Ron78

Oliver Luck and Pep Hamilton's interview with the Sports Junkies... https://thefandc.radio.com/media/audio-channel/222-hour-4-oliver-luck-and-pep-hamilton-xfl-qbs-burning-cash Some bulleted takeaways... Quarterbacks will make between 400 K and 600 K, which will allow them to steel some NFL guys off of NFL rosters. Pep Hamilton Coached Andrew Luck for 6 total years between college and the NFL Luck announced the end of March beginning of April for XFL Team Names The money behind XFL league is all Vince McMahon’s money. No silent backers 18 years since the last XFL iteration New XFL will reduce the gimmicks of the past XFL to a 0. Focused on quality football. Extra points will be 3, 2 or 1 point but no kicks. Field goals will still be in the game. As has been reported, TV deal will see games televised over basic and cable TV. Pep Hamilton attracted to the XFL because he can “Shop for the grocery’s” as well as coach. Pep Hamilton interviewed in 2014 for the Raiders Head Coaching Job. Only time he interviewed for head coach job. Took the job because of Oliver Luck, always maintained an offseason home in DC and family is from the area. Pep’s biggest challenge is finding the staff, that share his passion and vision. XFL DC team will be practice at RFK. XFL will start signing players during the spring and summer. Asked not to play in fall on their contract is signed. Big XFL draft will take place after the NFL cut down day Sept 2nd of 2019. QB’s will make more money than anyone else. Contacts are in a tier system XFL not part of NCAA/NFL eligibility rule. So players out of college due to grades or personal issues can play for XFL. A salary cap for each XFL team. Players in the AAF are eligible for XFL Players will sign one year contract

The XFL will be in a position to steal some of the NFL's revenue (especially since they are operating in many NFL markets). It's just a matter of how much. The longer the XFL sticks around, the longer it will cut into the NFL's revenue, so I am sure the NFL doesn't necessarily want the XFL around.

Because spending that kind of money in mid-sized markets (like Birmingham or Memphis) has bankrupted other start ups. You don't get a return on your investment like you do in major U.S. cities, and it divides the advertising revenue. For example, the Atlanta Falcons franchise would be giving up some of its revenue to the "Atlanta Legends" and "Birmingham Iron" of the AAF to some degree. The Atlanta Falcons owner wouldn't like that very much. Also, the NFL tried investing in a "minor league" (NFL Europe) before and dissolved it because it was losing so much money. They may ultimately decide that propping up the AAF as minor league isn't worth it long term. Not necessarily that the XFL will overtake them, but that the XFL will cut into the NFL's revenue for however many years it lasts. People who are unhappy with the NFL might redirect their investment in merchandise or ticket sales (for example) in the XFL instead of the NFL as a protest. I am sure the NFL doesn't want the XFL's competition to any degree. It's not an irrational thought.

As an expansion of the NFL? Naah. As a minor/developmental league? That could be. Or, maybe they would support the AAF to undermine the XFL, and then dump the AAF when it is no longer needed (because it is too expensive to maintain).

1. There is still far less potential revenue in airing games on cable than there is on "legacy" networks. The XFL is negotiating with Fox, and considering the size of the markets the XFL chose, I am willing to bet the XFL will have many more games on Fox 5 that the AAF will have on CBS. 2. People tend to support sports franchises that support their local economy (one of the reasons I favor the XFL over the AAF). Other start up leagues have spent themselves into bankruptcy by investing too much money in mid-sized markets. 3. Yes. If the XFL can draw the ratings. 4. To each his own. I think Vince is trying to tap into disgruntled NFL fans that don't like the way the NFL has been managed. I guess we will find out which league loses less money and lasts more seasons based on their respective business plans.

The AAF will only have two games on a "legacy" network (CBS), and the rest of its games are on cable. The AAF also put all of its teams in mid-sized markets that just don't generate all that much revenue. It remains to be seen where the XFL finalizes its television contracts, but considering that it has tapped mainly big markets, it will probably get a better television deal since those bigger markets have greater revenue potential. It's the AAF that doesn't stand a chance. The XFL probably doesn't either, but it has a better shot than the AAF.

