XFL 2020 season

[Sir Blue and Gold]

Seriously, if you have something to add to the conversation other than trying to belittle my posts, jump in dude. 

I didn't say big part, I said important part.  If it wasn't, they'd be playing without a paid attendance, duh.  Does WWE rely only on pay per view revenue, or does gate enter into the business model.

As to what number it takes for each club to be viable, remember, there are no clubs.  The league has one owner for all clubs, either they all survive, or none do.  Might they move teams to more attractive locations?  Maybe.  But a team will not fail unless they all do.

The NFL is the league, and will garner the majority of the revenue for football, period.  The rest of the leagues, CFL, XFL, NCAA, semipro, etc, will fight over the scraps.  As a CFL fan, yes, I am concerned about a rival league vying for those dollars and players.  I'm not sure if I am happy if they fail, or if they are a good "feeder league" for us as well as the NFL...

I added facts and figures to your post of "ohmygash how long till it folds, ratings plummeting!" Upon being presented with actual facts and numbers, you moved the goalposts to attendance and then went on to infer that those numbers (even though they really haven't changed much at all) seems to be "waning quickly" and that's it's still an important part of their business plan. I merely asked what number they need to hit and at what price, but obviously you wouldn't know.

I haven't been "belittling" your posts so much as injecting facts and figures and a modicum of common sense.

[blue girl]

In Vancouver if was on normal broadcast stations like ABC and TSN. However the Sunday games no longer are being broadcast here.

I get TSN GO through my cable provider. Once the game has come on I click on Live and scroll down until I get to the game I want.

[Blue In BC]

I get TSN GO through my cable provider. Once the game has come on I click on Live and scroll down until I get to the game I want.

The shine is off the apple. I don't have great interest in the XFL at this point. Games have been less interesting on a weekly basis. Don't like some of the changes in concept. Not many good players from what I've seen. The AAF might have actually been better for the most part.

[blue_or_die]

One thing that the CFL has over the XFL is timing. The XFL starts right after the Super Bowl, arguably the biggest game in all of football (arguable to us CFL fans, who are the only ones who believe our game has something more to offer, and I'm one). That's a hard act to follow, and even die hard football fans will say they are happy to have a break and let the spring roll in and into summer before the desperation reaches a fever pitch and they can't wait for football.

Enter the CFL, which is a very nice ease into the NFL season and offers football during the summer months (from an NFL fan's perspective). This is why I believe we have got to get better, more prime time deal with ESPN to get American eyes on our stable, quality, and very well-established brand. Build it (get a deal) and they will come.

[theaardvark]

One thing that the CFL has over the XFL is timing. The XFL starts right after the Super Bowl, arguably the biggest game in all of football (arguable to us CFL fans, who are the only ones who believe our game has something more to offer, and I'm one). That's a hard act to follow, and even die hard football fans will say they are happy to have a break and let the spring roll in and into summer before the desperation reaches a fever pitch and they can't wait for football.

Enter the CFL, which is a very nice ease into the NFL season and offers football during the summer months (from an NFL fan's perspective). This is why I believe we have got to get better, more prime time deal with ESPN to get American eyes on our stable, quality, and very well-established brand. Build it (get a deal) and they will come.

Pretty sure that timing is what the XFL has over the CFL.. the optimal time slot in TV is the one directly after a huge hit show... which is why the XFL chose their timing.  Fans have always had to suffer the letdown of the week after the SuperBowl being football free, now they don't.  No hangover period, just slide right in to a new season.  Houston was up 2k+ yesterday, Dallas down 2k+...

[blue_or_die]

Pretty sure that timing is what the XFL has over the CFL.. the optimal time slot in TV is the one directly after a huge hit show... which is why the XFL chose their timing.  Fans have always had to suffer the letdown of the week after the SuperBowl being football free, now they don't.  No hangover period, just slide right in to a new season.  Houston was up 2k+ yesterday, Dallas down 2k+...

From my perspective, after an exhaustive 5+ month wave from the NFL hype machine and seeing Mahomes capture a Super Bowl in some of the most dramatic fashion, the XFL sure feels like an irrelevant meh. After several month of no football and the opportunity to watch football on Thursday and Friday evenings with the days getting nice and long, for me the appetite for football is ripe. I am definitely biased, though.

[blue girl]

I watch because I love football and it's something to do on Saturday and Sunday. Although the highlight this week was seeing the beer snake alive and well and living in Washington DC. 

[TecnoGenius]

In Canada the games are either on TSN or streaming on tsn.ca.

I get nearly every channel (incl all SN and TSN) except the weird NFL-big-bucks ones now and for 2-3 weeks I've only been getting 3 games a week.  The 4th game is nowhere to be found on my setup.  Maybe it's online-only in Canada?

My computer PVR is finding the shows all over the place, TSN, WDAZ, WUHF, etc.  It's not just on TSN.

