Return of the XFL

Hazys

The XFL is coming back

http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/22211134/wwe-vince-mcmahon-try-launch-professional-football-league

Billy86

Make it happen. Make it happen.

I haven't watching and WWE since about 2001, but just make this one damn thing happen!

TOss Sweep

Mad thing is it could probably work this time around a lot has changed since the last time. Be interesting to see when their season starts and ends though.

raze_them_all_

He's live on fb atm doing media questions

jack presley

TOss Sweep wrote: »

Mad thing is it could probably work this time around a lot has changed since the last time. Be interesting to see when their season starts and ends though.

Begins in late January/early Feb 2020, runs for 10 weeks.

MileHighGuy

Re:xfl return..... If they can sort out the catch rule, simplify it, it could lead to an explosion of passing and offense. Maybe do something innovative with the kicking/punting game, you may see quite an entertaining product.

My own blue sky thinking, the option to kick from the 13 for the pat or a two point conversion attempt from the 10. Bonus.... If you make the 2 there is no kickoff and opponant must start from their 10 yard line on ensuing drive.

JoshRosen

https://twitter.com/espn/status/956618854502985729



What do we think?

JoshRosen

Apologies for the new thread! I’ve since seen it’s being discussed in the Wacky World thread! Delete.

TOss Sweep

Id say leave this thread here. Could be worth its own discussion. Something else to distract us in the off season

JoshRosen

Surely Oakland, St. Louis & San Diego are high up on the list for being awarded teams!

Ohmeha

For 17 years Vince's ego hasn't got over his biggest failure and his head is that big he thinks he can re-create it all again

It will fail miserably again. Vince is only successful at bullying and wiping out any trace of competition which won't obviously happen in American Football

TOss Sweep

Ohmeha wrote: »

For 17 years Vince's ego hasn't got over his biggest failure and his head is that big he thinks he can re-create it all again

It will fail miserably again. Vince is only successful at bullying and wiping out any trace of competition which won't obviously happen in American Football

Tell us how you really feel about Vince :pac:

If he tries the same crap he did the first time he will fail. Making enemies of the NFL and trying to compete with the NFL and marketing is as a joke caused his failures the last time.

If he does it right it could be a good thing for players to showcase their talents especially if the money is right. Plenty of players on the fringe of the pros who would love a platform to show what they have. It just needs to be the real deal and not some WWE joke of a league.

The UFL was on the right track but they didnt have money and tried to take on College football and the NFL by playing in the Fall.

Find the right market and do it right and he could succeed the second time round.

Neil3030

I'm very surprised the WWE share price has remained more or less intact at this news. For those who don't know, Vince is a complete micro-managing freak who oversees every aspect of WWE. But the shareholders nonetheless put their faith in him - they faked his death some years ago (on screen, as part of a storyline) and the share price fell; he threatened to sell the company some years ago (again, part of a storyline, I think) and the price again fell. The original term of the XFL not only lost a tonne of money from WWE coffers, it also split Vince's time with WWE in half, and completely burned him out. He's already a 72-year-old workaholic who is pumped up to the gills with lord-knows-what PEDs, and he takes on a proven failure of an enterprise on top of his existing insane schedule? Madness.

Knex*

Ohmeha wrote: »

For 17 years Vince's ego hasn't got over his biggest failure and his head is that big he thinks he can re-create it all again

It will fail miserably again. Vince is only successful at bullying and wiping out any trace of competition which won't obviously happen in American Football

I think streaming could be key to it this time around.

jack presley

https://twitter.com/gilbertjasono/status/956574017397411841

eagle eye

I think it'll fail and I'm not a fan of Vince McMahon so I don't really care about it.

TOss Sweep

After watching the press conference as soon as he said he wants fan input I thought to myself typical WWE going to fail miserably again

TOss Sweep

One thing also is half the sh1t they used to allow in the XFL will be frowned upon and with the whole CTE thing any player with sense wont join it unless they are just in it for the money and care less about their safety. Some of the hits in the XFL were brutal back then nevermind comparing them to todays standards.

ELM327

There's a market for "real football" in the states.
I was watching a youtube video about the greatest superbowl QBS and the throw and pass they used for at least 1 qb would not have been a catch today. There's too much DPI called today, too much holding, and too much personal foul calls.

