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Just announced. It would be a chance for more fringe players to play. Strict behavior rules. Games close to two hours (sorry Claude!). Not shackled to network TV.

Football all year-round.

I nominate Zach Terrell for QB of the Las Vegas Outlaws, with the jersey NOBODY HATE ME.

http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/22213...eturn-2020

It sounds like they are really learning from their mistakes and taking this thing seriously. I think it's kind of great.

From ESPN article linked above:

Features of Returning XFL

• 8 teams to start

• 40 man rosters

• 10-game season beginning in January

• Two-hour game-time goal

• Any player with a criminal record precluded from playing

• Players won't receive forum to take personal stance on social issues on playing field


Back to basics. Just good old football. And hey...more football is never a bad thing!

I'm all for it. Would cure the annual football withdrawals that come on this time of year.

So what cities should get teams? I'd imagine New York, Chicago, LA will be a given. Maybe some big metro areas without football: San Diego, Oklahoma City, Orlando, San Antonio, Columbus

Grand Rapids?

Too small and no stadium. They could play at Waldo though and call themselves "West Michigan"

McMahon should’ve listened to Howard Stern and made a reality show of football players living in a house with cheerleaders. And just shown occassional highlights from XFL games.

XFL would be wise to target medium sized markets and play in stadiums under 30k. Markets without NFL might really latch on, and playing in stadiums 1/2 the size of NFL will give the appearance of fuller crowds and maybe increase demand in tickets. Places like Columbus, Austin, Sacramento etc.

(01-25-2018 06:36 PM)tayles mullet Wrote:  Too small and no stadium. They could play at Waldo though and call themselves "West Michigan"

Not a bad idea leasing the stadium and providing concessions could be a nice source of additional revenue for WMU.

McMahon is going to have to be willing to lose that $100 million he cashed out just for a chance to last past year one again. You have to pay salaries, cover player health care(which is going to keep skyrocketing because of concussions), pay to lease these locations, etc.

He'll probably use the WWE app for streaming, but what can you charge for tickets that people will pay for minor league football? For example, unaffiliated baseball in Kalamazoo is $9-14. So probably $25-30 to break even? That'll die just like the Arena Football League (down to 4 teams).

The drawback for GR is no stadium and existing infrastructure. But size isn't the issue. GR metro area population rivals Jacksonville, New Orleans, Buffalo, and is much bigger than Green Bay. And they all have NFL teams.

There really isn’t an option near GR, in theory you could invest 10’s if millions into 5/3 and make it multipurpose on the cheap. But I don’t think that would make any sense right now.

I don’t see a team coming here or GR. Detroit? Maybe.

I think you’re going to see them in large markets (LA, Chicago, Dallas, etc.) or specialty-type markets (Las Vegas, Orlando, New Orleans, etc.)

I think it’ll be 1/2 and 1/2. 4 major markets and 4 without NFL teams.

Completely hypothetical setup.

1 New York
2. Chicago
3 Dallas
4 Orlando
5 Austin
6 Memphis
7 OKC
8 Suburban LA

Could also see St Louis and San Diego in the mix given the departure of the NFL

(01-26-2018 10:22 AM)Doo Wrote:  I think it’ll be 1/2 and 1/2. 4 major markets and 4 without NFL teams.

Completely hypothetical setup.

1 New York
2. Chicago
3 Dallas
4 Orlando
5 Austin
6 Memphis
7 OKC
8 Suburban LA

Could also see St Louis and San Diego in the mix given the departure of the NFL

Grabbing those two cities at this time would be ideal for them. Has LA hit market saturation? They went from zero to two teams.

(01-26-2018 12:32 PM)RunningGame Wrote:  

(01-26-2018 10:22 AM)Doo Wrote:  I think it’ll be 1/2 and 1/2. 4 major markets and 4 without NFL teams.

Completely hypothetical setup.

1 New York
2. Chicago
3 Dallas
4 Orlando
5 Austin
6 Memphis
7 OKC
8 Suburban LA

Could also see St Louis and San Diego in the mix given the departure of the NFL

Grabbing those two cities at this time would be ideal for them. Has LA hit market saturation? They went from zero to two teams.

I'd imagine there will definitely be a franchise in San Diego or Orange County (Angels Stadium), or maybe Pasadena and play in the Rose Bowl. The league will run from January-March, so any cold weather outdoor venues would probably be out and don't see over-saturation as a problem since it won't be competing with the NFL season. St. Louis would seem ideal with a dome and would probably be the best Midwest option.

(01-26-2018 08:48 AM)ColinApocalypse Wrote:  The drawback for GR is no stadium and existing infrastructure. But size isn't the issue. GR metro area population rivals Jacksonville, New Orleans, Buffalo, and is much bigger than Green Bay. And they all have NFL teams.

GR metro population doesn't rival any of those cities you listed at all. And Green Bay pulls in fans from all over Wisconsin, including just down the road in Milwaukee, which has double the metro population that metro GR has. Buffalo might be sort of comparable, but the Bills have a long-established and loyal fanbase stretching into Ontario. A start-up franchise in a new league would be a whole different ballgame.

Milwaukee may be an option actually, if they could convert Miller Park.

It's pretty close..

GR metro: 1.05 million
Jacksonville: 1.4 million
Buffalo: 1.1 million
New Orleans: 1.2 million

GR is also 43 in media market, right behind Jacksonville and bigger than both Buffalo and New Orleans. But, we lack the stadium (dome especially). I would like to see MLS expand to GR someday. I think the city would embrace it.

I'm not saying GR is a viable option in any way. It's just fun to speculate.

As far as population is concerned, professional football draws in fans from a considerable surrounding area, as was mentioned how Green Bay does. If we look at Combined Statistical Areas, which are bigger than the strict metropolitan area, the populations are as follows (2016 estimate):

Milwaukee-Racine-Waukesha, WI: 2,043,274
Jacksonville-St. Marys-Palatka, FL-GA: 1,603,497
Louisville/Jefferson County–Elizabethtown–Madison, KY-IN: 1,510,945
New Orleans-Metairie-Hammond, LA-MS: 1,501,213
Oklahoma City-Shawnee, OK: 1,445,501
Grand Rapids-Wyoming-Muskegon, MI: 1,443,508
Memphis-Forrest City, TN-MS-AR: 1,369,038
Buffalo-Cheektowaga, NY: 1,210,481
Albuquerque-Santa Fe-Las Vegas, NM: 1,171,991
Tulsa-Muskogee-Bartlesville, OK: 1,157,465
Fresno-Madera, CA: 1,134,612
Knoxville-Morristown-Sevierville, TN: 1,117,758
Kalamazoo-Battle Creek-Portage, MI: 532,116
Green Bay-Shawano, WI: 363,831


I added in a number of different cities for comparison's sake. Of course population isn't the only measure. Some very large cities have no interest in football, such as New York and LA. LA has two NFL teams already and they couldn't even fill their stadiums on a good day. New York also has two NFL teams, but a very small percentage of New Yorkers care about football. On the flip side, some teams can pull loyal fans from hundreds of miles around, such as in Green Bay and Buffalo.

Lots of different factors at play. Television markets, existing franchises, demographics, demand for professional sports, infrastructure and existing properties, etc...

I will say that one thing GR has is a demand for high-level professional sports. They've got the Griffins and the Whitecaps, that's about it. Something bigger could do very well. They don't even have division 1 college athletics there.

But even with the facilities and everything in place, it would still take a long time to build a fanbase and legitimize the league. So they'll likely go with larger cities that have a higher capability to support the team. And hey, if the league survives and does well...who knows where they'll expand to?