to be as nice to their players as California would require them to be? If so, that's a pretty good reason to dismiss this league (IMO).

That was the A11FL

Thank you. So hard to keep track of all these things.

[jaha32]

At least the FXFL seems to have a more modest plan than the A11FL. The A11FL was banking on TV deals, NFL-sized stadiums, and national coverage, which just was too much too soon in my opinion. Even the NFL had humble beginnings, so the FXFL's smaller approach seems more realistic. Yeah, they've already had a few hiccups, but if the teams can build a respectable fan base within their communities and at least say their players touched the field in what appears to be a trial year, then maybe they can build from there. I'm rooting for the FXFL as a casual follower. The small local approach has worked for minor league baseball for years so maybe it's football's time.

[dfwabel]

At least the FXFL seems to have a more modest plan than the A11FL. The A11FL was banking on TV deals, NFL-sized stadiums, and national coverage, which just was too much too soon in my opinion. Even the NFL had humble beginnings, so the FXFL's smaller approach seems more realistic. Yeah, they've already had a few hiccups, but if the teams can build a respectable fan base within their communities and at least say their players touched the field in what appears to be a trial year, then maybe they can build from there. I'm rooting for the FXFL as a casual follower. The small local approach has worked for minor league baseball for years so maybe it's football's time.

Sorry, but when one's plans are to be absorbed by the NFL, one's goals are not modest. They really haven't done much of what they have said in media releases and what they have done has been later than previously told or not at all. It is hard to be a trial when your revenue is so dependent on the gate.

But let's review what the FXFL claims since the start of the year:

Woods claimed there would be six teams. Weeks later, he was down to four. Today, he has 3.5 (since the Blacktips are the “Washington Generals of football). They have a team with NO home games, so they just gave up part of their limited money to FIU in terms of a facility deposit. Woods talked how Florida was, “important for their TV footprint”, but there will be no games there now.

They announced that Austin was going to have a team, but they are not for this year.

They were looking to get $5MM from investors, but only got half of that.

They were telling us they would have a draft, but only allocated players to teams.

They said they were going to play on Wednesday nights, but Boston is playing on Fridays and going up against HS football and other Friday activities in Boston.

Woods claimed top coaching. Only Terry Shea is a head coach with league experience. Omaha has a bunch of geriatrics who have not coached in a decade and may have their photo up in a Beef O' Bradys.

Boston started posting jobs account execs on September 12...via craigslist.

Woods wants to pair with minor league baseball teams for marketing services and stadium operations, but he forgot, or never knew that minor league teams do not really have the staff size they have during the season since they rely on interns!

[jaha32]

I'm not saying there's no reason to be skeptical, and I've mentioned they've had hiccups in getting this off the ground, but if we are comparing the A11FL to FXFL, the FXFL's plan to feed the NFL seems smarter. There's nothing wrong with the FXFL having a goal of someday being officially affiliated with the NFL. Their minor league approach where players can come and go with a short schedule is more modest. Maybe this will fail. Maybe it won't. All I'm saying is I'm rooting for it.

[dfwabel]

I'm not saying there's no reason to be skeptical, and I've mentioned they've had hiccups in getting this off the ground, but if we are comparing the A11FL to FXFL, the FXFL's plan to feed the NFL seems smarter. There's nothing wrong with the FXFL having a goal of someday being officially affiliated with the NFL. Their minor league approach where players can come and go with a short schedule is more modest. Maybe this will fail. Maybe it won't. All I'm saying is I'm rooting for it.

They don't need you to root for them...

They need your $$$.

[jaha32]

I'm not saying there's no reason to be skeptical, and I've mentioned they've had hiccups in getting this off the ground, but if we are comparing the A11FL to FXFL, the FXFL's plan to feed the NFL seems smarter. There's nothing wrong with the FXFL having a goal of someday being officially affiliated with the NFL. Their minor league approach where players can come and go with a short schedule is more modest. Maybe this will fail. Maybe it won't. All I'm saying is I'm rooting for it.

They don't need you to root for them...

They need your $$$.