If they strip it back to real unadulterated football there will be a market for it. I only started really watching in the late 90's/early 00's and the game has changed so much since then, I can only imagine what someone watching from the 70s-80s would think.

TOss Sweep

ELM327 wrote: »

There's a market for "real football" in the states.
I was watching a youtube video about the greatest superbowl QBS and the throw and pass they used for at least 1 qb would not have been a catch today. There's too much DPI called today, too much holding, and too much personal foul calls.

The problem with the NFL is not the rules themselves but the inconsistency of them. Well except for a few of the rules. But Personal Foul rules are there for many reason the main one being Player Safety and I believe the refs are not strict enough on some of them.

If they strip it back to real unadulterated football there will be a market for it. I only started really watching in the late 90's/early 00's and the game has changed so much since then, I can only imagine what someone watching from the 70s-80s would think.

That will never happen. As fun as the big hits were to watch the game has changed for a reason. Players are bigger and faster than they have ever been and that speed and power turns these guys into missiles when tackling and I can tell you if they ever stripped the rules back to the way it was we wont have to wait for CTE to kill players there will eventually be serious injuries on the field if not death especially if you allow head to head contact or strip it back to where spearing was allowed. You have to draw the line and sometimes that means changing how the game is played.

Loughc

Some XFL news

Hockeyinformer.com

On Tuesday, the XFL announced who will be their Commissioner and CEO.

The official XFL account posted the following tweet today, naming Oliver Luck the official Commissioner and CEO of the XFL.

https://twitter.com/xfl2020/status/1003994263388975105

eagle eye

I'd watch the CFL before I'd watch that. I hope it fails miserably.

Loughc

eagle eye wrote: »

I'd watch the CFL before I'd watch that. I hope it fails miserably.

I’ll be watching the CFL this year to see if Johnny Manziel does anything there. And to bridge the gap to the regular season.

I hope BT sports will continue to air the CFL.

Guffy

eagle eye wrote: »

I'd watch the CFL before I'd watch that. I hope it fails miserably.

Why?

eagle eye

Guffy wrote:

Why?

Because this is about making money, no love for football from the owner.

eagle eye

eagle eye wrote: »

Guffy wrote:

Why?

Because this is about making money, no love for football from the owner.

You mean like every professional football league

TOss Sweep

eagle eye wrote: »

Because this is about making money, no love for football from the owner.

You really should have said because it will probably be **** like it was before. :pac:

Loughc

TOss Sweep wrote: »

You really should have said because it will probably be **** like it was before. :pac:

The thing is after week 1 the original XFL had some decent football games, the problem was the production and everything inbetween the plays.

notobtuse

I just don’t see the XLF being anything more than a low viewership curiosity.  I watched the XLF fail the first time.  Arena football is inconsequential.  NFL Europe was a bust.  Canadian football gets little traction in the US.  Even the Legends Football League, with their beautiful women, skimpy uniforms and hard hits, is pretty much is unheard of.  The NFL and NCAAF is where it’s at in our hearts and minds and will remain dominant in the US... casting out all upstarts or relegating them to obscurity.

SHOVELLER

Realt Dearg Sec

Ugh...this again? Didn't they try it again last year?

Realt Dearg Sec

Realt Dearg Sec wrote: »

Ugh...this again? Didn't they try it again last year?

No. XFL was always planned for 2020.

Loughc

Realt Dearg Sec wrote: »

Ugh...this again? Didn't they try it again last year?

You're thinking of the American Alliance of Football. Dreadful league which didn't have enough funds to keep going.

Vince McMahon will be able to see the season out with the XFL at least. But it won't last longer than one season.

ipitydafool

Yeah AAF was a mess and XFL does have alot more going for it- better TV deal- afaik all league games will be broadcast on likes of FOX and ESPN. Also now sports betting in US becoming a more larger market with regulation at state level and this starting after Superbowl and quieter season- only NBA and NHL running it has a chance to garner some traction and catch on but still a long shot to succeed.

Realt Dearg Sec

ReginaldSmythV wrote: »

No. XFL was always planned for 2020.

