XFL 2023: Third Time's the Charm!

[TBGKon]

I think we're also forgetting that the Generals could also play at Rutgers.

[MJWalker45]

11 hours ago, GDAWG said:

 

Only if Tulane (who owns the stadium) says yes.  But if the USFL makes it to year three and they plan on having the 8 teams move to 8 cities, they could have issues in Philly, Pittsburgh and New Jersey, much in the same way the XFL had issues securing a venue for the Vegas Vipers.  The Eagles, Jets/Giants and Steelers could be to the USFL what the Raiders were to the XFL in that those three teams could demand a massive fee to allow the USFL to play at their stadiums, but the USFL might find it too expensive.  They could put the Generals and Stars in MLS stadiums of the Red Bulls and Philly Union, like how the XFL does it with the DC Defenders at Audi Field, but Subaru Park also hosts Philly Union II of MLS Next Pro and Red Bull Arena hosts NY/NJ Gotham FC of the NWSL.  Also Penn and Rutgers or Princeton might not be as amenable to the USFL as the University of Houston is to the XFL.  

 

9 minutes ago, kmccarthy27 said:

“Besides soccer, there have been “Battle of the Blue” football games played here between the University of Delaware and Villanova.”

https://www.stadiumjourney.com/stadiums/talen-energy-stadium-s132

 

they have also used it for rugby. 

I think both of those teams would say no thank you. They tend to want to keep football out of their stadiums until the end of the year. If the league started in February instead of April I could see them having less issue with sharing. When it's one or two games, they can deal with the issues of the field getting torn up. But if you're looking at 5-7 football games during an MLS season, that limits their options. With Penn and Rutgers, field turf makes life easier for the schools to allow them to play there. The problem then, possibly, becomes parking and tailgating. I also think that the USFL would want to use Lincoln Financial Field, but I don't think they'd want to use MetLife just based on how empty it looked when the Guardians played there. 

12 hours ago, Cujo said:

 

I don't see the USFL ever getting around to placing in their respective home cities or it would've happened for Season 2. Business clearly didn't go how they wanted last season (i.e. 50 fans attending each game) so they could only afford to expand to few more base sites, so 3 of 8 teams play in their home market. It's suchhhh a horrible business model. And based on all previous spring leagues, Season 2 isn't going to profit more than Season 1. This'll be their last season, with the XFL's arrival being the final nail in the coffin.

The original plan was to play at Birmingham for a minimum of three years and then go to the home markets. That plan was scrapped once the XFL said they were coming back. The advantage the USFL has is that their contract with Fox isn't based on butts in seats, so they can move to more "hub cities" and see if that helps get more local support. Since there will be one game a day at each stadium they don't have to try to bring in people during the middle of summer who would be baked in Birmingham. It's a lot easier to get fans to show up for one game than it is to try to keep them around for an entire weekend in one location. 

 

[DG_ThenNowForever]

13 hours ago, Cujo said:

1 game in and DC fans have already established themselves!

 

 

I watched a bit of the game and I appreciated the kind of collegiate atmosphere of the game. Audi Field is a nice place for mid-level pro football.

[Ferdinand Cesarano]

1 hour ago, TBGKon said:

I think we're also forgetting that the Generals could also play at Rutgers.

 

51 minutes ago, MJWalker45 said:

I don't think they'd want to use MetLife just based on how empty it looked when the Guardians played there. 

 

The Generals would have the same problem at Rutgers that the Guardians had at the Meadowlands, as the Rutgers stadium holds 50,000.

 

Perhaps they could look into playing at the old Negro League park Hinchliffe Stadium in Paterson, which has been refurbished and will now be the home of the baseball team the New Jersey Jackals, formerly of the Can-Am League now of the Frontier League.  That park seats about 10,000.

 

I know it's the "New Jersey" Generals; but that is really the New York team.  So I wonder whether there is any possibility of the USFL trying to work out a deal with a university here in the City.  I believe that the Red Bulls and possibly NYCFC have played Open Cup matches at Columbia, whose stadium seats about 15,000.

 

If the USFL wants to be realistic about its attendance projections, it could consider the 7000-seat stadium at Fordham, or else the similar-capacity Brooklyn Cyclones' stadium, which has been the home of the FXFL's Brooklyn Bolts, as well as the Cosmos and Rugby United New York.  Getting even more realistic, there's also Icahn Stadium at the site of the former Downing Stadium (the original home of the Cosmos, and the home of the WFL's New York Stars before their mid-season move) on Randall's Island, which  seats about 5000.

