"Inside" info on expansion

[XtremeFanForever]

Checking with the members here that have league connections on the legitimacy of this. Someone in an XFL Facebook group claims to have sources quoting McMahon directly regarding expansion.

"I'm not even focused on that right now. But when we do explore that option it won't be one or two teams. It will be a bomb dropped with eight more teams." Emphasis mine.

It would make sense for the league not to have any plans to expand at the moment, but doubling the league's size would be pretty staggering. I doubted the league would ever expand beyond 12 or 14 teams, total.

Any idea if this would be a possibility?

[johnnyangryfuzzball]

Oliver Luck would probably be wise to talk Vince out of that—if true, and I'm very skeptical of that. Expansions of that size almost* always end in disaster; ask any indoor league. It would be a bomb all right.

Remember: there's a limit on how much talent there is out there. The more teams you get, the thinner that pool becomes. Plus, unlike MLS, there's no benefit of expansion fees. The only thing I can think is that Vince thinks there's an opening with arena football gone to make inroads into the spring. (Again, if this is true.)

Expansion must be done slowly. 10 teams, 12 at the absolute max. Doubling the size of a league in one offseason rarely* works.

(*The lone exception to this is the NHL's Great Expansion of 1967, when they went from 6 teams to 12. Four of the teams survived intact; two ended up merging with each other. But there was already pressure on a regional league that had stagnated for 25 years and was stuck in the 1940s to get with the modern era. That's not the case with the XFL.)

[GDAWG]

Checking with the members here that have league connections on the legitimacy of this. Someone in an XFL Facebook group claims to have sources quoting McMahon directly regarding expansion.

"I'm not even focused on that right now. But when we do explore that option it won't be one or two teams. It will be a bomb dropped with eight more teams." Emphasis mine.

It would make sense for the league not to have any plans to expand at the moment, but doubling the league's size would be pretty staggering. I doubted the league would ever expand beyond 12 or 14 teams, total.

Any idea if this would be a possibility?

Expansion to 8 in one year would be too fast and could doom the league. Go with 10 and end with either 12 or 14.

[MGB01]

Only thing I can think of is acquiring whatever remains of the AAF, thus sort of an ex post facto merger. It would x out any one-time setup costs, but it might be legally impossible (besides only two of the eight teams were viable anyway).

Plus a 16-team league is almost going to have to be non single-entity. Unless a fleet of billionaires are lined up, I don't see it. I'd only go to twelve and mix in a pair of original X/AAF teams anyway for reasons of viability and repitition (unless a later plan is to move the "repeat" teams to new markets like Pittsburgh, Detroit, San Diego, and Kansas City), also gives him a chance to work in "ECW"

XFL East: Defenders, Guardians, Rage, Vipers
XFL Central: Commanders, Renegades, Roughnecks, BattleHawks
XFL West: Outlaws, Demons, Wildcats, Dragons

Return of Outlaws would be tentative depending on future events at Allegiant Stadium--i.e. Super Bowl, NBA All-Star Game, Pac-12 basketball tournament possibly moving there, possible Final Four (though won't be til 2027 at the earliest). I wouldn't bring them back otherwise. But I had a LA/LV/SF/SEA western alignment in my league from 2004-11, so why not?

Either way, gotta focus on 2020 first.

[LeoNY]

Skeptical.

Oliver Luck has mentioned that the league is already making preliminary plans for years two and three, and expansion is on the table.

In fairness, all these league say this. The AAF already had a New York team after week one of their season.

[Tank55]

Also skeptical. But if I'm asked to imagine a world where it's true, expanding by eight sounds like a European conference.

[MarkNelson]

Wait until Vince sees the spreadsheet on the first year of operation. Depending on how much he spent to get eight teams running, he might change his mind if the profits aren’t materializing as fast as he’d like.

[Regular Joe]

It's all based on how many national games he can sell. Maybe a 3rd on Sat & Sun, MNF, TNF & Friday Night Football.

How ever many teams you could add off that amount of national games.

[MikeMitchell]

Like with anything else. Temper your expectations.

There’s no truth to a duplication expansion deal in the works.

The XFL is going to have peaks and valleys during the season. It will suffer from some first year league blues. Expect that.

Don’t expect crazy expansion and lofty rumors of some global dominance.

[BengalErnst]

10 next year, 12 in year 3 and then if the league makes it past year 5 then maybe a 16 team league is feasible.