Goodbye XFL :'(

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04-10-2020 11:07 AM
Mattrick

Goodbye XFL :'(

It seems the league is done after shutting the league down today and effectively terminating all employees. Apparently only a small skeleton crew of executives remain at the Stamford CT off.

While they originally announced intentions to play in 2021, it appears that may not be in the cards. I have a feeling when they announced those intentions a month ago it was because forecasts were promising in that a return to normally was mere months away, and with how much worse the situation has gotten they changed their tune. If the world has no returned to normalcy by the end of 2020 then they can't run training camps or do tryouts, they probably still couldn't have so many players together on the field as football requires, and they probably certainly couldn't play games in front of 15,000 fans. If they felt TV numbers alone could keep them afloat in 2021, they'd probably still be going.

This is a shame because the XFL was a pretty fun product that was engaging from it's opening weekend. Sports journalists and media praised the production of the broadcasts, especially the Fox Sports broadcasts, and quickly began positing that the NFL should begin to adapt rules created by the XFL, like the referee/replay transparency, the lack of extra point kicks, and the much loved kickoff format.

The play was just beginning to ramp up too as teams in the first few weeks had no film or game data to study, and no teams had faced a team twice yet after only 5 weeks of play.

In terms of players and staff, all players had already received their base pay and benefits for the 2020 season. One source claimed that players and staff received a high than usual amount for a final check that is estimated to be just over 1,000. While it's not much, at least they gave everyone something before they had to shutter the doors.

It's just a damn shame. I don't know if anyone else here was watching the XFL, but it was fun watching football again. I can't support the NFL and I don't find their product all that enjoyable, so I guess I'm not watching football again. It was fun for a month!
04-10-2020 04:15 PM
Still Servant

It just can't work. It's that simple. No matter what anyone thinks about the NFL, there's no competition.
04-11-2020 12:00 AM
Mattrick

The NFL wouldn't be competition for the XFL though. If anything the XFL was competition for the NCAA by offering young players another avenue to the NFL while getting paid to play pro football. The product was good and getting better. Many people were sad to see this. I wouldn't be shocked to see several innovations from this XFL iteration end up in the NFL in the next 5 years.
04-11-2020 12:25 AM
Jon

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mattrick

The NFL wouldn't be competition for the XFL though. If anything the XFL was competition for the NCAA by offering young players another avenue to the NFL while getting paid to play pro football. The product was good and getting better. Many people were sad to see this. I wouldn't be shocked to see several innovations from this XFL iteration end up in the NFL in the next 5 years.

If it is anything like the OLD XFL from 2001 I really don't care. That was about making a show rather than a sport. Was the current (recent) XFL like the old one?
04-11-2020 02:32 PM
Still Servant

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mattrick

The NFL wouldn't be competition for the XFL though. If anything the XFL was competition for the NCAA by offering young players another avenue to the NFL while getting paid to play pro football. The product was good and getting better. Many people were sad to see this. I wouldn't be shocked to see several innovations from this XFL iteration end up in the NFL in the next 5 years.

Nobody wants to watch a watered-down product with washed-up players. Plus, after the football season, people want to move on to other sports.
04-11-2020 02:33 PM
Still Servant

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jon

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mattrick

The NFL wouldn't be competition for the XFL though. If anything the XFL was competition for the NCAA by offering young players another avenue to the NFL while getting paid to play pro football. The product was good and getting better. Many people were sad to see this. I wouldn't be shocked to see several innovations from this XFL iteration end up in the NFL in the next 5 years.

If it is anything like the OLD XFL from 2001 I really don't care. That was about making a show rather than a sport. Was the current (recent) XFL like the old one?

No, it was nothing like that. I know what you're saying, but at least they were trying something different.
04-11-2020 11:27 PM
Mattrick

Quote:

Originally Posted by Still Servant

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mattrick

The NFL wouldn't be competition for the XFL though. If anything the XFL was competition for the NCAA by offering young players another avenue to the NFL while getting paid to play pro football. The product was good and getting better. Many people were sad to see this. I wouldn't be shocked to see several innovations from this XFL iteration end up in the NFL in the next 5 years.

Nobody wants to watch a watered-down product with washed-up players. Plus, after the football season, people want to move on to other sports.

Most of the players weren't washed up. The league was extremely young, mostly players who just didn't get drafted out of college or who were cut from NFL teams after being drafted. The league gave them a second chance. Quite a few players were signed to the NFL because of the XFL after only five games. To say it was a bunch of washed-up players is just incorrect. Sure there were some more veteran guys too, but it was a lot of young, hungry football players looking to establish themselves that lead to good football.

People watch the NCAA which is the definition of watered down with literally thousands of players who will never make the NFL so to say people won't watch watered down Football is not accurate. People LOVE watered down football. The real problem is that no one wants to get invested in a league or in a team that is liable to be gone in a few months. If the XFL was around for a couple of seasons it would shake that stigma and have a strong chance of growing, especially since the talent pool would only improve year by year.