Looks like the Washington, DC franchise has its head coach. https://xfl2k.com/news/breaking-pep-hamilton-to-become-the-head-coach-gm-of-the-xfls-dc-franchise/?fbclid=IwAR3LyKcwUVtApljc9Ak2FpZRCt07NTRcyx5Ri_Osnxtn0qh7wGJM2oxAiIw

I had hoped they would duplicate the NFC East rivalries by having DC, NY, Dallas, and Philly teams. They have 3 out of 4. I saw a United game there. It is a really nice stadium. Nothing can replace tailgating though. I would rather be drinking my own beer and cooking my own food with friends and family then buying the high-priced **** there.

It serves a different purpose. I think your thread has run its course. The XFL already set a three tiered pay scale for its players (I can't remember exactly what it was). I am sure they would go "outside of the box" for name NFL free agents that are available and negotiate better paying contracts, but a conservative pay scale is a good idea. They shouldn't be paying players more than they are actually worth. The USFL did that to undercut the NFL, and they bankrupted themselves big time. There are roughly five thousand NCAA football players that graduate every year. Most of them will never be NFL caliber, but some do slip through the cracks. I bet the quality of play will be better than what people are expecting.

It's not worth it to travel up into the suburbs of Maryland to get jobbed by Dan Snyder year after year. The talent pool will obviously not be the same in the XFL but games will be cheaper and more convenient to get to. It wasn't a bad market choice for the XFL.

r Audi field is a pretty nice stadium. There is no tailgating allowed there though, so I would have preferred they did a few renovations at RFK and played there. Plenty of wide open parking there. The AFL Wasington, DC team is pitiful. I think they won only 3 games in the regular season. Because there were only 4 teams in the AFL last season, all teams were in the playoffs and somehow DC pulled it off. This isn't a general XFL thread. It's Washington, DC specific XFL thread. Yours also does not have a poll to gauge interest in the DC team.

Are you local? https://www.audifielddc.com/

Baltimore still has him locked up. Thankfully...

Update 1/27/20: The DC Defenders have finalized their final 52-man roster. https://www.sportingnews.com/us/nfl/news/xfl-rosters-2020-here-are-the-52-man-rosters-for-all-eight-teams/gdlifutwxnsv1x41iejvex9h1 D.C. Defenders roster No. Name Pos. Ht. Wt. College 1 Thompkins, DeAndre WR 5'11" 187 Penn State 2 Rausa, Ty K 5'9" 189 Boise State 3 Jackson, Tyree QB 6'7" 250 Buffalo 4 Rogers, Eli WR 5'11" 176 Louisville 7 Niswander, Hunter P 6'5" 230 Northwestern 9 Rowell, Jalen WR 6'4" Air Force 10 Cobbs, Simmie WR 6'3" 220 Indiana 12 Jones, Cardale QB 6'5" 264 Ohio State 15 Ross, Rashad WR 6'0" 180 Arizona State 16 Palka, Tyler WR 6'0" 197 Gannon 19 Dupre, Malachi WR 6'4" 195 LSU 20 Merritt, Carlos S 6'0" 190 Campbell 21 Grant, Doran CB 5'10" 195 Ohio State 22 Elam, Matt S 5'10" 205 Florida 23 Myrick, Jalen CB 5'10" 201 Minnesota 24 Pumphrey, Donnel RB 5'8" 178 San Diego State 25 Lawrence, Desmond CB 5'11" 187 North Carolina 26 Pressley, Jhurell RB 5'10" 209 New Mexico 28 Campbell, Elijah CB 5'11" 192 Northern Iowa 29 Kinnel, Tyree S 5'11" 210 Michigan 30 Sylve, Bradley CB 6'0" 172 Alabama 31 Brossette, Nick RB 5'11" 210 LSU 32 Abdullah, Khalid RB 5'9" 226 James Madison 38 Thomas, Shamarko S 5'9" 205 Syracuse 42 Khoury, Brian DE 6'3" 238 Carnegie Mellon 51 Johnson, Dorian OG 6'5" 291 Pittsburgh 52 Celestin, Jonathan LB 6'0" 227 Minnesota 53 Thurman, Jameer LB 6'0" 223 Indiana State 54 Massaquoi, Jonathan LB 6'2" 265 Troy 55 Williams, Antwione LB 6'3" 245 Georgia Southern 56 Freeman, KeShun DE 6'2" 259 Georgia Tech 58 Wright, Scooby LB 6'0" 228 Arizona 59 Tarpley, A.J. LB 6'2" 225 Stanford 64 Toth, Jon OC 6'5" 298 Kentucky 69 Boozer, Cole OT 6'5" 306 Temple 72 Tuley-Tillman, Logan OT 6'6" 308 Texas-El Paso 74 Cook, Rishard OG 6'3" 364 UAB 75 Brown, Chris OG 6'4" 315 Southern California 77 O'Hagan, James OC 6'2" 299 Buffalo 78 Bunche, Malcolm OT 6'6" 326 UCLA 79 Wesley, De'Ondre OT 6'6" 320 Brigham Young 80 Ernsberger, Donnie TE 6'3" 241 Western Michigan 85 Hayward, Derrick TE 6'5" 260 Maryland 86 Lee, Khari TE 6'4" 255 Bowie State 90 Anau, Siupeli DT 6'2" 286 Northern Arizona 91 Barnes, Tavaris DE 6'4" 267 Clemson 92 Qualls, Elijah DT 6'1" 337 Washington 93 Sprinkle, Tracy DT 6'2" 287 Ohio State 94 Vakameilalo, Kalani DT 6'3" 322 Oregon State 95 Bigelow, Kenny DT 6'3" 308 West Virginia 96 Bromley, Jay DT 6'3" 297 Syracuse 99 Montgomery, Sam DE 6'3" 248 LSU Update 1/14/20: The first XFL promotional commercial aired during the NFL playoffs. Update 1/7/20: XFL official rule changes have been announced. https://www.espn.com/espn/story/_/id/28438441/xfl-rule-changes-focus-faster-pace-more-excitement Update 12/3/19: Uniforms have been released. Update 10/22/19: The full game schedule has been released. UPDATE 10/15/19: Results of first day of XFL draft - UPDATE: Team names/branding will be announced on Wednesday, August 21st at 12:30 PM. Audi Field will be hosting a team in the rebooted XFL in 2020. Will you have any interest in this team? https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2018/11/30/xfl-relaunch-include-washington-franchise-audi-field/ https://www.facebook.com/DCAreaXFLFans/

