johnnyangryfuzzball wrote: ↑Tue Jul 16, 2019 3:25 pm
The longer the XFL goes without names, the more money they lose.
That's OK. If you're the AAF or the AAFL, maybe you need to push out merchandise ASAP so you can get enough of a cash flow to stage Week 1. The XFL is not in that situation.
The XFL left a lot of money on the table by putting on these Summer Showcases rather than doing the pay-to-play open tryouts that most leagues do. They did it because they'd rather be a responsible member of the football community than make a quick buck.
Similarly, releasing the team brands in an NFL dead zone might yield a little more in merchandise sales, but it's not going to help them achieve their long term goal of creating a television product that will yield significant revenue.
Regarding exposure, if you're going to make it as a Feb-Apr league, you need to be strong enough to penetrate the market in the holiday season/during the NFL playoffs. I don't think perfectly timing the summer news cycle amounts to much.
The original XFL dropped team brands in August, and they delivered awesome February measurables. In the long run, the quality of the brands held the league back. Consider me totally unconcerned that we have't seen anything yet, and count me firmly in the "do it right" rather than the "do it fast" camp. They could wait until November, as far as I'm concerned.