I'm not going to pretend like I cared enough to look up any numbers on this league other than skimming your rebuttal, but the other attempted startup leagues that preceded this have set the bar so low that if the FXFL's 3.5 teams even takes the field in two weeks, that's more than the A11FL or NSFL or any other recent startup league can say.

[garydavison]

6 teams in New York, Boston, Omaha, Portland, Austin and a Florida city TBA.

Apparently, the Florida-based team is hoping to set-up shop at Florida International University's football stadium in Miami.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/fl-fall-football-league-new-0710-20140709,0,7091592.story

Also, the FXFL's Omaha, Nebraska-based franchise has unveiled its identity. The team will be known as the Omaha Mammoths.

http://www.omaha.com/sports/omaha-s-fxfl-franchise-reveals-team-mascot-logo/article_24644e0e-1854-11e4-952a-001a4bcf6878.html?mode=story

Of course, this is all predicated upon the league's member-franchises actually taking the field, which is no sure thing.

I actually like the Omaha Mammoths as a team name. And orange and gray can make for some cool uniforms. I might have to create them in Madden on my pc hehe.

However this is another BS league that will never play a single game. FXFL has to be the worse sports league name ever.

[LAWeaver]

6 teams in New York, Boston, Omaha, Portland, Austin and a Florida city TBA.

Apparently, the Florida-based team is hoping to set-up shop at Florida International University's football stadium in Miami.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/fl-fall-football-league-new-0710-20140709,0,7091592.story

Also, the FXFL's Omaha, Nebraska-based franchise has unveiled its identity. The team will be known as the Omaha Mammoths.

http://www.omaha.com/sports/omaha-s-fxfl-franchise-reveals-team-mascot-logo/article_24644e0e-1854-11e4-952a-001a4bcf6878.html?mode=story

Of course, this is all predicated upon the league's member-franchises actually taking the field, which is no sure thing.

I actually like the Omaha Mammoths as a team name. And orange and gray can make for some cool uniforms. I might have to create them in Madden on my pc hehe.

However this is another BS league that will never play a single game. FXFL has to be the worse sports league name ever.

It's a shame none of these teams never see any action. I too like the name, but ever since I found out that the Omaha Storm Chasers passed on the name 'Omahogs', I've been wanting a team with that name ever since then

[EJ_Barlik]

zero games played yet + 3 cancellations already = more trouble ahead....

I'm sorry. Travelling team seems an awful lot like codespeak to me for "we couldn't get a legit stadium to host us, so we're going to play all our games on the road". Unbalanced schedule = inequitable distribution of players reps.

Not having former NFL head coaches = NFL scouts will ignore a lot of them.

Personally, I am rooting for the former A11FL-turned-new-league-with-NFL-rules and potentially the new USFL. Latest rumor I heard was a potential merger of those two (unconfirmed of course). Maybe between them, they can work together to make a developmental league work.

That being said, it's hard to capitalize a new league. But when no one (well, except us geeks) knows it's even playing, no one will care.

My theory is that the league will survive partially on how good their logos are. Marketing (cash) is king. So far, Omaha and the team formerly known as Florida had the best logos. Brooklyn seemed to be too "busy" with too many elements all smashed into the logo. The Brawlers looks like a joke to me. Like an old timey mustached puncher in the gangs-of-new-york clubs. It certainly doesn't seem modern at all. (Even the Patriots newer Flying Elvis logo looks modern.)

But even the Blacktips logo needed to be cleaned up a bit, looking like half-a-shark in some respects. I suppose it is fitting they will only play half-a-schedule.

Sigh....

[dfwabel]

zero games played yet + 3 cancellations already = more trouble ahead....

I'm sorry. Travelling team seems an awful lot like codespeak to me for "we couldn't get a legit stadium to host us, so we're going to play all our games on the road". Unbalanced schedule = inequitable distribution of players reps.

Not having former NFL head coaches = NFL scouts will ignore a lot of them.

Personally, I am rooting for the former A11FL-turned-new-league-with-NFL-rules and potentially the new USFL. Latest rumor I heard was a potential merger of those two (unconfirmed of course). Maybe between them, they can work together to make a developmental league work.

