MJWalker45

6 hours ago, AnPheitseog said:

I've used the site on Chrome on Windows 11(homebuilt desktop with AMD 5 processor, samsung SSD, ASUS mobo) without that issue.

Apparently when In use the incognito window I can access the boards. Not sure what's going on with that. Could be the VPN.

Just now, Sec19Row53 said:

Laptop is Windows 10 Home.  Also no issues (posting from it here).

Ok. I think that's my issue. I think they both updated to 11.

1 hour ago, CS85 said:

 

Hub cities is the death knell of the league.  Local support is all that keeps business and interest going.  Just call the whole operation now and don't waste anyone else's time.

I feel like the Markcast is pulling things out of his backside. If early reports are the only USFL teams guaranteed to play in 2024 were teams with stadiums, why are hubs a consideration again? This just doesn't make fiscal sense no matter how much money XFL teams lost last year. Those were, according to most, expected losses. 

14 minutes ago, Sec19Row53 said:

Accessing this on my desktop on Chrome. No issues.

Are you using Windows 11, or 10? It's been an issue on the laptop (Lenovo) for a bit and just started on the desktop (HP).

I'm getting a 403 Error in Google Chrome on my desktop and laptop at home. Is there an exception I need to add that allows me to go to the CCSLC site? It only applies to the forums, not the (sportslogos net) site 

1 minute ago, McCall said:

Here's how I could see a divisional alignment based on our current assumption of surviving teams. I went with the 3 divisions of 4, like the first season of the original USFL. It lends itself to fairly easy scheduling for 10-14 game seasons.

WEST	SOUTH	NORTH/EAST
Arlington Renegades	Birmingham Stallions	Canton
Houston Gamblers	Memphis Showboats	DC Defenders
San Antonio Brahmas	New Orleans Breakers	Michigan Panthers
Seattle Sea Dragons	Orlando Guardians	St. Louis Battlehawks

I forgot to say that's how I did the scheduling as well. But what you have is about what I was working with as well.  

Looking at the idea of a 12 team, 12 week league I think we have a few ideas of when the best time to play in this setup would be. If they go with the USFL start frame, the league championship wouldn't happen until the 13th or 14th of July. That's pretty late into the NFL calendar for those making the playoffs. So if they stick to 10 weeks, anyone making the championship game will still have to sprint on to their training camps with the NFL. Ideally, a 12 week season can work, but just moving it up to the first week in March helps finish the regular season by Memorial Day weekend, and the championship game is done in early June. A February date could then end the season on Memorial Day weekend, possibly Saturday so as to not conflict with the Indianapolis 500, which ESPN/ABC will give priority to. Teams were chosen based on my personal belief as to who could survive, not on official information. 

Week 1

1 minute ago, Fowler said:

Remove the baseball grandstand and you have a nice little soccer park. 

The grandstand works in Portland, no reason to get rid of it here. But these are the future. Currently, is it really any better than Cashman? 

Liverpool Third kit. Just a recolored national team kit template.

23 minutes ago, Ferdinand Cesarano said:

 

 

That sort of seating capacity is a good thing for this league (even if siting a team called "New Jersey" out on Long Island is not).

 

The league should be talking to other colleges in New Jersey and  New York City about rentals.  In New Jersey, the stadiums of Rutgers (47,000) and Princeton (27,000) are too big; but Yogi Berra Stadium at Montclair State University, holds 5000.  I'm sure that there are plenty of other colleges in New Jersey that I don't even know about that have similar-sized stadiums.

 

In the City, Columbia's stadium holds 17,000, which is probably too much.  Thinking more realistically, the Fordham football stadium seats about 7000.  Getting more realistic still, Wagner College's stadium holds 3000 and  the stadium on the campus of St. John's University holds about 2000.

