XFL 2023: Third Time's the Charm!

[Cujo]

1 minute ago, gosioux76 said:

Sounds like a great idea, until you realize that the NFL has no need or apparent desire to have a league like this exist. It certainly doesn't want to cede any potential TV air time to a minor league, even if it's a feeder to its own product. 

 

That being said, the NFL already has a minor league/feeder system. It's called the NCAA.

[HOOVER]

2 hours ago, Cujo said:

 

That being said, the NFL already has a minor league/feeder system. It's called the NCAA.

Yes, but 37 players per NFL team, or 1,184 players, don’t make a main roster at the end of every August…and they don’t go back to college to hone their craft on the field.  

16 players per team make it back to a practice squad spot - or about 512 of those guys - but most of them don’t see the field regularly during the season, either.

 

From that talent pool alone, you have 672 players whose careers end unless they go to the CFL or a spring league or whatever is left of arena football.

 

Per year.

 

That’s another 21+ players per team that could be developing with on-field play.  Imagine if one of them breaks out in a developmental season and gets called up in the playoffs and plays an instrumental part in a playoff run or a Super Bowl win?  What about developmental QBs, international prospects, minority coaching candidates, since that’s all the rage?  And more on-field training for officials?

 

It would add a whole new layer to pro football and ultimately, give more real opportunities to people trying to  make it in the NFL.  

 

 

 

[HOOVER]

2 hours ago, gosioux76 said:

 

Sounds like a great idea, until you realize that the NFL has no need or apparent desire to have a league like this exist. It certainly doesn't want to cede any potential TV air time to a minor league, even if it's a feeder to its own product. 

 

If they wanted it this badly, they'd have adopted it stateside 20 years ago rather than letting the NFL Europe fold. 

A lot has changed since NFL Europe.  Specifically TV rights deals.  
 

Assuming the NFL stays on Thursdays, which they will for the foreseeable future due to the Amazon money, they still stand to cash in with more content, whether that’s from a network or a streaming service, like the NFL+ app.  

Maybe that’s Saturday nights in untapped markets where they can sell a lot of tickets, like in St. Louis.  An NFL-backed developmental league would undoubtedly see higher attendance and viewership simply because of the legitimacy of a league with NFL backing.

 

Anyway, I doubt the USFL/XFL will be making any plans to move to the Fall, it’s just my opinion that football belongs in that season, and history has proven that making it in the Spring has - so far - been an insurmountable task.

 

 

[McCall]

3 hours ago, HOOVER said:

Maybe that’s Saturday nights in untapped markets where they can sell a lot of tickets, like in St. Louis.  An NFL-backed developmental league would undoubtedly see higher attendance and viewership simply because of the legitimacy of a league with NFL backing.

College football owns Saturdays. So not happening.

 

Look, if a development league in fall existed, it would be played in 5k seat stadiums and not shown on national tv. Spring league football could be used for players who didn't play very much during the season or were on practice squads while being showcased without competition from better league. And football has the longest offseason, so there's plenty of open time to fill.

[GDAWG]

19 hours ago, Cujo said:

 

That being said, the NFL already has a minor league/feeder system. It's called the NCAA.

 

There might end up being two if all the speculation holds true: A Super League of the Power 5 Conferences and whatever is left of the NCAA.

[Skycast]

3 hours ago, GDAWG said:

 

There might end up being two if all the speculation holds true: A Super League of the Power 5 Conferences and whatever is left of the NCAA.

 

It'll be no different than it is right now with multiple "minor leagues" with FBS, FCS, DII and DIII except the FBS will be splintered off somehow simply creating another level.

 

In my opinion it's high time that it's done. In the FBS there are absolutely haves (Alabama, Ohio State, etc.) and the have nots and no matter how much you want to tell me they are equal, they are not.

[McCall]

3 hours ago, GDAWG said:

 

There might end up being two if all the speculation holds true: A Super League of the Power 5 4 Conferences and whatever is left of the NCAA.

FTFY.

 

But I've been saying from years, that if the Power (now) 4 don't break away from the NCAA, then they need to at least have a new division created for them. Let the Group of 5 be their own level, while bringing up some schools from FCS, like North Dakota State, South Dakota State, etc.

 

But college football is the primary development level for the NFL and I don't think that will, nor necessarily should, change. But spring league can definitely be that secondary development league, or a fine tuning league so to speak. If they failed to make the NFL out of college or made it, but didn't stick/stuck, but need further work to stay. And it would take place after the NFL season so they could theoretically get work in both.