That being said, it's hard to capitalize a new league. But when no one (well, except us geeks) knows it's even playing, no one will care.

My theory is that the league will survive partially on how good their logos are. Marketing (cash) is king. So far, Omaha and the team formerly known as Florida had the best logos. Brooklyn seemed to be too "busy" with too many elements all smashed into the logo. The Brawlers looks like a joke to me. Like an old timey mustached puncher in the gangs-of-new-york clubs. It certainly doesn't seem modern at all. (Even the Patriots newer Flying Elvis logo looks modern.)

But even the Blacktips logo needed to be cleaned up a bit, looking like half-a-shark in some respects. I suppose it is fitting they will only play half-a-schedule.

Sigh....

The league signed a lease with Florida International University to play at Ocean Bank Field @FIU Stadium, but as you can see that even though the contract allows for the rental fee to typed in later, the details of the lease make it difficult to be profitable.

As for merchandising being able to cover them until next season, the royalties do not work that way, in fact, it is FAR from that.

Selling 50,000 tee shirts @ $20 each does not make the FXFL $1MM.

Typically, the leagues get about 12% royalties on merchandising, and that is not retail, that is off the wholesale.

As for Omaha, a MECA spokesperson indicated that the FXFL lease would be similar to that of the UFL's Nighthawks.

So, let's take a look:

While the rent for TD Ameritrade Park is only $10K, the other cost and fees add up.

There is a $1-2 fee per ticket, depending on ticket cost.

The stadium takes 15% gross merchandise sales.

The stadium keeps all concession revenie

The FXFL must reimburse the stadium workers, security, and EMTs.

Then there is the issue of paying the coaches, players, and the cost of producing it for TV.

[kewp80]

My theory is that the league will survive partially on how good their logos are. Marketing (cash) is king. So far, Omaha and the team formerly known as Florida had the best logos. Brooklyn seemed to be too "busy" with too many elements all smashed into the logo. The Brawlers looks like a joke to me. Like an old timey mustached puncher in the gangs-of-new-york clubs. It certainly doesn't seem modern at all. (Even the Patriots newer Flying Elvis logo looks modern.)

But even the Blacktips logo needed to be cleaned up a bit, looking like half-a-shark in some respects. I suppose it is fitting they will only play half-a-schedule.

Sigh....

Yeah I don't see any league ever partially surviving through branding and merchandise. How would that be even possible?

I'm having trouble with your thinking of how the Brawlers logo doesn't look modern to you. It could use some perspective cleaning up for sure, but it's pretty clean and fits perfectly what the team and league are going for. I've been under the impression that the identity is based off of the Boston Strong Man John L. Sullivan, probably America's best sanctioned bare knuckle boxer. Makes perfect sense for an underdog league/team.

[dfwabel]

Using GroupOn already for Omaha.

http://touch.groupon.com/deals/gl-omaha-mammoths

[kewp80]

$29!! And that's 46% off!? Beer prices better be as cheap as dog spit.

[dfwabel]

$29!! And that's 46% off!? Beer prices better be as cheap as dog spit.

MECA, the city's stadium/arena agency, controls concessions, so the team still does not get that revenue.

Plus, a typical GroupOn gives 50% of the purchase price to GroupOn and 25% or less to the merchant. So they are seeing no more than $7.50 on each of those tickets sold for $29.

[NJTank]

Why cant any of these minor league teams get off the ground. Minor League Football was common at one time, Johnny Unitas played in one before signing with the Colts.

[DCarp1231]

FXFL signs a deal to stream games live on ESPN3... a week before the scheduled October 8th launch...

[leopard88]

Why cant any of these minor league teams get off the ground. Minor League Football was common at one time, Johnny Unitas played in one before signing with the Colts.

What Johnny U played was more like sandlot/semipro football which is still around on a regional basis. These leagues all want to pull off something more ambitious . . . a national league with a TV contract and drawing 20,000+ crowds.

See long list of leagues on the side of the page --

http://www.semiprofootball.org/