 

Apart from colleges, the recently-refurbished Hinchliffe Stadium in Paterson, New Jersey seats 10,000 for football. Let us also note that the Brooklyn Bolts of the FXFL played at the Brooklyn Cyclones' baseball stadium, which seats 7000. 

 

I would expect that the spring leagues will want stadiums that are similar in size to most MLS stadiums. So anything under 20,000 isn't going to work. After the fiasco that was Cashman Field, I'd expect that they would avoid baseball stadiums unless they are turf, and expandable to at least 18,000. I know the primary tenant is a soccer team now, but some of the issues with Cashman were that it was still configured in a way that it can be quickly swapped into a baseball stadium. 

That torn up bit of grass in the middle of the field was an eyesore and injury risk as well, but for most people, it was the idea that that backdrop to the right gave the impression of a stadium that was still being built around the field. 

In regards to New York/New Jersey, Hofstra would require a lot of repainting that the league, and most importantly the school, won't want to do. 

Columbia could be workable as a one year deal, but I think Red Bull or new NYCFC stadium would be the better option. 

10 minutes ago, kmccarthy27 said:

The NY UFL team played at Hofstra University, so they could use that

The UFL was fine with lesser facilities. I don't see the XFL/USFL being fine with that. That's a 12,000 seat stadium for a school that no longer has football. So then you're paying to put in new turf and a stadium that's too small. I don't think it's set up well for TV either. At least not at the level needed for pro football broadcasts. 

21 minutes ago, HOOVER said:

The travel logistics must drive the leaders of these leagues nuts.  Seattle makes sense from an attendance standpoint, but has to be an expensive one to keep. 

 

How did the New Jersey Generals draw?  Do they have a good venue to play in?  I could see them wanting another Northeast team, especially one in the New York market.  Perhaps Seattle gets dropped for New York, which is easier on travel to DC, Detroit, and Orlando.

American flies direct to Seattle. If the XFL keeps teams training all year in one spot, there's no extra costs associated with flying them out to Seattle and back. From Birmingham it's one stop. Even from San Antonio and Orlando, there are direct flights. We need to stop treating Seattle like they're flying to Hawaii or Tokyo. The reason that Arlington made sense for teams to set up camp was the ability to control costs for travel. 

Here's the problem with the Generals and attendance. The USFL refused to release the numbers of fans for any of their games this year. Unless someone is taking the time to scroll through the game film of each game, the numbers aren't known. I do know that some folks from my hometown made the trip up to catch a couple games, but not if they were Generals "home games or Maulers "home" games, or another team hosting them at their supposed "home" stadium. That was another thing that was rather strange this year. The Generals and Stars each played "home" games at two different stadiums. 

Just now, HOOVER said:

 

But in a city like Pittsburgh, where the Steelers, Pirates, and Penguins are Black & Gold, a team that is Purple & Orange doesn't stand a chance.  Even the Riverhounds SC is Black & Gold.  It was a logical change.

Agree on the '22-23 USFL's color problem...way too much Red.  They tried to fix that with the Showboats by changing their colors, given they were also a Red team.  

But if we're talking about an identity, black and gold isn't a Maulers identity. Changing colors to match everyone else in town smacks of minor leagues to me. You've been purple and orange forever, granted you only played one season since 1986. Unless you completely change your identity there's no reason to change your colors. I also wonder if they just get moved to Colorado and become the Denver Gold. 

6 minutes ago, Lights Out said:

 

Nothing about it says "Indiana." They look like the generic rival team from a movie. The new ones aren't particularly good either, but at least they've got the traditional IU on the helmets and the right shade of crimson.

That Sports Bell uniform was Indiana football trying to get away from Indiana basketball and jumping on changes by the 49ers. Changing the red from crimson didn't help either. It was still a good looking uniform regardless.

2 minutes ago, Cujo said:

 

Aside from the uniqueness Michigan Panthers' burgundy/columbia, the the USFL teams who are left standing after the merger should bail on most of their other red identities.

