XFL 2020 Season

[BBTV]

8 hours ago, CaliforniaGlowin said:

but the fact that there's a question they will be back next year says it might not be as successful as it looked.

 

There wasn't a question about them coming back before the shutdown.  That doesn't necessarily mean that everything was perfect, but we can only go by what we see, and what we saw was a relatively healthy league that was operating as planned.

 

8 hours ago, CaliforniaGlowin said:

" Nobody is going to go out of their way to go on You Tube and watch a glorified high-school production on their laptop or iPad.  "

1. Youtube has been on smart TV's for years. 

2. The IFL has been doing it for TEN YEARS.  Yea it's a niche sport and teams come and go, but they ain't folding.

3. The A7FL has been going for 5 years and has gotten streaming partners in the last couple of years.

 

I think you might be overestimating the number of people that are willing to watch live TV on an app.  Maybe the gen z that are used to this kind of content delivery, but personally I'm not going to watch events on a laptop or tablet, and even if you have a built-in smart TV or Roku, opening the app, searching for it, and then being unable to quickly toggle through channels during a commercial break is kind of a pain in the ass.  Plus you completely lose the older generation.

 

I'll take your word on the other leagues that you cite, but the XFL was going into it with higher goals.  Considering the costs, it probably doesn't make any sense for them to set the bar so low - they'd never bring in enough revenue to run an outdoor league that has exponentially higher costs than any indoor league ever could.

 

 

 

 

[DEAD!]

15 minutes ago, Gothamite said:

Starting a football league was never a prudent financial decision, though.  It was always going to be a lose-a-lot-of-money-for-many-years financial decision.
 

If he’s buying back WWE stock, that’s not to help the WWE. That’s to help himself.

Something changed for him, and not just Covid-19.  I wonder if we’ll ever know what that was. Maybe Luck will give an interview or pen a tell-all, because McMahon ever will. 

 

That's essentially my point. He needed to make a decision to help himself given the current situation.

Starting a football league was always going to be a vanity/hobby project of Vince's. I think he would have been ok with the XFL losses as long as his core business had viable revenue streams and therefore his income would have allowed him to absorb these losses in some way. 

Actually, I wonder if Vince had NOT sold his shares then, how much those same shares would be worth today? 

[McCall]

Well, guess that confirms it.

[Gothamite]

45 minutes ago, DEAD! said:

That's essentially my point. He needed to make a decision to help himself given the current situation.

 

Why?  He’s a billionaire.  This was money he set aside specifically to lose.

He doesn’t need this money.  The WWE can’t use this money.  So something changed where he decided he didn’t want to pour any more money into his mad-money project, and it wasn’t just Covid-19. 

 

[Sykotyk]

2 hours ago, Gothamite said:

 

Why?  He’s a billionaire.  This was money he set aside specifically to lose.

He doesn’t need this money.  The WWE can’t use this money.  So something changed where he decided he didn’t want to pour any more money into his mad-money project, and it wasn’t just Covid-19. 

For the love of God. He's a billionaire because he owns a billion dollars worth of stuff. Not because he has a billion dollars sitting in his checking account.

 

He may have foresaw losses. Considering he was expecting to make no money from TV to start with in order to generate TV viewership. But he just spent a half seasons expenses with zero revenue. 

 

There's no way anyone would have planned for that situation. 

 

I get that you're happily dancing in the streets that Vince failed. But don't act like this was anything he had done. If he didn't have the money to continue he would've cut bait and stopped paying everything the moment they shut down. 

 

They have no clue if there could even be a 2021 season. If the NFL delays until February, would the XFL have to suddenly rework every contract? Or would they compete with the NFL playoffs each weekend? The XFL had a narrow window after the Super Bowl and into the very beginning of the MLB season and before the heart of the NBA and NHL playoffs. Without knowing when they could or if they could play next year why would they keep everyone around whose sole job now was to plan for the unplannable? 

[BrySmalls]

Thanks Alpha Entertainment for giving us five weeks of enjoyable alternative football in February and early March.

[Red Comet]

If we've learned anything from the AAF and the XFL, it's that San Antonio and St. Louis should be near the top of the expansion list should the NFL expand again. 