I was being sarcastic. This is ****e and nobody is going to care.

Edit: rereading this it sounded a lot more prickish and standoffish than it was meant to. I just remember last year thinking that the Alliance league wasn't just crap, it was another attempt, in a long line of them, including the XFL before, that failed catastrophically.

It just seems to me that people are convinced that because of the spectacular popularity of the NFL that there simply MUST be a market for a lower league. And so each time someone tries it, they convince themselves that they just need to tweak some elements of the idea in order to make it pay off. But to me the repeated failures tell us that the basic premise is what's wrong: there isn't a market for it, nobody is interested in watching guys they know are castoffs and nearly-men, except maybe NFL scouts looking for the offchance that they might find a diamond in the rough. It might work as an NFL farm league if they were able to run it on a lower level, with lower profile and attendant costs, like baseball minor leagues, but that is by definition something that is only watched locally. So yeah, I think this will flop, better TV deal or not.

jack presley

I’ll probably give it a watch if it can be streamed over here. Don’t have Sky so hopefully Gamepass or an equivalent will broadcast the games.

jack presley

Some funny rules they're having. The 2 forward passes is interesting to say the least. And teams will have the chance to get 9 points off a TD...!!!!

https://www.espn.com/espn/story/_/id/28438441/xfl-rule-changes-focus-faster-pace-more-excitement

EDIT - Just read the full details on the XFL site and while some of them feels a bit gimmicky, they might be fun to watch, albeit in a 'I'm not taking this league seriously' kind of way.

jack presley

jack presley wrote: »

I’ll probably give it a watch if it can be streamed over here. Don’t have Sky so hopefully Gamepass or an equivalent will broadcast the games.

All games to be shown on the ESPN Player.

https://www.xflnewshub.com/xfl-news/espn-air-xfl-internationally/

SHOVELLER

DC United had an Open House Saturday and had the posts up for the XFL debut. Also have put in safe standing which is great to see and safer for the fans than the previous bleachers!

So have you all picked a team to follow/support?

raze_them_all_

I just hope they come up with good ideas that the nfl robs when it folds again, just like last time. Interviews on pitch, spider cam etc

jack presley

Deleted User wrote: »

So have you all picked a team to follow/support?

Asa Redskins fan, I'm sticking with the DC team. Having said that, at the moment I couldn't name one player on the team or who their coach is (or what their logo/colour are) but once we get the Superbowl out of the way, I'll start looking into it.

I'm actually looking forward to it to be honest. Football with a different slant. Will be interesting anyway, even if the standard is poor. Plenty of afternoon games as well so reasonable times for us to watch.

Loughc

raze_them_all_ wrote: »

I just hope they come up with good ideas that the nfl robs when it folds again, just like last time. Interviews on pitch, spider cam etc

Yeah that’s the best outcome. It’d be great if it could succeed for Longer than 1 season. Competition can only help push the NFL. They’ve been very stagnant for a while.

lertsnim

BT Sport are showing two live games on Saturday.

Guffy

lertsnim wrote: »

BT Sport are showing two live games on Saturday.

Im being lazy, what times are they on?

jack presley

Guffy wrote: »

Im being lazy, what times are they on?

7pm and 11pm our time I think

Loughc

jack presley wrote: »

7pm and 11pm our time I think

Damn they’re appealing times. I might have to tune in.

jack presley

Anyone watching?

Interesting enough. Week 1 and I don't think there were any pre-season games so not going to criticise the standard on offer so far. Kick Offs look good but the point-after tries after TDs have been pretty poor so far. The in-game interviews are interesting. Just had out first F-bomb.

Looks like a decent enough crowd too. Places hold 20,000 so my guess would be around 12-13k.

Oat23

It's actually fun. The kickoffs are so much better than the NFL. Hopefully that is something they adopt at some point but Goodell might not want to admit they thought of something better than his league

Coaches mic'd up is also really nice. We can hear immediately if they are planning to go for it on 4th/kick fg/punt.

neris

Just found a feed on YouTube. Looks like they for a good crowd in for it

jack presley

neris wrote: »

Just found a feed on YouTube. Looks like they for a good crowd in for it

Probably more DC fans here than there has been fro Redskins home games the past few seasons.