Spring Professional Football, why? - Sitcoms Online Message Boards

Yong Fang · 01-25-2023, 08:50 AM

It is almost the end of football season, there are only three more games in the NFL, the conference championships and the Superbowl. After that, no NFL or NCAA football for over six months....

BUT, now there is Spring Football! This year there are two leagues playing, the USFL and the XFL. The XFL is starting its third season, the first was back in 2001, failed, and then was reserrected in 2020 before the virus forced them to close shop, and now this year in 2023. The USFL is strange, it had a storied short run in the 1980's and its failure after three seasons was attributed to bad management and possibly Donald Trump. Now it is back for a second season.

The USFL is running their show strangely. The last year the league had eight teams but all games were played in Birmingham Alabama. All of them. Teams like the New Jersey Generals, or the Philadelphia Stars, playing in Birmingham Alabama. Birmingham also had its own team, the Stallions. If the game were not the Stallions, the stadium was literally empty. Empty. Couldnt hide it. The Birmingham team drew a small crowd, maybe 8000 to 10,000 in a stadium of about 40,000 plus.

The XFL in 2020 did reasonably better, having its teams play in their respective cities, and drew reasonable crowds. But these were no name players who were cut or never went to the NFL.

I dont understand why anyone would invest in this kind of venture because it has always failed. The World Football League in the 1970's, the USFL in the 1980's (which was the most successful of the failures), even the NFL tried their hand with the World Football League in America and Europe with the American teams quickly folding and the league playing and limping along mostly in Germany and Amsterdam for another 15 to 20 years. The 2001 XFL which was a horrible failure. The last several years, the AAFL, which folded before completing a season.

It is such a failure but it is still tried. Isnt the definition of insanity doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results? It seems like these people think that people want to watch football nearly year around. No we dont. NFL and NCAA lasts about six months, in the off season, there is NCAA Basketball, (March Madness), NBA, then MLB baseball. People do not want to watch minor league professional football in the off season. Like I said before, the USFL last year played to no one, literally. The AAFL at least in my city of Memphis drew literally about 5000 fans.

I like it, but its a failure and has been for decades, so why is it still tried? I wish them luck but it will be cheap tickets, with subpar players no one knows and no fan loyalty.

Anyone excited for Spring Football!

Duster76 · 01-29-2023, 03:11 PM

There are two primary reasons why investors are willing to take yet another chance on the Spring product.

First, the TV rating for football are absolutely amazing, last year 82 out of the top 100 most watched TV broadcasts were NFL games. Add to that an additional 5 college football broadcasts and the number is a staggering 87 out of 100. To put it in context, game 6, the deciding game of the 2022 World Series drew 12.87 million, the average for FOX NFL broadcasts was 19.4 million, for CBS it was 18.5 million, NBC 19.9, even ESPN's Monday telecast averaged 13.8 million (and for the most part this is considered a lower tiered product)! The Thursday night streaming only package on Amazon Prime averaged 9.6 million! Those numbers are so alluring that just to get a small piece of the action is enough in an of itself to drive investor interest.

Second, sports betting is a growing industry and football betting (point spread and over and under) is a big part of it. People may not have a rooting interest but they may follow it just for the purposes of gambling on it.

The NFL is in a beautiful position, remember the old song, "The Future Is So Bright, I Gotta Wear Shades", that's the NFL's position and other parties want to wet their beaks. I don't see how it's possible for the two spring leagues to coexist, I think the USFL has more money and a better shot. I imagine the NFL is sitting back, taking this all in and wondering there is a way to properly monetize the spring product to make it viable without it potentially turning into overkill. If there is one sport that could operate effectively 12 months a year, it's football.

opus · 01-29-2023, 11:30 PM

Money. It’s never been long term successful, but there’s always going to be someone who thinks they can “get it right this time”

TMC · 02-28-2023, 06:26 AM

If the latest iterations of the XFL and USFL are still around in say 10 years, would it be reasonable for those two leagues to merge?

