MJWalker45

3 minutes ago, ManillaToad said:

 

They really need to use BIR instead of BHAM. Do they think nobody will know what city BIR refers to??

BHM would work too. That's the airport code anyways. I think the Stallions were the only team that didn't use 3 letter abbreviations, that's pretty much the standard now. 

19 minutes ago, GDAWG said:

 

I don't think the UFL wants a stadium that small for their league, although it would be beneficial to them to do so.  

A 5,000 seat stadium can't be considered beneficial to  a pro sports team outside of minor league soccer or baseball. Being able to fill in  a stadium because it's too small is almost as bad as not filling a stadium because it's too big. 

9 minutes ago, walkerws said:

I think Roughnecks was the better brand was that they actually had a vocal fan group and actually played in Houston. Nostalgia doesn't move a lot of things outside the boards. The USFL should have adopted the XFL model of training and gamedays, IMO. Then the Gamblers would have been able to profit off of their nostalgia with this team. 

I think the problem for them was finding an affordable location that close to the start of college training camps. The Dynamo were not going to let them in, and NRG Stadium would be way too much for them to rent out for at most 15,000-25,000 a game. It's the same issue for the Maulers and possibly the New Orleans Breakers. In the case of the Breakers, I think it would be funny as hell if they were brought back but placed in Portland, Oregon along with the Seattle Sea Dragons coming back through expansion as a way to spread the league to the west. 

8 minutes ago, WBeltz said:

I'll be interested to see the uniforms once we get close enough. I bet XFL teams will have the same (if not revamped) looks, I'm more curious about the USFL teams? They'll undoubtedly have the UA logo on there, but will they stay the same? Have small changes? Big changes?

I'd expect the Steamboats uniforms to change, but other than possible number fonts I don't see a reason to change Birmingham and Michigan. 

13 minutes ago, BBTV said:

the SEC entrant took a finalist into overtime. I think it’s fair to say they made the right choice. It’s also fair to think that Georgia may have outperformed Texas. 

Yup, just because a SEC team didn't make the championship doesn't mean they were overrated. The fact they lost a lot of regular season games that they were expected to win does. I think Georgia was over hyped due to a very week schedule that kept them out of the playoffs, but I think they had all of the elements available that would beat Texas. 

1 hour ago, Luigi74 said:

They made a huge mistake by not having the Maulers play at Highmark Stadium(the Pittsburgh one), they would have filled it up, 5,000 fans in a 5,000 seat stadium in Pittsburgh looks way better than a 500 people in a 25,000 seat stadium in Canton, Ohio.

This looks cute for a one off game, but the needed facilities for a football league would cause a lot of traffic and other logistics issues. Soccer doesn't need as many cameras football does, and can you make sure there's no distractions on that train line during broadcasts? Pitt has used it for spring games which don't require all of the extra equipment, but this isn't somewhere you should be playing regular season league games. Canton wanted their own team, and dressing up the Maulers in Steelers colors wasn't helping that. 

50 minutes ago, raysox said:

I would get this if they went 4-4 for each league, but having an XFL and USFL conference with the USFL conference actually having an XFL team name is sooooooooo lameeeeeeee

Want to be united? Do a north and south or east and west. Mix in the teams. It doesn't matter now that Arlington and Birmingham are defending champions in each league since they have 0 titles in this new one. 

On 1/1/2024 at 4:43 PM, Sodboy13 said:

 

Just think how many brains had to malfunction in the same place at the same time for this to be the end result of the merger.

 

1.5 seasons for the UFL. Hammer the under.

I'm still certain the only reason the Roughnecks survived is that UA already made their uniforms and they hadn't decided on uniform designs for the USFL teams coming in. So instead of wasting stock, they kept the Roughnecks and moved them to the USFL Conference. 

On 1/1/2024 at 2:25 PM, Red Comet said:

I'd like to see how this chopped and glued UFL does for a year before thinking about expansion.

If this doesn't work, I don't see how spring football could ever be viable. I'd like to see it happen, however, "trust but verify" is the phrase that comes to mind. 

