2020 XFL Thread

[Slanter]

Huh, too bad. Seems like the one pro sport that could have survived by just telling their fans to sit with three empty seats around them in all directions.

[transplant99]

Call the coroner....dead once again.

When the XFL announced that its 2020 season had ended, the league said it would return in 2021. That no longer appears to be the case.

Several XFL employees confirmed on social media today that the whole staff of the XFL was informed that they’re being laid off during a conference call.

Although there has not been an official announcement about the 2021 season, it certainly looks like there will be no more XFL at all.

https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.co...ds-operations/

[Erick Estrada]

Let's hope McMahon finally closes the door on this league once and for all. Even before the Pandemic, attendance and viewership was sliding as this league was never going to work out in the long run.

[Reggie Dunlop]

Professional gridiron football that isn't NFL is a hard sell in the US. Arena Football (not really the same sport) was the most successful, but even its existence was marginal.

[The Familia]

Once WrestleMania was called off McMahon needed someway to stop the financial bleed. Couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy! Hope he is losing millions hand over fist.
Good news for the CFL!

[jayswin]

It feels like yesterday we were lamenting the expedited death of the CFL with two "American CFL's" poised to take all the non-NFL talent.

[Scorch]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

Let's hope McMahon finally closes the door on this league once and for all. Even before the Pandemic, attendance and viewership was sliding as this league was never going to work out in the long run.

I don’t know if you’re just making this up, but this couldn’t be any further than the truth

While viewership was steady, attendance was actually growing.
St. Louis, which only had their lower bowl available, eventually opened up their upper bowl mid season because there was so much local demand to see the battlehawks live

https://www.stltoday.com/sports/foot...abcfad095.html

Unlike their previous partnership with NBC, They had strong relations with Fox and ESPN who put on quality production

They were going to last longer than initial expectations

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by Scorch

I don’t know if you’re just making this up, but this couldn’t be any further than the truth

While viewership was steady, attendance was actually growing.
St. Louis, which only had their lower bowl available, eventually opened up their upper bowl mid season because there was so much local demand to see the battlehawks live

https://www.stltoday.com/sports/foot...abcfad095.html

Unlike their previous partnership with NBC, They had strong relations with Fox and ESPN who put on quality production

They were going to last longer than initial expectations

Rule 101 of the internet; Thou shall not call another poster out without supporting facts.

Wrong on attendance;

Week 1: 69,818
Week 2: 76,285
Week 3: 81,942
Week 4: 70,204
Week 5: 64,246
Total: 334,272

They had a bit of an early peak but were trending back to below week 1 levels. These numbers are worse than CFL attendance numbers.

https://fanbuzz.com/xfl/xfl-attendance/

Wrong again on TV viewership;

TV Ratings Average:

Week 1: 3.1
Week 2: 2.1
Week 3: 1.6
Week 4: 1.4
Week 5: 1.2
Average: 1.9

Pretty self explanatory here as TV viewership was degrading on a weekly basis.

https://touchdownwire.usatoday.com/2...rship-numbers/

We obviously have different views of what "growing" attendance and "steady" TV viewership are as the numbers certainly don't support your case. Had the season played out it's likely the numbers would have continued to dwindle to the point there would have been a lot of pressure on the league. It's possible it may have lasted another season but it was always going to come down to how much money McMahon was willing to lose and for how long before he once again folded the league.

[Erick Estrada]

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sport...es/2984278001/

Filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy today. Never say never but I imagine this may be the last we ever hear from the XFL.

[Party Elephant]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sport...es/2984278001/



Filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy today. Never say never but I imagine this may be the last we ever hear from the XFL.

Maybe 20 years from now there will be another nostalgia campaign to get a third iteration rolling.