 

[TBGKon]

55 minutes ago, Ferdinand Cesarano said:

 

 

The Generals would have the same problem at Rutgers that the Guardians had at the Meadowlands, as the Rutgers stadium holds 50,000.

 

So explain the USFL playing in 65k seat Ford Field, where Michigan and Philadelphia will be?  Kinda defeats your purpose of smaller venues.

[Ferdinand Cesarano]

9 minutes ago, TBGKon said:

1 hour ago, Ferdinand Cesarano said:

The Generals would have the same problem at Rutgers that the Guardians had at the Meadowlands, as the Rutgers stadium holds 50,000.

 

So explain the USFL playing in 65k seat Ford Field, where Michigan and Philadelphia will be?  Kinda defeats your purpose of smaller venues.

 

Well, that's true.  But, as @MJWalker45 implied, it's going to look pretty silly if the Generals play in the Meadowlands once the teams get to their home cities.  Then there is the cost.  Imagine paying all that money for guaranteed bad publicity.

 

That's why I am hoping for the use of smaller stadiums, where a crowd of a few thousand won't look bad.  Anyway, let's see what they do.

[Cujo]

Saw the USFL player draft happens this week.

 

How does a player decide if they want to play for the XFL, USFL or CFL?

[BBTV]

10 hours ago, 4_tattoos said:

Not sure about Subaru Park.

 

That would be a good way to guarantee that neither I nor anyone that lives in the city would go to a game.   Nobody's going to run group trips like they do for soccer, and there's no way to access the stadium without a car (and even then, it's in a dangerous crap-hole city.)

[Ferdinand Cesarano]

18 minutes ago, BBTV said:

there's no way to access the [Philadelphia Union's] stadium without a car

 

There is a SEPTA station walking distance from the stadium.

[BBTV]

25 minutes ago, Ferdinand Cesarano said:

 

There is a SEPTA station walking distance from the stadium.

 

Wile I'm sure broad daylight on gameday would be a safe walk, the Chester Transportation Center isn't a place I'd ever go for fun.  Also since they run a shuttle bus, maybe it's not that close (not sure.)

 

I actually didn't know that the Wilmington/Newark line had a stop near Chester Transportation Center (so thanks for that knowledge), but even still there's multiple other hops whether bus or subway for most people to get to one of the departing stations and it could be well over an hour just to get to a game (I'm actually pretty lucky that I'm along the Broad Street Line.)  I'm also not sure most city folk would want to take regional rail, but it's a necessary evil (one I use 3 times a week unless I'm lucky enough to catch an Amtrak commuter train.)

 

Ideally I'd love to see one of these teams play at Franklin Field, but that may be a pipe dream.  

 

 

 

[Ferdinand Cesarano]

1 hour ago, BBTV said:

Wile I'm sure broad daylight on gameday would be a safe walk, the Chester Transportation Center isn't a place I'd ever go for fun.  Also since they run a shuttle bus, maybe it's not that close (not sure.)

 

The shuttle bus from the Chester Transportation Center is run by the Union, so it would not be operating even if the Stars were to play at that park.

 

There is another station, Highland Avenue, that is half as far from the park, and so is walkable.

 

I rode my bike through Chester once. It was definitely kind of a bleak nowheresville. But getting to the stadium seems pretty easy.

 

The problem with Franklin Field is the same one with the Generals in the Meadowlands: a crowd of 5000 to 7000 is going to look ridiculous in there. But the league may well go for the big stadiums, as they are doing in Detroit, and just hope that the crowds will eventually grow.

[tigers]

3 hours ago, Cujo said:

Saw the USFL player draft happens this week.

 

How does a player decide if they want to play for the XFL, USFL or CFL?

I’m not up on the player wages of each organisation but if it was down to media exposure, level of league and overall league stability.

CFL

XFL

USFL

[GDAWG]

4 hours ago, Cujo said:

Saw the USFL player draft happens this week.

 

How does a player decide if they want to play for the XFL, USFL or CFL?

 

I can see two USFL teams "swinging big" and getting the draft rights to Max Duggan and Stetson Bennett in the hopes that neither of them become Brock Purdy.  

 

In fact, the XFL has a player in Seattle 3rd String QB Harrison Frost, who is a part of this 2023 draft class.  Whether or not he sees the field for Seattle remains. to be seen. 

[Cujo]

2 hours ago, tigers said:

I’m not up on the player wages of each organization but if it was down to media exposure, level of league and overall league stability.

CFL

XFL

USFL

 

League stability:

CFL

XFL

USFL

 

US media exposure:

XFL

USFL

CFL

 

Average salary:

CFL $80,000

XFL $60,000

USFL $50,000

Tho I'm sure some players might take less to play closer to home over Canada.

