XFL To Return In 2020

[DogofWar1]

I want to make fun of this, but simultaneously, the NFL product has diminished of late.  A competitor might actually have a shot.

 

Now, the NFL could easily fix most of those problems within 2 years, making the XFL "improvements" moot, but until the NFL actually does that, I'll give them better than a snowball's chance in hell if success.

 

Biggest problem will likely be contracts.  Actually good players will still go to the NFL for the money.  Vince will need to compete with NFL salaries for talent, which I imagine will be hard, at least for a while.

[TradeTheBeal!]

12 minutes ago, DogofWar1 said:

 

 

Biggest problem will likely be contracts.  Actually good players will still go to the NFL for the money.  Vince will need to compete with NFL salaries for talent, which I imagine will be hard, at least for a while.

 

NFL has that rookie wage scale, though.  XFL can go right over top of that for young talent...and you know they will.

[Dont Taze Me Bro]

Just now, DogofWar1 said:

I want to make fun of this, but simultaneously, the NFL product has diminished of late.  A competitor might actually have a shot.

 

Now, the NFL could easily fix most of those problems within 2 years, making the XFL "improvements" moot, but until the NFL actually does that, I'll give them better than a snowball's chance in hell if success.

 

Biggest problem will likely be contracts.  Actually good players will still go to the NFL for the money.  Vince will need to compete with NFL salaries for talent, which I imagine will be hard, at least for a while.

 

It's hard to predict who he will go after.  He said yesterday that the XFL will not be a developmental league for the NFL.  I don't think he's trying to compete directly with the NFL yet.  Look at the big picture right now, it's easy to see that the NFL is America's favorite sport along with college football being huge as well.  With the recent events going on in the NFL (domestic violence, arrests, protests, etc.) along with the state of the game itself (rules favoring offenses heavily, penalties, reviews, etc.), it's pushing a lot of fans away.  

 

I know from talking to a lot of people just on here, they are getting tired of the games taking 3+ hours, tired of the officiating, tired of the rule changes, etc.  Tired of the Thursday night games.  From what Vince said about the XFL's return, it's clear that he is listening to the people.  He wants faster games (2 hours tops), less rules which means less penalties, nobody with a criminal record (even a DUI) will be allowed to play in his league.  I'm sure that Vince is on the side of standing for the national anthem (he said that) and when he said that all players in his league will stand or they will not play in his league, its obvious that he wants to avoid any protests/statements after seeing what happened in the NFL (business first).  

 

He is going to market a product that caters to people that fall into all those categories above, take that smaller piece of the football pie and not try to cut into the NFL's slice (not at first).  If it starts becoming successful and can stay afloat for x number of years, then maybe he tries to go head to head.  I personally don't think that will ever happen, but it's not impossible to think that it can't be a success and catch on to where people enjoy another football league with different rules.

[PleaseBlitz]

48 minutes ago, TryTheBeal! said:

McMahon should go all in on the conservative angle and mandate that all teams feature racially-charged monikers.

 

Orangemen

All Blacks

Yellow Peril

Confederates

etc.

 

Git er done, Vince!

 

The Tim Tebows.

 

Speaking of ol' Timmy.....

 

29 minutes ago, DogofWar1 said:

I want to make fun of this, but simultaneously, the NFL product has diminished of late.  A competitor might actually have a shot.

 

Now, the NFL could easily fix most of those problems within 2 years, making the XFL "improvements" moot, but until the NFL actually does that, I'll give them better than a snowball's chance in hell if success.

 

Biggest problem will likely be contracts.  Actually good players will still go to the NFL for the money.  Vince will need to compete with NFL salaries for talent, which I imagine will be hard, at least for a while.

 

Yea, this league will be 3rd in talent behind the NFL and NCAA D1 Power 5. 

[SoulSkin]

One thing he should consider is an official partnership with something like Draftkings, or maybe even create his own version.They could maybe even somehow incorporate fantasy football ppr/IDP. etc. scoring into the actual games. Live contests during the game, interactivity somehow, I dunno, something to draw interest and get people paying attention to the teams and players.

[Dont Taze Me Bro]

Just now, TryTheBeal! said:

 

NFL has that rookie wage scale, though.  XFL can go right over top of that for young talent...and you know they will.

 

He said yesterday that pay would be performance based and those that win will make more, I'm guessing a base salary with extra cash for winning, per game.

[Spaceman Spiff]

It'll be interesting to see who here in this thread watches the first XFL game when it starts in 2020.

 

I definitely don't think it'll work, pro leagues have tried and failed before, this is no different.  Still will check it out though.

[Dont Taze Me Bro]

2 minutes ago, Spaceman Spiff said:

It'll be interesting to see who here in this thread watches the first XFL game when it starts in 2020.

 

I definitely don't think it'll work, pro leagues have tried and failed before, this is no different.  Still will check it out though.

 

I'll watch it.  I watched the first game of the original XFL, then a few others back in the day.  But back then, I was working weekends and missed a lot of sports in general.  

[Spaceman Spiff]

3 minutes ago, Dont Taze Me Bro said:

 

I'll watch it.  I watched the first game of the original XFL, then a few others back in the day.  But back then, I was working weekends and missed a lot of sports in general.  

 

I'll check it out too.  In fact, I hope it works and takes off.  I'd love to have something to watch between the Superbowl and when baseball starts.  I don't watch much NBA anymore.

 

One of the reasons that I watch sports (and I think a lot of us do, too) is the inherent storylines that carry over from year to year for the athletes.  It's hard to get buy-in from an emotional attachment perspective if you don't know anything about the players/coaches in a startup league like this.

 

 

[Dont Taze Me Bro]

3 minutes ago, Spaceman Spiff said:

 

I'll check it out too.  In fact, I hope it works and takes off.  I'd love to have something to watch between the Superbowl and when baseball starts.  I don't watch much NBA anymore.

 

One of the reasons that I watch sports (and I think a lot of us do, too) is the inherent storylines that carry over from year to year for the athletes.  It's hard to get buy-in from an emotional attachment perspective if you don't know anything about the players/coaches in a startup league like this.

 

 

 

I still watch the NBA, but it would be nice to have a good version of football to carry us into the spring.  And it sounds like Vince is wanting to deliver a better quality product this time around than last.  One thing he said that was interesting was when he mentioned having the games on streaming media, he said that he thinks they should be shown differently (camera angles) than what you see on a regular broadcast on TV as he thinks that is boring.

 

I'm interested to see how that turns out, as I for one am fine with watching the same angles as a TV broadcast streaming it or not.  I'm not sure I want to watch the game from the eyes of the QB, etc.  

[DogofWar1]

4 hours ago, TryTheBeal! said:

 

NFL has that rookie wage scale, though.  XFL can go right over top of that for young talent...and you know they will.

That may be one angle they might try, but then it's a slippery slope to paying Bradford money, which I doubt they can afford.  The NFL can always up their rookie scale and then slow it down once the XFL folds, they have that kind of money and leverage.

 

Plus you have to keep paying well to make sure that good rookies don't just use XFL as a stepping stone.

 

One thing I'll also say is that if I had a chance to get drafted I'm going to the NFL.  No way I want to have to worry about whatever coaching the XFL scrapes together.  The best coaching will give me the best chance for the future and the best coaches will be in the NFL.

 

So that's another thing the XFL needs to do, poach a few bigger name coaches from the NFL and NCAA to give them coaching legitimacy.

[TheGreatBuzz]

 do you think the XFL will allow players to join right out of high school? I could see it almost becoming a developmental league for the NFL if they did.

[DogofWar1]

17 minutes ago, TheGreatBuzz said:

 do you think the XFL will allow players to join right out of high school? I could see it almost becoming a developmental league for the NFL if they did.

Would be interesting.  I imagine colleges would start payong athletes real fast if that happened.

[MarkB452]

22 minutes ago, DogofWar1 said:

Would be interesting.  I imagine colleges would start payong athletes real fast if that happened.

The pay last time (2001) was not that great and they did not provide health insurance.  I guess with ObamaCare, they will have to offer health insurance in 2020.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XFL#Play_clock

 

Roster and salaries

The XFL limited each team to an unusually low 38 players, as opposed to 53 on NFL teams and 80 or more on unlimited college rosters. This was similar to the CFL, which had a comparable 40-man roster limit in 2001. This resulted, most commonly, in each team only carrying two quarterbacks and one kicker who doubled as the punter.

The XFL paid standardized player salaries. Quarterbacks earned US$5,000 per week, kickers earned $3,500, and all other uniformed players earned $4,500 per week, though a few players got around these restrictions (Los Angeles Xtreme players Noel Prefontaine, the league's lone punting specialist, and Matt Malloy, a wide receiver) by having themselves listed as backup quarterbacks. Players on a winning team received a bonus of $2,500 for the week, $7,500 for winning a playoff game. The team that won the championship game split $1,000,000 (roughly $25,000 per player). Players did not receive any fringe benefits, and had to pay for their own health insurance.

[thebluefood]

On 1/25/2018 at 12:55 PM, Springfield said:

Make the XFL the super right wing version of the NFL and it’ll succeed.

 

Go on about cucks, betas, alphas, chads, and red pills.  Make everyone stand for the anthem, even sing along (at the parts you remember).  All athletes must open carry on the sideline.  Prayer after every touchdown.  No pads or helmet.  Whites only.

 

sounds like a blast!

Every ball carries the league logo as well as the NRA's seal.

[DogofWar1]

Even accounting for inflation that's garbage money.

 

The winningest team in 2001 was the Orlando Rage, who went 8-2.  They didn't win a playoff game, so the QB would have gotten 5k x 10 and 2.5k x 8, or 70k for the year, pre-tax.

 

The players on the Los Angeles team did okay.  The QB would have gotten 117.5k pre-tax, and the lowest paid player, the kicker would have gotten 99.5k pre-tax.

 

But looking down to even the team that lost in the championship, they went 5-5 in the regular season and since the playoffs were only semi-finals and finals, only won 1 playiff game.  Their QB only got 80k pre-tax, and their kicker only got 62k.

 

The poor Birmingham Thunderbolts players, who went 2-8, would have had their QB get only 55k pre-tax, and their poor (literally) kicker would have only made 40k.

 

 

Better to skip playing and get a real job.  Gonna need to double salaeies at a minimum.

 

 

[Springfield]

Yeah, I doubt I’d play football for that kind of money.  Perhaps if I was college aged and I could use it as a paid bridge between high school and the NFL.

 

If I’m RG3, no thanks.  I can probably make that kind of coin not risking my body every weekend.

[Kosher Ham]

DO all of you forget that the AFL  ( AFC) was the B league ? 

 

New Orleans, Memphis, and Charlotte, ( and others) all had an ABA team before the NBA arrived.

3 point line was has made it way into international basketball. 

 

Sky Cam has made it even into basketball.from the XFL.

Even the slight name change of adding Sr., Jr., III., etc...based on the XFL. 

I don't expect a grand level of success either. I do expect them to add some outside vision to continue to make the game better that I enjoy. 

Don't get how they are going to pull off games much shorter without changing some rules ( I for one, hate the NCAA PI rule). Now a shorter play clock... sign me up. They have a mic in their helmet...make a call and keep it moving. 

 

NFL needs to fix the draft... The pageantry is too time consuming for me to bother. The Redskins have the draft day where they fly players in and it's a big deal. Fine... the rest of the NFL fans don't really care about all that. 

[Springfield]

You could fix most of the NFL’s problem by re-condensing the content.  Trying to spread out games, drafts, etc to have the most exposure has really hurt the league.

 

Christmas wouldn’t be as special if it happened every month.

[Dont Taze Me Bro]

6 minutes ago, Springfield said:

You could fix most of the NFL’s problem by re-condensing the content.  Trying to spread out games, drafts, etc to have the most exposure has really hurt the league.

 

Christmas wouldn’t be as special if it happened every month.

 

They watered it down with all the sunday night and Thursday night games.  Along with the stupid draft going Thursday through Saturday.  For me, the best schedule was when they only played at 1 and 4pm on Sundays, then MNF and when the season was halfway through adding one Sunday night game the last 8-9 weeks.  It made MNF more special and made those limited Sunday night games meaningful as well.  

 

And the draft was best when it was only on the weekend starting Saturday.  You could have draft parties, cookouts and have fun with your friends.  Now round 1 in on Thursday night......most working adults don't have parties/cookouts at 7-8pm in the middle of the week.  

 

And don't even get me started on the London games.

[Redskin4ever]

The only way the XFL succeeds is if they can get the best talent. All the rest of this is for show trying to get ratings. The first time they tried the anything goes route, now it sounds like they are trying to go the opposite direction to control who can do what. I don't expect that to work either. I do expect the biggest benefactor to be the NFL, which will learn which things work and which things don't. They will learn things the fans like and don't like. Then they will incorporate those changes into the NFL. 

 

I do wonder how adding more football will help with the biggest problem, which is over-saturation.

[Bang]

XFL Bowl : Brian Hoyer vs. Blaine Gabbert.

 

This is why it will fail.

 

~Bang

[pjfootballer]

14 hours ago, DogofWar1 said:

Even accounting for inflation that's garbage money.

 

 

Better to skip playing and get a real job.  Gonna need to double salaeies at a minimum.

 

 

 

I wouldn’t call that garbage money. Making 40-100k for 12-15 weeks was a nice income for 2001 (in general not football).  Wasn’t exactly poverty level income. 

 

You have ave to think that these guys were also trying to get more game tape for the NFL. He Hate Me (Rod Smart) ended up with the Panthers for a few years.

 

I’m sure a lot of those guys made more money that year playing football then working a regular job. 

[DogofWar1]

58 minutes ago, pjfootballer said:

I wouldn’t call that garbage money. Making 40-100k for 12-15 weeks was a nice income for 2001 (in general not football).  Wasn’t exactly poverty level income. 

You have ave to think that these guys were also trying to get more game tape for the NFL. He Hate Me (Rod Smart) ended up with the Panthers for a few years.

I’m sure a lot of those guys made more money that year playing football then working a regular job. 

Maybe not horrible money in 2001, but they had to pay for their own healthcare, which, considering how badly bodies get beat up, probably ate up a large amount of their money.

 

Plus kind of tough to hold down another job consistently if you're gone 5-6 months of the year between training and games.

 

And with what we know now about CTE, oh boy, no way.  In fairness, we didn't know about it in 2001, but can you imagine the backlash if the XFL had run for a decade?  Tons of ex XFL players showing signs of CTE with no healthcare to help them?  It'd be terrible.

[Warhead36]

In terms of player recruitment, the XFL needs to go after three market:

 

1. Big name has beens. Johnny Manziel, Vince Young, those types. Their names still carry weight and will draw attention. They absolutely should go for Colin Keaepernick too.

 

2. Players from top college programs who didn't make it to the NFL. The few guys from say Alabama who didn't make the league, those types. The diehards in those college area will want to watch their guys in some kind of pro league.

 

3. Here's the controversial one....kids straight from  High School. I mean why waste 3 years in college making no money when you can play in a pro league and make some real money?