I never heard that before about needing 4 seasons to sell the show on DVD. I recall Paramount wanted to cancel Enterprise after it's third season. People on the StarTrek.com message boards bombarded Paramount with letters and e-mails requesting that they keep the show on the air. We ultimately got a fourth season. I am not sure how much of the decision was due to the letters, but I know the fans made an effort. True. Although TNG, DS9, and Voyager did all get their full run (and despite Voyager having some bad ratings in the later seasons).

I don't get it. That show is utter garbage. I noticed the same thing when I watched Enterprise. With TNG and DS9, it really took several episodes (or even seasons) for characters to develop to the point that I liked them. But, with Enterprise I liked all the characters and thought they interacted really well with one another right from the start (much like the original series). It still bums me out to this day that Enterprise didn't get a full 7 season run, and we didn't get to see the evolution of the Federation of Planets.

I didn't like the 3rd season of Enterprise at all, but the 1st and 4th seasons are great.

Most people dislike Nemesis, but it is the only TNG movie I liked. Definitely give DS9 a chance. It really picks up in the later seasons.

This is a lengthy but decent review of the STD series thus far:

It is an abomination. They are just using the Star Trek name to sell it.

I think this is by far the least consistent version of Klingons we have ever seen. The Enterprise show did it's best to explain the discrepency between the original series Klingons and the others. There is nothing that makes sense about these new Klingons though.

It was awful. No chance I would pay to see anymore of that. Those Klingons were bad comedy.

It was an even bigger piece of garbage than I thought it was going to be. No way I would pay for that.

Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Hulu have all been offering original content for several years, so I guess they all saw the writing on the wall. Personally, I think the networks contracting all their stuff out to a few providers (Netflix/Hulu/Amazon Prime) is a better idea than all of them having their own on demand channels. Who is going to pay for all of them? Sales are probably not going to be as strong as they want.

You can still watch re-runs from any of the other Star Trek shows on Hulu. Just this new one is exclusively on CBS All Access. There is no way I am going to line CBS' pockets for pulling this crap. I have zero interest in paying extra for what I don't even really think looks like a great product. What a way to gouge a loyal fan base.