[BBTV]

5 hours ago, Cujo said:

 

League stability:

CFL

XFL

USFL

 

US media exposure:

XFL

USFL

CFL

 

Average salary:

CFL $80,000

XFL $60,000

USFL $50,000

Tho I'm sure some players might take less to play closer to home over Canada.

there’s obviously not much - if any - data available on if there’s a viable path to the NFL from either of the US leagues, but I’d imagine that playing a style that’s closer to NFL would be beneficial - at least for certain positions.
 

Of course none of that matters if the leagues fold half-way through. 

[McCall]

8 hours ago, Ferdinand Cesarano said:

The problem with Franklin Field is the same one with the Generals in the Meadowlands: a crowd of 5000 to 7000 is going to look ridiculous in there. But the league may well go for the big stadiums, as they are doing in Detroit, and just hope that the crowds will eventually grow.

Yes it would look ridiculous, seeing that many people in a stadium with nothing going on, because and average attendance of 5k-7k would almost inevitably result in the dissolution of the league. (yes, yes, after they can't solely rely on the FOX television money anymore.)

[MJWalker45]

19 hours ago, TBGKon said:

So explain the USFL playing in 65k seat Ford Field, where Michigan and Philadelphia will be?  Kinda defeats your purpose of smaller venues.

Because they can paint their logos  onto the field, and use NFL field markings. The schools probably wouldn't let that happen, and the USFL won't want to look like Salt Lake in the AAF. You can also just have Ford Field cover the upper decks without it looking out of place. That's what San Antonio did. 

 

[MJWalker45]

On 2/19/2023 at 4:26 PM, tigers said:

I caught a few of the replay highlights on Utube and thought that most of the games were of a reasonable to high level, ok there were a few plays that should of worked out and didn't but this was the first week with some really good plays as well.

Even the Umpires blew it on some very controversial calls, these will be better as the weeks pass.

 

Overall i think the Rock's speech was forced and just was not necessary. The crowds will build, the play will gel nicely and people will be happy they have 10 to 15 weeks extra of football and then USFL will give them more.

 

Hooray for more footy.

And he gave the same speech at every game, more or less. San Antonio receivers dropped way too many catchable balls in the game I was at. It's also strange that you didn't see as many chances taken at long balls down the field as you'd see in the NFL. My guess is that some of the head coaches are new and are still slightly risk averse at the moment. 

On 2/19/2023 at 4:49 PM, Sykotyk said:

It's a shame how long St. Louis has to wait for their first game of the season at home.

I think this only happened because of how late the XFL announced they were coming back. San Antonio won't play at home until March 19th. by the way it's a 9 PM local on a Sunday, so if anyone wants tickets for that game let me know. 

[MJWalker45]

9 hours ago, Cujo said:

 

League stability:

CFL

XFL

USFL

 

US media exposure:

XFL

USFL

CFL

 

Average salary:

CFL $80,000

XFL $60,000

USFL $50,000

Tho I'm sure some players might take less to play closer to home over Canada.

One of San Antonio's DB's left Hamilton to play in the States. If Montreal is not the only CFL team with ownership issues I could see more guys making the jump. I also think we will see guys playing in the XFL, then going back to Canada, similar to how during the USFL/NFL days, players would jump between leagues if they weren't the stars. 

[gosioux76]

14 hours ago, Cujo said:

Saw the USFL player draft happens this week.

 

How does a player decide if they want to play for the XFL, USFL or CFL?

 

What's interesting about these leagues is that their schedules barely overlap. 

• XFL runs from February to mid-May. 
• USFL runs from mid-April to late June.
• CFL runs from early June to mid-November. 

So it's not impossible for a player looking for exposure to land time in all three leagues if they really wanted to. 

 

As @GDAWG noted, there will be players on current XFL rosters who will be drafted by the USFL. I presume this would be less about poaching from a rival league and more an acknowledgement that some of those players will want to continue playing throughout the summer. 

 

When it became known that the XFL and USFL would be reborn, in my mind I had hoped it would result in some sort of super league, like AFL vs. NFL, in which the winners of each played each other in their own version of the Super Bowl. Instead, it seems pretty clear that the leagues are scheduled this way to to fill gaps on the TV schedule so there's always professional football going on during the entirety of the NFL offseason. 

 

If anything, I'd argue the CFL suffers the most from this. I'd tune in to early season games because it was a novelty to see pro football in late summer just as my interest in the NFL was starting to gear back up. But now with two American leagues filling that need, I'll probably want a break from football by June.