 

But, I don't think Jerreh or Clark Hunt are willing to share in their markets. Don't blame them.

[Gothamite]

3 hours ago, Sykotyk said:

For the love of God. He's a billionaire because he owns a billion dollars worth of stuff. Not because he has a billion dollars sitting in his checking account.

 

He may have foresaw losses. Considering he was expecting to make no money from TV to start with in order to generate TV viewership. But he just spent a half seasons expenses with zero revenue. 

 

There's no way anyone would have planned for that situation. 

 

I get that you're happily dancing in the streets that Vince failed. But don't act like this was anything he had done. If he didn't have the money to continue he would've cut bait and stopped paying everything the moment they shut down. 

 

They have no clue if there could even be a 2021 season. If the NFL delays until February, would the XFL have to suddenly rework every contract? Or would they compete with the NFL playoffs each weekend? The XFL had a narrow window after the Super Bowl and into the very beginning of the MLB season and before the heart of the NBA and NHL playoffs. Without knowing when they could or if they could play next year why would they keep everyone around whose sole job now was to plan for the unplannable? 

I’m not criticizing him for cancelling the season.  That is the only possible option he had.  I am wondering why he reversed course on his “I can lose money for years” stance and cancelled both years (if he did, I don’t think thats been confirmed).
 

Vince could have laid everyone off with vague promises of a return next year.  Nobody would criticize him for that, even if it never happened.  He could have kept the fire alive, kept fan interest alive in case the 2021 season could be salvaged.  But he chose not to. 

 

This abrupt reversal indicates that this wasn’t just a Covid-19 decision. There had to have been more behind it, and I hope some day we find out what it was.  I’m sure it’s a fascinating story. 

[GDAWG]

27 minutes ago, Gothamite said:

I’m not criticizing him for cancelling the season.  That is the only possible option he had.  I am wondering why he reversed course on his “I can lose money for years” stance and cancelled both years (if he did, I don’t think thats been confirmed).
 

Vince could have laid everyone off with vague promises of a return next year.  Nobody would criticize him for that, even if it never happened.  He could have kept the fire alive, kept fan interest alive in case the 2021 season could be salvaged.  But he chose not to. 

 

This abrupt reversal indicates that this wasn’t just a Covid-19 decision. There had to have been more behind it, and I hope some day we find out what it was.  I’m sure it’s a fascinating story. 

 

A lot of that probably has to do with the amount of money the WWE has lost by having Wrestlemania without fans and canceling Wrestlemania Axxess, NXT Takeover: Tampa and the WWE Hall of Fame Ceremony.  Reportedly they have lost millions.  

[BBTV]

3 hours ago, Gothamite said:

I’m not criticizing him for cancelling the season.  That is the only possible option he had.  I am wondering why he reversed course on his “I can lose money for years” stance and cancelled both years (if he did, I don’t think thats been confirmed).

 

I'm really not sure why you seem to be dismissive of any reasonable counter to your baseless assumption.  An assumption that might prove to be correct, but one for which there's no evidence to go on.  It's a very reasonable assumption that he was prepared to lose money for years, but because of covid-19, he may have lost all the money that he was planning to lose in 1 year rather than 5.  Or half of it in 1.  Either way, it's very likely that it was looking like in order to keep the league going, he'd have to increase the amount he was willing to lose, and he either wasn't willing to or wasn't able to.   The basis for this is the understanding of their business model and the amount of capital that was confirmed to have been on hand.

 

Also - where are you reading that he's repurchasing WWE stock?  It wouldn't be a bad idea, since it's valued at around 35% of it's 52w high, but I didn't see that anywhere.

 

Even if he is, again, it's reasonable that covid-19 has crushed his main interest too, by taking away all live events and much of the viewership, so it might be that he had to make a choice. 

 

Either way, it's covid-19 related.  Unless it's not.

[DEAD!]

12 minutes ago, BringBackTheVet said:

 

I'm really not sure why you seem to be dismissive of any reasonable counter to your baseless assumption.  An assumption that might prove to be correct, but one for which there's no evidence to go on.  It's a very reasonable assumption that he was prepared to lose money for years, but because of covid-19, he may have lost all the money that he was planning to lose in 1 year rather than 5.  Or half of it in 1.  Either way, it's very likely that it was looking like in order to keep the league going, he'd have to increase the amount he was willing to lose, and he either wasn't willing to or wasn't able to.   The basis for this is the understanding of their business model and the amount of capital that was confirmed to have been on hand.

