The XFL launching in 2020

..what do you guys think? Buy it or sell it? I guess they already have 8 cities down as starting points.

https://bleacherreport.com/articles...eles-more-as-inaugural-cities-for-2020-launch

If it turns into a viable NFL competitor, that would be great. Realistically though, there's an overall decline in pro sports in general in recent years, so the odds are against it.

Fortunately for them and unlike the USFL, the XFL is being launched in a time where online streaming is common among most of the viewers. Hopefully they have put more focus on that than relying on people to come to the stadiums for their business model.

If the XFL can secure a multi-year licensing deal with a non-subscription sports network of some kind (ex: not ESPN), then that could give them enough of a buffer period to brand and promote the XFL to help establish a more die-hard fan base. After the curious and short-attention-span viewers disappear, the viewership will start to decline so they will need to have a plan in place to outlast the decline period while they work to grow their popularity.

That said, the more likely scenarios are it will either become a practice squad league for not-signed-yet-in-NFL players to showcase their abilities or the league will be gone within 5 years due to lack of interest.

What the NFL should do is wait to see how the XFL does with fans after 1-2 years and if it does well, buy the XFL and make it their minor league where football players could by-pass colleges and go professional right out of high school.

I would not be surprised if that is the actual business plan behind the investors/owners in the XFL.

Destined to fail....again.

Why does Vince think it is going to work this time?

We've been covering this in detail here -> https://cowboyszone.com/threads/xfl-returning-2020.418724/page-2

KEY XFL developments from today's press conference -

*New York, playing at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey.

*Washington, DC, playing at Audi Field.

*Los Angeles, playing at the StubHub Center.

*Houston, playing at TDECU Stadium.

*St. Louis, playing at The Dome at America's Center.

*Seattle, playing at Century Link Field.

*Dallas, playing at Globe Life Park.

*Tampa, playing at Raymond James Stadium.

Team names will be revealed in the future and will not be former XFL team names being resurrected. The XFL website is already selling merchandise branded for each city and Twitter accounts for each XFL market have been officially launched.

It was noted during the press conference that they intend to be a compliment, not opposition to the NFL and college football and will launch their first season the week after the 2020 Super Bowl.

During the conference, Vince McMahon pushed the idea that technology and the landscape of TV has changed in the "20 years" since the initial XFL was announced and that there is long-term financial backing as well as lots more opportunities for live sports programming on television compared to the early 2000s.

The plan is to speed the gameplay up, to minimize "idle time" during the game and use technology to improve the safety of those playing for the XFL's teams. They pushed the XFL will be "family friendly."

There will be 45 players on each team with 10 weeks of regular play and two weeks of playoffs. Each team will have a practice squad of seven players as well.

The XFL website is already selling season tickets as well.

Reality said:

If it turns into a viable NFL competitor, that would be great. Realistically though, there's an overall decline in pro sports in general in recent years, so the odds are against it.

Fortunately for them and unlike the USFL, the XFL is being launched in a time where online streaming is common among most of the viewers. Hopefully they have put more focus on that than relying on people to come to the stadiums for their business model.

If the XFL can secure a multi-year licensing deal with a non-subscription sports network of some kind (ex: not ESPN), then that could give them enough of a buffer period to brand and promote the XFL to help establish a more die-hard fan base. After the curious and short-attention-span viewers disappear, the viewership will start to decline so they will need to have a plan in place to outlast the decline period while they work to grow their popularity.

That said, the more likely scenarios are it will either become a practice squad league for not-signed-yet-in-NFL players to showcase their abilities or the league will be gone within 5 years due to lack of interest.

What the NFL should do is wait to see how the XFL does with fans after 1-2 years and if it does well, buy the XFL and make it their minor league where football players could by-pass colleges and go professional right out of high school.

I would not be surprised if that is the actual business plan behind the investors/owners in the XFL.

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So you're thinking the XFL is the new NFL Europe? If they schedule their season in the NFL's off season, I'm all for it. That would be a nice pacifier to keep us satisfied until the regular season comes back around.

Runwildboys said:

So you're thinking the XFL is the new NFL Europe? If they schedule their season in the NFL's off season, I'm all for it. That would be a nice pacifier to keep us satisfied until the regular season comes back around.