I think we'll see a bump in the numbers from those fans that refused to watch one league or the other tuning in to see their teams playing that other league. How long that last depends on the league and the broadcasters. I think the Fox presentation being almost equal to the NFL broadcast in terms of graphics will tell some fans this is a good thing. The one thing I wish ESPN would drop, but I know they won't, is the bet trackers for the Over/Under. 

Week 18 schedule:

Pittsburgh vs. Baltimore

Houston vs. Indianapolis

Tampa Bay vs. Carolina

Atlanta vs. New Orleans

NY Jets vs. New England

Cleveland vs. Cincinnati

Jacksonville vs. Tennessee

Minnesota vs. Detroit

Philadelphia vs. NY Giants 

Dallas vs. Washington 

Seattle vs. Arizona

LA Rams vs. San Francisco

Chicago vs. Green Bay

Kansas City vs. LA Chargers

Denver vs. Las Vegas

Buffalo vs. Miami

4 minutes ago, DCarp1231 said:

The cog should be on the helmet. Man, that thing is nice. Also sad to have seen the Renegade “cowboy” reduced to a secondary logo.

The cowboy should be on the helmet and that AR thing on the sleeves. 

2 minutes ago, DCarp1231 said:

If the UFL is smart, they’d put the Roughnecks in recolored Gamblers uniforms minus the side panels.

I'd say just put them in their 2020 uniforms, but that'd be three teams in red. 

A full color navy helmet with the current logos would work great here. 

That cog logo should be somewhere on a uniform.

Anyone else expect the Steamboats jerseys to look like the Roughnecks but in different colored yokes, or do we think they'll get new jerseys instead? The rest of the USFL teams have designs that easily switch over the UA templates. 

I also hope we see a championship trophy that's closer to the USFL trophy than the XFL trophy. Maybe keep those trophies as the division trophies?

5 minutes ago, TrueYankee26 said:

There will be at least 18 years of frustration ending this season. If Texas loses, a team wins the NC for the 1st time in the 21st century.

At least there will be a coach with a national championship for the first time as well. 

Just now, BottomlessPitt said:

If it's Michigan vs. Washington, it'll be an All-Big TEN Final 

As long as TCTUN don't win, I'll be happy.

Oregon has been dropping simple catches so far. This game could be a blowout if they just hold on to the ball.

Just now, HOOVER said:

Anxious to know if UA is still involved and if this merger allows them to fix some of the XFL 3.0 mistakes (Renegades primary logo, helmet, and away uniform, for example).  
 

I can’t imagine they’d just hold over non-UA uniforms for 3 teams.

 

Perfect time to make uniform/logo changes.   Sadly, based on their logo, I have no faith they’ll do it.

I'd hope Memphis got a new look. Otherwise you have two teams with that jagged yoke look. The rest fit the template with no issues. I would also like Houston to copy the 2020 uniform with the silver helmets and the 2023 logos. 

9 hours ago, MDGP said:

A revival of the name of a failed football league not actually associated with the original failed football league created by combining the revival of the name of failed football league not actually associated with the original failed football league with the revival of a name of a failed football league league no longer associated with the original failed football league.

 

Brilliant stuff.

Outside of the boards, how many people even remember the old UFL? People who had UPN? They needed a new name, so this is probably the best call. For 2025, I'd like to see them get support from the NFL, Similar to the original WLAF of 1991-1992. If they can get some of those third and fourth stringers more game time, especially if the NFL gets its wish of 18 games and only two preseason games, that will help both leagues. The NFL isn't paying to run the league, can test game rules, and review new candidates for game officials. 

The Roughnecks will remain instead of the Gamblers and move to the USFL Division.

4 hours ago, oldschoolvikings said:

 

I don't see any way in hell some team would give the Bears a first for Fields. Not at this point.  If Chicago puts him on the market they're basically telling everyone they plan to draft a new QB, which kinda kills their leverage. You'd think they might get a 2nd rounder for him, tho I'm not really sure from who. Maybe some team that missed out on a QB in the first round might give a Bears a two for him.

 

But I think you're right about Chicago keeping him.  After all they seem intent on keeping that coach. 

