XFL 2023: Third Time's the Charm!

[MJWalker45]

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. 

[TBGKon]

7 minutes ago, MJWalker45 said:

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

I mean, I'm sure that was expected.  Of the secondary teams New Jersey seems like the one that probably has a good chance of making the cut, being in the #1 media market.  Who knows, we could see some relocations if the goal is to have 10-12 teams for 2024.

[HOOVER]

Orlando and Vegas did not perform well in attendance last year, but Orlando is growing in population like crazy (I think Vegas is, too) so I get why the XFL wanted to be in those markets.  I’d like to see Orlando stay but go back to playing at UCF.  The area around Camping World Stadium a :censored:hole.

 

Vegas not having a venue makes that an easy cut, though, and I’m glad:  the Vipers brand sucked.  

[GDAWG]

 

[McCall]

Orlando shouldn't be going anywhere. Camping World Stadium doesn't seem like the ideal venue other than it having no full-time tenant to deal with, but the city is essentially a "pillar" of spring football. If they can't play at UCF like the Apollos did, maybe try and see if they can get in Exploria. But CWS at lease assures them a suitable stadium. Theoretically, either Houston team could play at Rice Stadium.

[Sykotyk]

2 hours ago, McCall said:

Orlando shouldn't be going anywhere. Camping World Stadium doesn't seem like the ideal venue other than it having no full-time tenant to deal with, but the city is essentially a "pillar" of spring football. If they can't play at UCF like the Apollos did, maybe try and see if they can get in Exploria. But CWS at lease assures them a suitable stadium. Theoretically, either Houston team could play at Rice Stadium.

But if you're pairing down your teams to get to a manageable 10-12-14, Orlando is an easy solution.

 

Out of the USFL, the obvious ones are the secondary markets and Pittsburgh. But you don't want to leave Canton necessarily. So, that's still 4 teams. Out of the XFL, the Las Vegas and Orlando teams make the most sense.

 

If you're combing the leagues. Having NJ actually be in New Jersey makes sense.  Condensing the two Houston teams into one (regardless of the identity chosen) makes the most sense. Seattle may be a west coast outlier, but they had good crowds, and it's the only currently presence out west at all.

 

So, depending on the total number of teams, Orlando is on the chopping block.

 

14 teams:

Houston and Las Vegas, move the non-USFL host teams to a host site.

 

12 teams:

Houston, Las Vegas, PHI or NJ, and Orlando

 

10 teams:

Houston, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, New Orleans, Orlando, and New Jersey

 

 8 teams:

Las Vegas, San Antonio, Houston, and Orlando from the XFL; New Jersey, New Orleans, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh from the USFL.

 

Either way. Someone is getting cut.

 

And honestly, it makes sense for Orlando. They've been burned. Scorched markets don't rebound. Same reason San Antonio didn't bounce back after the Commanders. You can't just plop a new team in a market and think the same fans are showing back up again. Many leave, and don't come back. At least immediately. And the Guardians thing was a mistake. No real identity to Orlando, were clearly just a rehash of another team from another market with different colors. Let the market cool.

 

[McCall]

10 hours ago, Sykotyk said:

But if you're pairing down your teams to get to a manageable 10-12-14, Orlando is an easy solution.

 

Out of the USFL, the obvious ones are the secondary markets and Pittsburgh. But you don't want to leave Canton necessarily. So, that's still 4 teams. Out of the XFL, the Las Vegas and Orlando teams make the most sense.

 

If you're combing the leagues. Having NJ actually be in New Jersey makes sense.  Condensing the two Houston teams into one (regardless of the identity chosen) makes the most sense. Seattle may be a west coast outlier, but they had good crowds, and it's the only currently presence out west at all.

 

So, depending on the total number of teams, Orlando is on the chopping block.

 

14 teams:

Houston and Las Vegas, move the non-USFL host teams to a host site.

 

12 teams:

Houston, Las Vegas, PHI or NJ, and Orlando

 

10 teams:

Houston, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, New Orleans, Orlando, and New Jersey

 

 8 teams:

Las Vegas, San Antonio, Houston, and Orlando from the XFL; New Jersey, New Orleans, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh from the USFL.

 

Either way. Someone is getting cut.

 

And honestly, it makes sense for Orlando. They've been burned. Scorched markets don't rebound. Same reason San Antonio didn't bounce back after the Commanders. You can't just plop a new team in a market and think the same fans are showing back up again. Many leave, and don't come back. At least immediately. And the Guardians thing was a mistake. No real identity to Orlando, were clearly just a rehash of another team from another market with different colors. Let the market cool.

 

Identity doesn't mean anything. They could take the identity of another team in put give it to Orlando. It doesn't matter. Orlando is not going anywhere. The only reason they went with Tampa Bay instead of Orlando in XFL 2020 was because the AAF got there first and they had one of the top attendance numbers. Orlando is in. Period. And San Antonio was screwed over by scheduling. First game of the season drew over 24k. They were then on the road for the next 3 weeks and came back on Sunday night at 8pm... at the END of spring break. After that, the team wasn't as good either. Hell the Championship game drew over 22k. Both are in.

[McCall]

Cities that are almost certain to retain teams:

1. St. Louis

2. Birmingham

3. San Antonio

4. Orlando

5. DC

6. Arlington

7. Houston

8. Memphis

 

Everybody else has some question mark to whether or not they will return. I will say it seems likely Michigan will stay and maybe a team in Canton. Seattle has a venue, but unless some team is moved out west, they're isolated and pretty easy to drop.

[BadSeed84]

No one in Philly gave a crap about the Stars, so unless they get them a stadium (And even then, its an uphill battle) then they could go.

[BBTV]

20 minutes ago, BadSeed84 said:

No one in Philly gave a crap about the Stars

 

Maybe because they didn't play a single down in the Delaware Valley?  Maybe because they made no effort to connect with the community or even advertise in the market?

 

I don't know if it could work, and I've said a hundred times that I think Franklin Field is the only way it can, but the ridiculous hub model made it so they didn't even have a chance.

[BadSeed84]

53 minutes ago, BBTV said:

 

Maybe because they didn't play a single down in the Delaware Valley?  Maybe because they made no effort to connect with the community or even advertise in the market?

 

I don't know if it could work, and I've said a hundred times that I think Franklin Field is the only way it can, but the ridiculous hub model made it so they didn't even have a chance.

 

Yea, that's why I said, they get a spot it could work, will take time (hence uphill battle) but could get a following like the Soul did.

[HOOVER]

2 hours ago, McCall said:

Identity doesn't mean anything.

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

[GDAWG]

 

[GDAWG]

 

[Sykotyk]

4 hours ago, GDAWG said:

 

I get they want a merger. But both the USFL and XFL names have name recognition. Seems ridiculous to move away from both of them. 

[Sec19Row53]

1 hour ago, Sykotyk said:

I get they want a merger. But both the USFL and XFL names have name recognition. Seems ridiculous to move away from both of them. 

They're also both associated with multiple (now) failures. You'll tick off some part of the fanbase by keeping one of the names. Changing seems less bad.

 

Not that I think it REALLY  matters.

[McCall]

9 hours ago, HOOVER said:

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

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.

[McCall]

7 hours ago, GDAWG said:

 

F*** the April start.

[MJWalker45]

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.

 

[Cujo]

2 hours ago, McCall said:

F*** the April start.

 

Yup. Gotta kick off the weekend after the Super Bowl. That's what i thought was an advantage for the XFL last year, was them having football available to diehards on the first NFL-less Sunday. "Strike while the iron's hot." Speaking for myself, my thirst for football was long gone when the USFL kicked off in Spring 2022.