If it wasn't for this pandemic, we'd no doubt have seen it go to a second season and have a strong chance of long-term success. It definitely could have worked. Unfortunately fate had other plans for the sporting world in 2020.
04-12-2020 08:45 AM
Lookwhoitis

HeHateMe
04-12-2020 09:35 AM
DoctorZaius

Very disappointed. I had a friend who had given up his job at ESPN to jump onto the ground floor here. Things were going so well for him that he uprooted his family and moved to Connecticut, and just closed on his new home a two weeks ago, only to find out Friday that he had no job. Very sad.
04-12-2020 09:42 PM
Jon

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lookwhoitis

HeHateMe

Exactly my point. Just a show though that particular player went on to wallow in mediocrity in the NFL.
04-13-2020 08:02 AM
fernandito

Quote:

Originally Posted by Still Servant

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jon

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mattrick

The NFL wouldn't be competition for the XFL though. If anything the XFL was competition for the NCAA by offering young players another avenue to the NFL while getting paid to play pro football. The product was good and getting better. Many people were sad to see this. I wouldn't be shocked to see several innovations from this XFL iteration end up in the NFL in the next 5 years.

If it is anything like the OLD XFL from 2001 I really don't care. That was about making a show rather than a sport. Was the current (recent) XFL like the old one?

No, it was nothing like that. I know what you're saying, but at least they were trying something different.

Beg to differ; I love football and it bums me out that its only around half the time during any given year. The XFL - watered though it may be - was the perfect antidote while we all waited around for the NFL to start.
04-20-2020 04:35 PM
Still Servant

You can disagree. I'm sure there are people who feel the same way. The fact of the matter is there were two football leagues that tried to get off the ground this year and they both failed.
04-20-2020 05:20 PM
Lookwhoitis

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jon

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lookwhoitis

HeHateMe

Exactly my point. Just a show though that particular player went on to wallow in mediocrity in the NFL.

but you know his name. Rod Smart. because of the XFL. he got his shot
04-22-2020 07:47 PM
Jon

Quote:

Originally Posted by Still Servant

You can disagree. I'm sure there are people who feel the same way. The fact of the matter is there were two football leagues that tried to get off the ground this year and they both failed.

Yeah. The USFL was the only league that seemed to have any success. I was really into it. The Birmingham Stallions!
04-23-2020 07:22 AM
DoctorZaius

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jon

Quote:

Originally Posted by Still Servant

You can disagree. I'm sure there are people who feel the same way. The fact of the matter is there were two football leagues that tried to get off the ground this year and they both failed.

Yeah. The USFL was the only league that seemed to have any success. I was really into it. The Birmingham Stallions!

I had season tickets to The Boston Breakers! They played at Boston University and I had tickets on the 50 yard line, fourth row. If that baby had taken off I would have been set for life!
04-23-2020 07:23 PM
Mattrick

Quote:

Originally Posted by Still Servant

You can disagree. I'm sure there are people who feel the same way. The fact of the matter is there were two football leagues that tried to get off the ground this year and they both failed.

It's hard to call a fledgling league failing due to a pandemic that shut down all sports a failure. No brand new league would've have survived this. I just think it's unfair to say it failed because of the product or the market when clearly neither of those things were what sunk it. We'll never know if it would have stuck around long-term, but it definitely could've went a few years at least. The AAF in comparison was a complete joke and folded mid-season without even a pandemic to blame...it was just a shitty product no one cared about.
04-28-2020 05:12 PM
Still Servant

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mattrick

Quote:

Originally Posted by Still Servant

You can disagree. I'm sure there are people who feel the same way. The fact of the matter is there were two football leagues that tried to get off the ground this year and they both failed.

It's hard to call a fledgling league failing due to a pandemic that shut down all sports a failure. No brand new league would've have survived this. I just think it's unfair to say it failed because of the product or the market when clearly neither of those things were what sunk it. We'll never know if it would have stuck around long-term, but it definitely could've went a few years at least. The AAF in comparison was a complete joke and folded mid-season without even a pandemic to blame...it was just a shitty product no one cared about.

I think the virus was a convenient scapegoat. I truly think it would have failed anyway. All of my friends watch sports. Every. Single. One. Then I add in family members. Out of that fairly large pool of people, not one of them watched the XFL. Not even the first week out of curiosity. Not one.

That's their main demographic. My question is, if we weren't watching, who the fuck was?
04-28-2020 10:52 PM
Jon

Quote:

Originally Posted by Still Servant

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mattrick

Quote:

Originally Posted by Still Servant

You can disagree. I'm sure there are people who feel the same way. The fact of the matter is there were two football leagues that tried to get off the ground this year and they both failed.

It's hard to call a fledgling league failing due to a pandemic that shut down all sports a failure. No brand new league would've have survived this. I just think it's unfair to say it failed because of the product or the market when clearly neither of those things were what sunk it. We'll never know if it would have stuck around long-term, but it definitely could've went a few years at least. The AAF in comparison was a complete joke and folded mid-season without even a pandemic to blame...it was just a shitty product no one cared about.

I think the virus was a convenient scapegoat. I truly think it would have failed anyway. All of my friends watch sports. Every. Single. One. Then I add in family members. Out of that fairly large pool of people, not one of them watched the XFL. Not even the first week out of curiosity. Not one.

That's their main demographic. My question is, if we weren't watching, who the fuck was?

The virus is not a goat. No horns, no hooves.