01-25-2023, 08:50 AM	#1
Yong Fang Member Forum 3000 Club Member Join Date: Aug 04, 2009 Location: Memphis Tennessee Posts: 3,072	Spring Professional Football, why? It is almost the end of football season, there are only three more games in the NFL, the conference championships and the Superbowl. After that, no NFL or NCAA football for over six months.... BUT, now there is Spring Football! This year there are two leagues playing, the USFL and the XFL. The XFL is starting its third season, the first was back in 2001, failed, and then was reserrected in 2020 before the virus forced them to close shop, and now this year in 2023. The USFL is strange, it had a storied short run in the 1980's and its failure after three seasons was attributed to bad management and possibly Donald Trump. Now it is back for a second season. The USFL is running their show strangely. The last year the league had eight teams but all games were played in Birmingham Alabama. All of them. Teams like the New Jersey Generals, or the Philadelphia Stars, playing in Birmingham Alabama. Birmingham also had its own team, the Stallions. If the game were not the Stallions, the stadium was literally empty. Empty. Couldnt hide it. The Birmingham team drew a small crowd, maybe 8000 to 10,000 in a stadium of about 40,000 plus. The XFL in 2020 did reasonably better, having its teams play in their respective cities, and drew reasonable crowds. But these were no name players who were cut or never went to the NFL. I dont understand why anyone would invest in this kind of venture because it has always failed. The World Football League in the 1970's, the USFL in the 1980's (which was the most successful of the failures), even the NFL tried their hand with the World Football League in America and Europe with the American teams quickly folding and the league playing and limping along mostly in Germany and Amsterdam for another 15 to 20 years. The 2001 XFL which was a horrible failure. The last several years, the AAFL, which folded before completing a season. It is such a failure but it is still tried. Isnt the definition of insanity doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results? It seems like these people think that people want to watch football nearly year around. No we dont. NFL and NCAA lasts about six months, in the off season, there is NCAA Basketball, (March Madness), NBA, then MLB baseball. People do not want to watch minor league professional football in the off season. Like I said before, the USFL last year played to no one, literally. The AAFL at least in my city of Memphis drew literally about 5000 fans. I like it, but its a failure and has been for decades, so why is it still tried? I wish them luck but it will be cheap tickets, with subpar players no one knows and no fan loyalty. Anyone excited for Spring Football!

01-29-2023, 03:11 PM	#2
Duster76 Member Senior Member Join Date: Mar 01, 2008 Location: New jersey Posts: 1,657	There are two primary reasons why investors are willing to take yet another chance on the Spring product. First, the TV rating for football are absolutely amazing, last year 82 out of the top 100 most watched TV broadcasts were NFL games. Add to that an additional 5 college football broadcasts and the number is a staggering 87 out of 100. To put it in context, game 6, the deciding game of the 2022 World Series drew 12.87 million, the average for FOX NFL broadcasts was 19.4 million, for CBS it was 18.5 million, NBC 19.9, even ESPN's Monday telecast averaged 13.8 million (and for the most part this is considered a lower tiered product)! The Thursday night streaming only package on Amazon Prime averaged 9.6 million! Those numbers are so alluring that just to get a small piece of the action is enough in an of itself to drive investor interest. Second, sports betting is a growing industry and football betting (point spread and over and under) is a big part of it. People may not have a rooting interest but they may follow it just for the purposes of gambling on it. The NFL is in a beautiful position, remember the old song, "The Future Is So Bright, I Gotta Wear Shades", that's the NFL's position and other parties want to wet their beaks. I don't see how it's possible for the two spring leagues to coexist, I think the USFL has more money and a better shot. I imagine the NFL is sitting back, taking this all in and wondering there is a way to properly monetize the spring product to make it viable without it potentially turning into overkill. If there is one sport that could operate effectively 12 months a year, it's football.

01-29-2023, 11:30 PM	#3
opus VB Forum Superstar Join Date: May 16, 2015 Location: VB Galaxy Posts: 32,773	Money. It’s never been long term successful, but there’s always going to be someone who thinks they can “get it right this time”

02-28-2023, 06:26 AM	#4
TMC Member Forum Idol Join Date: Jan 09, 2001 Posts: 127,263	If the latest iterations of the XFL and USFL are still around in say 10 years, would it be reasonable for those two leagues to merge?