I'm still moderately enjoying watching.  I don't really have a favorite team yet, which is weird.  I can't really get excited about any of them yet.  I do like hearing some of the CFL names from time to time.  Glad to see LDW was somewhat productive this week.  SJ Green is doing bupkis.  He's dropping every ball coming his way.  But now I see why he left the CFL: Trestman.  If SJ doesn't improve, he'll be out of a job both south and north of the border.

D. McCoil is really lighting up the XFL.  D's are very lackluster so far but McCoil is showing he's the real deal, better than almost all the non-CFL guys down there.

Sad: they're back to mentioning the CFL only maybe 1-2 times a weekend even though all these CFL players / coaches are making an impact.

The hubris of the Americans eschewing the CFL kicking halo rule, which is the best invention ever.  The hybrid / weird XFL kicking rules are really not much better than the NFL.  I liked that game where a UR on the TD/PAT had the kickoff moved up 15 and they all agreed it was actually a detriment to the team that got roughed up!  No one thought these things through?  The more USA football I watch, the more I think CFL got it right with the longer field, 5 yard halo, and rouge.

[theaardvark]

No Seattle or St. Louis...

Week 5 Numbers: Grand Total: 64,246

    Seattle Dragons v. Houston Roughnecks ? 19,773
    New York Guardians v Dallas Renegades ? 15,950
    St. Louis BattleHawks v. DC Defenders ? 16,342
    Tampa Bay Vipers v. Los Angeles Wildcats ? 12,181

[VictorRomano]

Man, WR Cam Phillips is running roughshod over his opposition (31 rec, 455 yds, 9 tds).  Anyone know who, if anyone, holds his CFL rights?  He might look  pretty good in Blue & Gold.

Also, L'Damian Washington (ex-Bomber in 2017) is the 8th leading receiver in the league with 21 catches for 252 yds and a TD....

[TecnoGenius]

Also, L'Damian Washington (ex-Bomber in 2017) is the 8th leading receiver in the league with 21 catches for 252 yds and a TD....

LDW is missing a lot of the low-percentage deep completions though.  I think he's a bit hampered by his mediocre deep ball QB.  LDW seems more effective in the mid-range.  However, it's nice to see them at least trying to use LDW in the capacity 66 always said he should be used in.  But when he misses 2 catches in a row (even if not his fault), the OC stops throwing to him.  Sound familiar?

Hey, is the virus situation going to spell the early death of XFL?  It's going to be hard enough on established leagues (like ours).  NBA is on hold now.  What is XFL going to do when it bites them?  Instead of losing minor bucks, they'll start losing huge bucks.  And I'm not sure they can keep up the hype without an in-stadium experience option.

Is it 4 or 5 more weeks left till the end of the regular season?  Can they squeak it all in in time?  Spoke too soon... Seattle has announced the next game will be fanless after food vendor tested positive (ouch, cough cough).  LA is next it seems.  If XFL dies without getting a full fair shot, I'll feel a bit sad for them.  I'd rather see them crash and burn without external help, if that's what awaited them.

[theaardvark]

Well, with Seattle being their biggest gate, I can see things being in serious trouble...  but will the demand for entertainment be high enough to allow McMahon to play in completely empty stadia rather than just partially empty ones, and still turn a profit?

With baseball about to make a decision, NBA already doing so, and NHL pretty much ready to pull the plug, NASCAR can't be far behind, as well as any international competitions of any sort, maybe player desperate for an NFL look will still play for McMahon...

Would that be irresponsible?  Would that matter to McMahon?  Will WWE events go to studio productions?

[TecnoGenius]

Well, that's the end of that:

XFL cancels regular-season games, 'committed' to playing in 2021

https://www.espn.com/xfl/story/_/id/28894247/xfl-cancels-regular-season-games-committed-playing-2021

The article says it's the virus, and I'm sure it must be, but strangely they say at the bottom that XFL didn't mention the virus in their press release.  Weird, I'd blame everything on the virus if I was them.  Great excuse... like obliques. 

Anyhow, they claim they are paying players the entire season's worth of base salary.  They are letting players sign with NFL (no mention of CFL though!).  Ticket buyers will get credit/refunds for unplayed games.  So that's really nice of them.

Well the end result sucks.  Just like the AAF, we are denied seeing playoffs.  However, XFL has a legit excuse rather than just being financially hopeless.

I wonder if they really will be back in 2021 or if that's just wishful thinking.

Adjust your PVRs accordingly!

[ModAdmin]

XFL says they are committed to re-scheduling when the virus threat has passed and they are committed to playing football next season and beyond.  Take it FWIW but it doesn't sound like they are closing their doors anytime soon.

[Blue In BC]

Having to cancel 2020 games won't make it easy to attract fans back in 2021. I smell burnt toast in the air.