I don't think there's a good reason to bring in a freshman QB unless Chicago can get them OL help. Williams can use his legs and has an arm, but are there any other QB's that are capable of starting on day 1? With the 1 and probably 6 or 7 picks, they could bring in a WR as well. Getting someone with hands would have helped that team so much this year. But I think that's the plan for next year instead.

1 hour ago, Sykotyk said:

Would've given them the chance to have a cohesive branding after the first logo was deemed "too NFLy".

 

Would've also been one way to promote this as a 50/50 merger, rather than what it was. Four best XFL markets and the three 'home' markets that were 'home' markets in the USFL. We all knew the thousand or so fans showing up in Canton weren't cutting it in USFL.

 

I'm just curious what image this UFL is trying to project. USFL at least went 'throwbacks'... XFL went 'new and edgy'... UFL is just... "We have football, please watch."

With everyone rolling into Fox and ESPN, I think they're trying to give the impression they're keeping the best of both leagues going forward.

35 minutes ago, McCall said:

So instead of the Roughnecks staff/players rebranding as the Gamblers, as expected, it appears the Gamblers staff/players may have been rebranded as the Roughnecks and will be in the USFL division.

If they do this, I won't be mad. It's a better brand and it's actually played in town this century. 

6 minutes ago, Cosmic said:

USFL and XFL were probably the two biggest brands in spring football, so naturally they borrowed the name of that short-lived league where everyone shared the same colors.

For the first year. But it's still probably what they're best known for. 

13 minutes ago, DCarp1231 said:

The Barstool Sports Arizona Bowl on the CW was a hard watch. Gave up quickly. Cannot stand Dave Portnoy’s bland commentary and the try hard sideline “reporters”

It reminded me of when Fox Soccer had Fan Zone on for EPL games and it was a fan from each team calling the game. 

They just ran the first commercial. They made sure to have Fox personalities talking up the merger.

7 minutes ago, TrueYankee26 said:

So that arrow from the teaser image turns out to be part of the UFL logo

I'm just happy it wasn't some attempt to make an edgy letter U.

9 hours ago, Sykotyk said:

It is NOT going to take long for the 16-team conferences to decide that semifinals are required. And yes, that means that, better chance one team is making it to the playoffs... but all that money stays with the conference. They don't have to share any of it. And it will be aligned with their TV partners.

 

Imagine Michigan-Penn State and Ohio State-Iowa in semifinals the week after the regular season. And a conference championship the week before the CFP first round. Yeah, there's a reason that extra week was put in there. And it wasn't to get things ready for four host sites. Some conference with their divisionless format will have 3 11-1 teams with 9-0, 8-1, and 8-1 conference records complaining about being left out. And get the change made to allow it. Give it four years, tops.

This came into play with Arizona and Oregon this year. Had Oregon State beat Oregon, Arizona is in the PAC 12 Championship. I don't think we'll see conference semi-finals though. I think it's more likely that the committee's give those teams bonus points when it comes time to pick teams for the playoffs. 

42 minutes ago, Sykotyk said:

How? We now have 8 teams that will play a total of 6 bowl games. Essentially taking four teams out of the rotation. The four first round losers aren't bowl eligible? Either way, if they aren't, that puts 12 teams playing a total of 6 bowl games (4 quarterfinals and two semifinals). Which is the same adjustment as 4 teams playing in two bowls today (national championship is its own game). You'd still net the same number of bowls to team ratio.

 

The first round is still expected to be played at home stadiums instead of bowl games, unless the host team chooses to play at a bowl site. 

5 hours ago, GDAWG said:

Teams with 5-7 and 6-6 records in bowl games isn't right.  I think to be bowl eligible, a team has to win 7 games, not 6.

 

 

Unless they drop 10-12 games, they'll still need 5-7 teams to fill up slots every year, starting next year.

1 hour ago, BBTV said:

 

Why does it matter?  

Based on Ohio State and Florida State, none of it matters, except that ESPN paid for live sports and needs someone to play. They'd let Kent State play Bishop Sycamore if they had to, just to make sure there's something there.