[Resolute 14]

As far as attendance goes, using combined week to week is misleading, since the only two teams drawing well - Seattle and St. Louis - had home games spread through weeks 2-3-4. Every team had only - and exactly - two home games, and of those, only Dallas showed an increase while Houston and St. Louis pretty much held firm with only marginal declines. DC declined 12%. New York Declined 32%. Seattle declined 24%. LA declined 18%. Tampa declined 32%.

Hard to draw a firm conclusion on such a sample, but yes, it is fair to say attendance was declining.

[You Need a Thneed]

I liked some of the rule variations. Would like to see some of them considered in other football leagues.

Eg, 1 point PAT from the 2, 2points from the 5, 3 points from the 10. Defensive penalties put the ball at the 1 for the reattempt, no matter what. Defensive penalty on the reattempt is automatic score.

[CaptainCrunch]

This might be huge trouble for the WWE and might trigger an investigation by the SEC. Mainly because Vince swore up and down that the WWE and Alpha Entertainment were seperate entities with no connection. Now it turns out that Vince went to the WWE board to talk about the Chapter 11 of the XFL because WWE had received an equity share of Alpha entertainment, its also been noted that there was lots of traffic happening between WWE and Alpha's headquarters which was a couple of blocks away. JP Morgan has specifically asked the question about the connection between WWE and Alpha.

[Maritime Q-Scout]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

This might be huge trouble for the WWE and might trigger an investigation by the SEC. Mainly because Vince swore up and down that the WWE and Alpha Entertainment were seperate entities with no connection. Now it turns out that Vince went to the WWE board to talk about the Chapter 11 of the XFL because WWE had received an equity share of Alpha entertainment, its also been noted that there was lots of traffic happening between WWE and Alpha's headquarters which was a couple of blocks away. JP Morgan has specifically asked the question about the connection between WWE and Alpha.

I don't meant to turn this into the US Politics thread, but given the fact that Linda is the Administrator to the Small Business Administration as appointed by WWE Hall of Famer and President of the United States of American Donald J. Trump.... how is anything to do with swearing WWE & Alapha Entertainment are separate entities, and Vince going to the WWE Board about the XFL even remotely relevant?

Yes, he may have broken federal securities law, so what? The President will either tell the administrators of the SEC to drop the investigation or be fired; in the alternative Vince may be found guilty, then get an immediate pardon.

God Bless America.

[calgarygeologist]

My buddy and I were talking about the XFL today and about the likelihood that the CFL cancels this season. I know it would never happen but in my opinion it would be awesome to see a CFL/XFL merger. The CFL needs to revamp and energize their business and find new markets/fans. They could run a season from April to August and figure out a new set of rules to play by.

[Resolute 14]

Oh god no. F that.

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by calgarygeologist

My buddy and I were talking about the XFL today and about the likelihood that the CFL cancels this season. I know it would never happen but in my opinion it would be awesome to see a CFL/XFL merger. The CFL needs to revamp and energize their business and find new markets/fans. They could run a season from April to August and figure out a new set of rules to play by.

Vince tried to buy the CFL during XFL 1.0 and a few of the owners were ready to sell.


I doubt that Vince will be financing another XFL again. He's taken a huge hit to his personal finances over the XFL 2.0.


Plus I wouldn't really be all that interest in seeing this, and I guarantee that under an XFL rule book that you wouldn't see any Canadian players in the league or very few.


Also you would see an American four down game with a smaller field and yawn.

[Resolute 14]

Exactly. That's not a merger. That's the takeover and destruction of a code of football that's existed for longer than the American game to be replaced with gimmick ball. No thanks.

[Strange Brew]

The “reasons” for firing Oliver Luck were disclosed in a court filing. What an absolute joke.

Personal use of a phone? LOL. Vince looks terrible here and has little to no case IMO.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by Strange Brew

The “reasons” for firing Oliver Luck were disclosed in a court filing. What an absolute joke.

Personal use of a phone? LOL. Vince looks terrible here and has little to no case IMO.

Trying to get out of paying his commissioner is probably a sign that he's finally given up on the dream as he's not going to have much credibility left in football circles.