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Their season starts the week after the Super Bowl.

They have a team based in MetLife Stadium. PWInsiderElite reported the idea for the relaunch of the XFL came after a conversation between the President and McMahon, and that they are currently courting the President's son the be the owner of the New York team. If that deal gets done, it will bring the public spotlight on the league to the next level.

McMahon is personally investing $500mn.

They are gunning to be a true alternative. Time will tell.

Cowboy Brian said:

Their season starts the week after the Super Bowl.

They have a team based in MetLife Stadium.

McMahon is personally investing $500mn..

They are gunning to be a true alternative. Time will tell.

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I think one week after the SB is too soon. They should wait until we get hungry for more football, maybe a month or two.

Runwildboys said:

I think one week after the SB is too soon. They should wait until we get hungry for more football, maybe a month or two.

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It's all about capturing the media spotlight, that's the game McMahon has always played.

Runwildboys said:

So you're thinking the XFL is the new NFL Europe? If they schedule their season in the NFL's off season, I'm all for it. That would be a nice pacifier to keep us satisfied until the regular season comes back around.

Click to expand...

No. NFL Europe was an attempt by the NFL to both create a minor league and to establish and promote the NFL throughout Europe. That was two very difficult goals which made it hard for either to succeed.

They should first try to compete with the NFL. Since they are starting right after the Super Bowl, it looks like they strategically did that to make it very difficult for NFL teams to sign their players away and/or for their players to be less likely to leave even if an NFL approaches them. If they did leave and miss out on the XFL season and then the NFL team cut them before the NFL season started, they would have missed a chance to audition for other NFL teams during the XFL season.

What I am saying though is that after 1-2 years, if the XFL's viewership has stabilized, the NFL might want to consider acquiring the league to use as a minor league system.

GMO415 said:

Destined to fail....again.

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Agreed, very boring the last go round and it was supposed to be "edgy"
I guess its Disney football this go round for the "Anti-kneeler" crowd

They need to go to places like Memphis ,San Antonio,Portland,Sacrmento,Birmingham,etc.maybe even put teams in Canada and Mexico

timb2 said:

They need to go to places like Memphis ,San Antonio,Portland,Sacrmento,Birmingham,etc.maybe even put teams in Canada and Mexico

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Well 3 of the cities you mentioned are represented by the AAFL, which is getting in the market first. I'm not sure either league will survive but definitely not 2, the AAFL has the advantage of starting before the XFL, but XFL probably has more starting capital I'm sure.

https://aaf.com/

Reality said:

If it turns into a viable NFL competitor, that would be great. Realistically though, there's an overall decline in pro sports in general in recent years, so the odds are against it.

Fortunately for them and unlike the USFL, the XFL is being launched in a time where online streaming is common among most of the viewers. Hopefully they have put more focus on that than relying on people to come to the stadiums for their business model.

If the XFL can secure a multi-year licensing deal with a non-subscription sports network of some kind (ex: not ESPN), then that could give them enough of a buffer period to brand and promote the XFL to help establish a more die-hard fan base. After the curious and short-attention-span viewers disappear, the viewership will start to decline so they will need to have a plan in place to outlast the decline period while they work to grow their popularity.

That said, the more likely scenarios are it will either become a practice squad league for not-signed-yet-in-NFL players to showcase their abilities or the league will be gone within 5 years due to lack of interest.

What the NFL should do is wait to see how the XFL does with fans after 1-2 years and if it does well, buy the XFL and make it their minor league where football players could by-pass colleges and go professional right out of high school.

I would not be surprised if that is the actual business plan behind the investors/owners in the XFL.

Click to expand...

I like the idea of streaming only at least to start out. Free streaming at that. Free streaming makes it much more likely that people would watch. Where commercials in the stream pay for it.

It would likely need to catch on overseas first to have any real chance to survive.

cowboyeric8 said:

Well 3 of the cities you mentioned are represented by the AAFL, which is getting in the market first. I'm not sure either league will survive but definitely not 2, the AAFL has the advantage of starting before the XFL, but XFL probably has more starting capital I'm sure.

https://aaf.com/

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And I imagine somewhat of a built in audience of WWE fans.

Ehhhh....not expecting much. I'll tune in the first week, at least, like last time to see how they do it. See where it goes from there.