 

Also - where are you reading that he's repurchasing WWE stock?  It wouldn't be a bad idea, since it's valued at around 35% of it's 52w high, but I didn't see that anywhere.

 

Even if he is, again, it's reasonable that covid-19 has crushed his main interest too, by taking away all live events and much of the viewership, so it might be that he had to make a choice. 

 

Either way, it's covid-19 related.  Unless it's not.

 

That was me speculating what he could do, not what is actually doing. If anything, he's selling stock. https://deadline.com/2020/03/vince-mcmahon-sell-15-wwe-stock-1202892214/ 

Given the stock price trend, and who knows that revenues are, I would say that had more of a factor in the decision to pull the XFL. It wasn't so much about losing money in the XFL, it's what's going on in his core business.

Covid-19 just accelerated the decision. Sure he's still worth a lot on paper after all this, but he has taken a huge hit. 

https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/WWE/history?period1=1428796800&period2=1586649600&interval=1wk&filter=history&frequency=1wk

 

 

[mkg74]

Its time to put spring/summer alternative league football to bed. Pieces have to fall perfectly in place and it never seems to do so. 

 

Minor league spring football will never work

 

It would take 12 of the richest guys in the world(owning each team) and a will to compete vs the NFL for me to get on board with another new league.

 

And 2 leagues gone in one year! Pffffft! I'll never trust V McMahon again even if he decides to try another go....i wont get behind it!

 

Maybe the lesson shouldve been learned after that day on July 30, 1986..if the USFL couldnt make it then no one afterwards had a wing and a prayer

 

But thanks WLAF PSFL NFLE XFL UFL AAF XFL.2 for trying but all of you leagues were the minor leagues, only the USFL felt close to major league and it failed.

 

That's it!

[Cujo]

Disappointed to see Vince fudged about the XFL being self-backed and totally separate from the WWE this time around.

 

From today's bankruptcy filing:

[mkg74]

im not surprised something was up

[BBTV]

Well that's some new info.  So WWE was part owner, and probably needed to pull out. Not sure how that works with a private company - can it just "sell back" it's shares?  WWE was tanking before Covid, dropping from $100 to $40ish, and now $35ish.  I think with the corporate re-org and possible selling of broadcast assets (like selling PPVs to ESPN or some other network) a recovery was looking reasonable, until covid-19 put everything on hold.  So I still think XFL was doomed by covid, just not in this way.

 

Also, I was mistaken a few pages ago about the initial 500M investment.  It was actually only 271M.  Still nothing to sneeze at, just not 500M.

[TrueYankee26]

Vince got us there.. Still XFL looked well run.

[mkg74]

I was led to believe he had 500M invested too read that from numerous sources. 

[BBTV]

This is where we miss dfwabel.  Dude would have had all the financial statements and contracts posted right here.

[DEAD!]

From what I read, it was somewhere in between. There was the initial $100 million, then ANOTHER $272 million. 

 

Quote

McMahon sold off $272 million worth of WWE stock to invest in the XFL. McMahon sold 3.2 million shares, which, at the time, were valued at $84.87 each.

 

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffarnold/2019/05/07/vince-mcmahon-oliver-luck-may-have-a-recipe-for-success-for-xfl-by-partnering-with-disney-fox/#3f0e4591114b

 

That was where I had suspicions about Vince "buying" back WWE stock. Think about where the stock price is today compared to this point last year. 

[BBTV]

Quote

Creditors named in the filing include Bob Stoops ($1,083,333.33), Mark Trestman ($777,777.78), Jonathan Hayes ($633,333.33), Winston Moss ($583,333.33) and more.

http://stillrealtous.com/xfl-issues-statement-after-filing-for-bankruptcy/?fbclid=IwAR36OLYbQc1KsNkRsEzPVj4RHnHF4rIFtX5rmUbIKoLrUHc8fogA6qBqPqY