I don't think it's an issue if either, or both, New Jersey or Philadelphia get the chop. Birmingham and Michigan are the other red identities and other than D.C. there's no real red identity in the XFL squads. 

Just now, HOOVER said:

  I look at it from a branding perspective first, 

But that's the issue with the Maulers. Their brand was purple and orange, and changing over to match teams in a city they aren't even playing in made little sense to me.  Getting rid of Tampa seemed to be more about color balance in the league, which tells me they didn't even consider it when choosing the original 8 teams. Even the AAF considered that, though to be fair they were trying to cut corners wherever they could to give the impression of being better financed than they were. 

13 minutes ago, Cujo said:

 

When the new "UXFL" or whatever this renamed league fails, who owns/retains the XFL brand for when they give it a 4th shot in 2028?

Saudi Arabia

7 hours ago, HOOVER said:

Nothing personal, but going to be hard to value your opinion going forward after this statement.

21 minutes ago, McCall said:

When it comes to deciding what teams stay and what teams get dropped? If you think it does, then maybe your opinion should be the one in question. Market viability and venue access are the only things that are going to determine whether a team will be successful in either league individually or merged.

The USFL already proved identity means nothing by changing the Maulers and Showboats colors and retiring the Bandits. Since most of the XFL teams had direct flights from DFW, location away from the rest of the teams only matters to the fans. I also wonder if we see a Birmingham hub for one half of the league and keep the DFW hub for the other half. The USFL model was to put teams in the area they played. That could have been a bit more expensive than the single locations. 

16 minutes ago, McCall said:

F*** the April start.

Agreed. First week of March should be the latest this happens, and even then it's at the far end of when you should start.

9 minutes ago, TBGKon said:

Vegas and one of the Houston teams seem like easy cuts.  Seattle could be a cut for only geography alone.  After that I'd think Pittsburgh is possibly a cut unless they rebrand as Ohio.  That gets you to 12.

Seattle has a fan base. The secondary teams in Birmingham, Detroit and Memphis had almost no one show up. 

24 minutes ago, Cujo said:

 

What happened to the contest winning dog?

 

It's only the logo for the Dawg Pound. 

5 minutes ago, Sodboy13 said:

 

Did we ever find out if the NBC Universal portion of the broadcast rights was a brokered agreement?

 

As for the new amalgamation, calling it now: Eight teams, 10 games, run however it's cheapest to do so. Hope you like Birmingham.

I would expect more than 8 teams going forward, otherwise what's the advantage of a merger? Dropping the two worst teams in each league gets you 12 teams, but other than Vegas who gets dropped from the XFL? Orlando? Pittsburgh getting dropped makes sense due to lack of a home stadium, the Generals are a bigger name in USFL lore and could just be rebranded as the Canton Generals if they can't play at Red Bull Arena. 

Week 3 schedule:

NY Giants vs. San Francisco

Atlanta vs. Detroit

LA Chargers vs. Minnesota

New Orleans vs. Green Bay

Houston vs. Jacksonville

Denver vs. Miami

Tennessee vs. Cleveland

Buffalo vs. Washington

Indianapolis vs. Baltimore

New England vs. NY Jets

Carolina vs. Seattle

Chicago vs. Kansas City

Dallas vs. Arizona

Pittsburgh vs. Las Vegas

Philadelphia vs. Tampa Bay

LA Rams vs. Cincinnati

19 minutes ago, Lights Out said:

 

Eh. It's better than their last attempt at BFBS.

 

This is better than what they're rolling out. 

12 minutes ago, walkerws said:

 

I get it... It's unique, but this is when you take artisti liberty and use team or the fiesta colors. This ain't it. 

It's using the colors of Hemisfair Arena. Not every City uniform has to be Fiesta designs. 

The most important question is, do they use the XFL trophy as the division champs trophy and the USFL trophy as the league champs trophy?

1 hour ago, Pyromania1983 said:

Spurs new court: