February 20, 20232 yr The NFL gets ratings. This isn't the NFL. Being football they also have the largest rosters to have to pay, transport, and maintain. Plus history shows Americans need a break from football. Spring leagues are overload. If The Rock wants to sink millions into keeping this afloat then so be it, but I don't see how this ever turns a profit.
February 21, 20232 yr @Hermanator to answer your questions: this is a league for guys who didn't get drafted because the were overlooked(went to a G5 or D2 or D3 and fell through the cracks) to get a chance to show what they can do. Also, having washed up or NFL practice squad busts that people are familiar with can help the league with viewership. If anything, some of these guys playing in the XFL will never get the the NFL or get back in and even though they're not making the millions, they're in the league because they just wanna keep playing. If anything, the XFL will become the retirement home league for older NFL players. Give it a few years when Tom Brady comes out of retirement (because you know he will), we'll see the XFL make an announcement like, now starting at QB for the Orlando Guardians, Tom Brady! Also, with not seeing how this turns a profit, lighten up and give it a fucking chance. It's the first year back where they will finish a full season. At least when it came back in 2020 they got it right this time. None of those scripted pro wrestling type gimmicks with shithole football like the original league in 2001.
February 21, 20232 yr 19 minutes ago, Longboard Horn said: @Hermanator to answer your questions: this is a league for guys who didn't get drafted because the were overlooked(went to a G5 or D2 or D3 and fell through the cracks) to get a chance to show what they can do. Also, having washed up or NFL practice squad busts that people are familiar with can help the league with viewership. If anything, some of these guys playing in the XFL will never get the the NFL or get back in and even though they're not making the millions, they're in the league because they just wanna keep playing. If anything, the XFL will become the retirement home league for older NFL players. Give it a few years when Tom Brady comes out of retirement (because you know he will), we'll see the XFL make an announcement like, now starting at QB for the Orlando Guardians, Tom Brady! Also, with not seeing how this turns a profit, lighten up and give it a fucking chance. It's the first year back where they will finish a full season. At least when it came back in 2020 they got it right this time. None of those scripted pro wrestling type gimmicks with shithole football like the original league in 2001. I know why players want to play in it. I have no idea why people keep starting these leagues. There's nothing to lighten up. The costs are too high to sustain without the big money of the NFL propping the league up as a minor leagues, and the NFL won't do that because teams don't want their prospects under contract getting the wear and tear. As long as college football exists these football minor leagues have no market. Edited February 21, 20232 yr by Hermanator
February 21, 20232 yr 49 minutes ago, Hermanator said: I know why players want to play in it. I have no idea why people keep starting these leagues. There's nothing to lighten up. The costs are too high to sustain without the big money of the NFL propping the league up as a minor leagues, and the NFL won't do that because teams don't want their prospects under contract getting the wear and tear. As long as college football exists these football minor leagues have no market. Look at how the USFL has been promoted by NFL. With how many players from their were taken by the NFL, it seems like they're going to make the USFL their true minor league. XFL we'll have to see. I for one like the minor leagues. Get to see old players from college that I had forgotten about. Best thing, no Johnny Manziel in any of them.
February 21, 20232 yr The issue for a winter league is can they survive March Madness. The spring schedule after the final four is likely better for ratings, small as they may be they will outdraw anything else. I grew up with the WFL and USFL but those were big money ventures with big stars poached from the NFL. I don’t see these getting the eyeballs they will need but I will watch as I have zero interest in other sports.
February 21, 20232 yr 1 hour ago, Texzilla58 said: The issue for a winter league is can they survive March Madness. The spring schedule after the final four is likely better for ratings, small as they may be they will outdraw anything else. I grew up with the WFL and USFL but those were big money ventures with big stars poached from the NFL. I don’t see these getting the eyeballs they will need but I will watch as I have zero interest in other sports. Watch the USFL. A good handful of those guys from this past season got poached by NFL teams. Smart thing about the USFL is that they start the weekend after Easter so it doesn't conflict with March Madness.
February 22, 20232 yr 13 hours ago, Hermanator said: As long as college football exists these football minor leagues have no market. The NFL has a free minor league system. Pretty sweet deal if you ask me. Edited February 22, 20232 yr by redswingline
February 22, 20232 yr I guess I was trying to say the USFL schedule is better for ratings than the XFL. I believe last time the AAFL ratings tanked during March madness then got hit with Covid.
February 22, 20232 yr SA Brahmas fire their VP of business operations one day after their first ever game. Is that good? https://www.kens5.com/amp/article/sports/football/san-antonio-brahmas-part-ways-gm-mike-sheehan/273-a1c133eb-ee09-4bba-bbb2-156d39a5e3bd
February 22, 20232 yr 13 hours ago, Texzilla58 said: I guess I was trying to say the USFL schedule is better for ratings than the XFL. I believe last time the AAFL ratings tanked during March madness then got hit with Covid. USFL is smart for starting after Easter and avoiding March Madness. LOL when they start the XFL will have to compete with them for ratings for a few weeks.
February 22, 20232 yr Haven't and won't watch a game but I saw videos of the XFL's kickoff. I kind of like it. Football has tried to make the kickoff non-existent as it is pretty dangerous when all players are flying full speed down the field and start hitting and colliding. So they tried to persuade teams to take a knee and bring it out to the 25 instead of the 20. Kickoffs are now from the 35 instead of the 30. XFL's version is pretty much like a play from scrimmage and much safer as they are only 5-10 yards apart and can't move until the receiver catches the ball. Not sure if the NFL will ever think about this method. I'd rather see it than seemingly 90% of the kicks just booted out of the endzone/players taking a knee. I know the MLB experiments in their minor leagues before implementing at the highest level. Kickoffs in the NFL are pointless now. And I totally get and agree with what they did because they are so dangerous. XFL's method would bring some life back to them. And with implementing this, move the kickoff spot back to the 30 and only moving it out the 20 for a touchback.
February 24, 20232 yr https://sportsnaut.com/xfl-tv-ratings-2023/ Quote Week 1 XFL TV ratings – 2020 DC Defenders vs Seattle Dragons – 3.3 million avg. viewers – ABC Houston Renegades vs Los Angeles Wildcats -3.29 million avg. viewers – FOX New York Guardians vs Tampa Bay Vipers – 3.39 million avg. viewers – FOX Dallas Renegades vs St. Louis Battle Hawks – 2.495 million avg. viewers – ESPN Week 1 XFL TV ratings – 2023 Arlington Renegades vs Vegas Vipers – 1.54 million avg. viewers – ABC Houston Roughnecks vs Orlando Guardians – 1.14 million avg. viewers – ESPN & FX San Antonio Brahmas vs St. Louis Battlehawks – 1.57 million avg. viewers – ABC D.C. Defenders vs Seattle Sea Dragons – 918,000 avg. viewers – ESPN Off to a rip-roaring start. Obviously ratings declined rapidly in 2020 after week 1, as people checking it out initially lost interest. This seasons week 1 viewership is about equal to the 2020 seasons week 4. TLDR - nobody's gonna watch this crap.
February 26, 20232 yr Watching SA game. This is dogshit football. However, its more entertaining than what the NBA tries to currently pass off as, “basketball”.
February 26, 20232 yr 53 minutes ago, Incredulity said: Watching SA game. This is dogshit football. However, its more entertaining than what the NBA tries to currently pass off as, “basketball”. This is true. The NBA is pure garbage now. A shell of the 80s through 2000s The Orlando QB telling his lineman to shut the fuck up and listen when he's calling the play was funny
February 27, 20232 yr Some buddies and I are at the Roughnecks game in TDECU, pretty fun atmosphere but it's not the prettiest football to watch lol Edit: I just ordered beers from my phone and they showed up to my seat in 3 minutes. This is allsome Edited February 27, 20232 yr by Captainant
February 27, 20232 yr It’s terrible football. It’s like a bad high school game except they let you listen to the coaches. And that’s interesting for about 2 plays.
February 27, 20232 yr I watched the SA game today. The transparent review process was fascinating, and really fast too.
February 27, 20232 yr 15 hours ago, Incredulity said: Watching SA game. This is dogshit football. However, its more entertaining than what the NBA tries to currently pass off as, “basketball”. True it's dogshit football, but it's somewhat entertaining because of how bad the teams are. Orlando Guardians are the worst. Definitely a skid mark on the underwear of the league.
February 27, 20232 yr Even though it's terrible football, let's be honest: it's still way better than that gimmick league back in 2001
February 27, 20232 yr 11 hours ago, J.R. Juniors Junior Jr. said: I watched the SA game today. The transparent review process was fascinating, and really fast too. it's what the NFL needs to do. make them fast. make them transparent. what a concept.
February 27, 20232 yr I think if you just had one minor football league with NFL backing and teams playing in their actual markets, it would work. Just merge the XFL and USFL and get rid of the USFL's idiotic insistence on not playing home games, and have the best players from both leagues in one place. That would be watchable. Keep it on the USFL schedule too. Start after March Madness. Let a little football thirst get rolling.
February 27, 20232 yr 18 minutes ago, Al_4_ISU said: I think if you just had one minor football league with NFL backing and teams playing in their actual markets, it would work. Just merge the XFL and USFL and get rid of the USFL's idiotic insistence on not playing home games, and have the best players from both leagues in one place. That would be watchable. Keep it on the USFL schedule too. Start after March Madness. Let a little football thirst get rolling. I like the way you think Al. That could work. A few examples: Roughnecks would be the feeder for Texans, Renegades for Cowboys, Guardians for either Jaguars or Bucs, Sea Dragons for Seahawks.
February 27, 20232 yr It might be antithetical to a NFL feeder league scenario, but I would be way more interested if the league/teams would be out scouring small colleges, junior colleges and even HS coaching for people that are running innovative, exciting offenses. Like Gus Malzahn versus Chip Kelly circa 2006. Watching teams flail around running the same old shit gets real boring real fast.
February 28, 20232 yr The NFL won't ever want their draft picks playing in these leagues. It's too damaging of a sport to expose your pipeline talent like that. Even if they did that would mean they'd have to start the league in May after the draft and there's not enough time before training camp. And the NFL already has all their mini camps and OTAs during that time. There's zero incentive to waste money backing these leagues. CFB is the NFL minor leagues and the NFL knows that. That's why they have the 3 year out of HS draft rule. If they are going to seriously give this a go they should definitely consolidate leagues and financial responsibility. 1 is very improbable to succeed but 2 is insane. Edited February 28, 20232 yr by Hermanator
February 28, 20232 yr 3 hours ago, Hermanator said: The NFL won't ever want their draft picks playing in these leagues. It's too damaging of a sport to expose your pipeline talent like that. Even if they did that would mean they'd have to start the league in May after the draft and there's not enough time before training camp. And the NFL already has all their mini camps and OTAs during that time. There's zero incentive to waste money backing these leagues. CFB is the NFL minor leagues and the NFL knows that. That's why they have the 3 year out of HS draft rule. If they are going to seriously give this a go they should definitely consolidate leagues and financial responsibility. 1 is very improbable to succeed but 2 is insane. I think it's an opportunity for the NFL to find guys like Kurt Warner that bloom later in life as opposed to a place to develop draft picks.
February 28, 20232 yr The only way this would work is if backup and 3rd string nfl qbs could use it for playing time and experience, but as mentioned above, it’s not feasible with the size of the contracts and the risk of injury. Insurance could help but not enough. The qb play will continue to be horrible and makes most of the game hard to watch/
February 28, 20232 yr 2 hours ago, Al_4_ISU said: I think it's an opportunity for the NFL to find guys like Kurt Warner that bloom later in life as opposed to a place to develop draft picks. Kurt Warner is a great story, but how many Kurt Warner's are there really....players with "NFL franchise changing" impact that got a brief look after college before having to make their way back through the arena leagues/NFL Europe/USFL/XFL. Now balance that return with the additional expense to the owners of supporting a true minor league and I don't see a compelling ROI. Colleges are doing a better and better job of preparing players for the NFL, and now that these colleges have duped their fans into picking up additional hundreds of million in "salary" through NIL, the owners want no part of picking up that tab. CFB is the minor leagues, and it consists of dozens of teams worth far more money than any minor league baseball, basketball, or hockey franchises. The NFL is a license to print money, but there's only 32 seats at that table. It seems to me that the actual "need" being addressed in all of these leagues is rich people trying to get richer as franchise owners, not necessarily a large number of people clamoring to see football in the spring. "There's nothing wrong with more football" is easy to say, but fans actually need to spend their own money and time on these startup leagues. The couple of times I checked in on a game there is little star power, usually not much atmosphere, just a bunch of guys refusing to accept they have to get a regular job, running around the field for about $60K a season. Its not a particularly compelling offering, and I usually last about 15 minutes. Judging by the consistent pattern of dwindling TV ratings by the 3rd or 4th week for every league, I'm not the only one.
March 2, 20232 yr On 2/28/2023 at 9:42 AM, 'stache said: The only way this would work is if backup and 3rd string nfl qbs could use it for playing time and experience This! So many NFL qbs that were a bust in the past could have definitely benefitted from having a minor league like the XFL or USFL to help develop. Then they wouldn't have been baptized by fire in the big leagues.
March 2, 20232 yr 11 minutes ago, Longboard Horn said: This! So many NFL qbs that were a bust in the past could have definitely benefitted from having a minor league like the XFL or USFL to help develop. Then they wouldn't have been baptized by fire in the big leagues.
March 5, 20232 yr In the 4 mins I’ve watched of XFL, all today at the end of the vipers/sea snakes game, watching Josh Gordon catch a bomb and back pedal into the end zone like he is playing a game of 500 against his little brothers, was sad.
March 5, 20232 yr My son, his friend, and I were watching because of the spread. Good on them to put that up where they put the score. None of us bet the game, but we were following the over/under. Part way through the 3rd, we were discussing how we should have bet the under. Then the rest of the game happened. I probably will never bet one of these games, but it did give us a “reason” to watch. I like that they put the point spread and over/under up there all game. Without it, I probably would not have watched more than a few plays.
March 6, 20232 yr 15 hours ago, Dr Fear said: Have Galindo and Acho been calling previous games? Lmao Alll season, wish Galindo would stay there or luck his ass into a job I don’t have to hear him announce again,
March 6, 20232 yr Sorry if already discussed, but a quick scan of the XFL rosters on CBSSports.com reveals a total of.....1 Texas Longhorn - one Ben Davis, LB. I don't even remember a Ben Davis LB. Fascinating that more ex-players aren't involved. One could say it's the value of a Texas degree that you don't have to go kill yourself in the minors, but my guess is it's due to our team depth being the Suck for the last 5 years. (I know it has sucked for longer, but over 5 years out and don't think you're playing minors)
March 6, 20232 yr 50% drop in ratings from week 1 to week 2. More drastic than expected, will surely climb some over the weeks but yeah. League doesn’t look very viable.
March 6, 20232 yr Just need more of this: https://www.si.com/xfl/2023/03/06/xfl-fight-battlehawks-defenders-players-ejected-video
March 8, 20232 yr On 3/6/2023 at 9:05 AM, Helobious said: 50% drop in ratings from week 1 to week 2. More drastic than expected, will surely climb some over the weeks but yeah. League doesn’t look very viable. I doubt it, but they realize they need to get the games off FX. At least if your game is on ESPN, it will likely be on by default at most bars with TV. Quote ESPN is elevating three upcoming XFL telecasts to more traditional networks as viewership continues to hover in the six figures. ESPN announced Tuesday that two XFL games originally scheduled for FX have been rescheduled for ESPN or ESPN2, and a third game set for ESPN will move up to ABC. The first of those games is Houston-Seattle a week from Thursday, which moves from 9 PM ET on FX to 10:30 PM on ESPN. Seattle-Orlando on March 25 moves from 1:30 on ESPN to 1:00 on ABC. Finally, Houston-D.C. on March 27 moves from FX to ESPN2, with game time remaining at 7 PM ET. [Related: XFL TV schedule.] The moves come on the heels of a weekend in which FX carried three of four XFL games. Week 3 of the season averaged 571,000 viewers across FX and ESPN2, down 13% from Week 2 on FX, ESPN and ESPN2 (665K). Sunday’s St. Louis-D.C. game was the most-watched of the week with a 0.36 rating and 665,000 viewers on FX, making it the network’s most-watched game this season.
March 8, 20232 yr XFL needs to move to Tuesday/Wednesday games during March madness. Their poor ratings will get worse.
March 27, 20232 yr On 3/8/2023 at 9:37 AM, Texzilla58 said: XFL needs to move to Tuesday/Wednesday games during March madness. Their poor ratings will get worse. They'll tank when the USFL starts up in 3 weeks.
March 28, 20232 yr I have Houston v DC on in the background and a Houston DB just got a personal foul for "squirting a water bottle on the down judge," announced with specificity. The DC crowd started chanting "Houston Sucks! Houston Sucks!" This league might make it after all, lol. That was entertaining (but the football quality still sucks shit). Edit: And minutes later another personal foul on Houston, lol. Wade Phillips still looks senile as fuck. Edited March 28, 20232 yr by 'stache
March 28, 20232 yr 16 hours ago, Longboard Horn said: They'll tank when the USFL starts up in 3 weeks. I’ve watched a lot more XFL than I did of the USFL last year. If DC or St Louis is on, it’s a hoot. Having home crowds makes for better TV
March 28, 20232 yr 9 hours ago, Al_4_ISU said: I’ve watched a lot more XFL than I did of the USFL last year. If DC or St Louis is on, it’s a hoot. Having home crowds makes for better TV DC makes it a hoot because of their beer snake and throwing of lemons
April 2, 20232 yr On 3/6/2023 at 6:59 AM, Longboard Horn said: DC and Houston are the only undefeated teams left. Not anymore!!! Woo Hooo! XXXFL!!!! Saw part of the game last night. It was football.
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