After 21 weeks of football, minus the break before the SB, he wants to start playing a reduced brand? Arguably, fans will have just watched the best the NFL has to offer for 4 weeks and then watch what?

The real question is how deep are their pockets and how able will they be to lure players that are coming out for the NFL draft, a 16 game season, vs a 10 game season and less money. If they get the leftovers, the only interest will be from the fantasy players wanting to continue.

The XFL will have a hard time competing for the players unless they get crazy and offer the same money for 5/8 of the season.

If I were Luck, I would be trying to marry the XFL to Amazon. 100M Prime subscribers is a nice target to pull some additional subscription money like the Sunday Ticket. However, this is worldwide. This would also head off the NFL going to Amazon and there's no question in my mind, Amazon is the 500lb gorilla. Netflix has almost 60M US subscribers.

It is doubtful they can pull enough money out of a major TV net and their season would not incorporate a strong ratings sweep month, Feb is the 3rd worst and the NFL gets November, the 1st. The ability to generate ad revenue is greatly reduced in the winter months.

And then there's the probability of exclusive contracts forbidding NFL players from playing in the XFL. A 24 game season is a real tester. Look at the number of players already gone. Even if they allowed a non-exclusive contract for backups, there is no guarantee they won't see considerable action.

From a game quality viewpoint, the question is what does this do to salaries of backups in the NFL? Are they better off to get starting salaries in the XFL? There are not 32 quality starting players at any position in the NFL, so let's add another 8 teams? You know what I am thinking if I am one of the NFL owners? The one thing that makes the XFL a nuisance is the NFL salary cap. They relax that enough to keep the backups from bolting, the XFL will struggle to get traction.

cowboyeric8 said:

Well 3 of the cities you mentioned are represented by the AAFL, which is getting in the market first. I'm not sure either league will survive but definitely not 2, the AAFL has the advantage of starting before the XFL, but XFL probably has more starting capital I'm sure.

https://aaf.com/

Click to expand...

That's the key, they have to be able to lure some name players from the NFL draft and get in the bidding war for FA's. They have to make news.

With the description of this and the growth of fantasy and legalized gambling, honing in on that with increased action and fewer stop downs will appeal to some but how many?

I'll just say that the McMahon's track record outside of wrestling is terrible.

• Obviously the first attempt with the XFL
• Anyone remember THE WBF, when Vince tried to muscle his way into the bodybuilding arena?
• How about ICOPRO? (Nobody wanted it)
• His chain of wrestling themed restaurants?
• How about the hundreds of millions wasted on Linda McMahon political campaigns?
• They also attempted to get into the social media arena. I think that was called TOUT. Tough to remember since it was here and hone so quickly

I'm sure I'm forgetting some doozies as well, but the point is that whenever they go outside of wrestling, they fail. And I just don't see how a league of just eight teams, all owned by the same guy, will be enough to draw interest. Just like before.

Reality said:

If it turns into a viable NFL competitor, that would be great. Realistically though, there's an overall decline in pro sports in general in recent years, so the odds are against it.

Fortunately for them and unlike the USFL, the XFL is being launched in a time where online streaming is common among most of the viewers. Hopefully they have put more focus on that than relying on people to come to the stadiums for their business model.

If the XFL can secure a multi-year licensing deal with a non-subscription sports network of some kind (ex: not ESPN), then that could give them enough of a buffer period to brand and promote the XFL to help establish a more die-hard fan base. After the curious and short-attention-span viewers disappear, the viewership will start to decline so they will need to have a plan in place to outlast the decline period while they work to grow their popularity.

That said, the more likely scenarios are it will either become a practice squad league for not-signed-yet-in-NFL players to showcase their abilities or the league will be gone within 5 years due to lack of interest.

What the NFL should do is wait to see how the XFL does with fans after 1-2 years and if it does well, buy the XFL and make it their minor league where football players could by-pass colleges and go professional right out of high school.

I would not be surprised if that is the actual business plan behind the investors/owners in the XFL.

Click to expand...

So, similar to the way MLB does with several levels of minor leages? I have thought about this for several years myself......it would need to be formulated in such a way that other teams can't just pluck players up as is with the practice squad now. B ut I can see this working with proper planning.