Disney/Fox inquired about XFL

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4th&long
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Disney/Fox inquired about XFL

Post by 4th&long »

XFL writer Mike Mitchell... and XFL news hub

https://twitter.com/XFLNewsHub/status/1 ... 7325481985

https://xflnewshub.com/xfl-news/exclusi ... uying-xfl/

>> The ramifications of a FOX/Disney purchase of the XFL would not only bring excitement back to the XFL players, coaches, staff, and fans. But the idea that a hugely successful media company owning their own sports league could send shockwaves throughout the supporting world.

With rising Television rights fees and exploding player salaries. How would the sporting world change if a major media corporation owned its owns sports league. Would FOX/Disney bring back XFL CEO and Commissioner Oliver Luck, now that Vince McMahon is out of the picture? There are so many more questions to be answered.<<
Metallifreak10
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Re: Disney/Fox inquired about XFL

Post by Metallifreak10 »

Well, FOX would be the entity that would be best to buy and support the league in my opinion. I hope Vince would at least consider holding onto a minority stake in the XFL even if it’s just 5%. Just so he could at the minimum be a part of its success down the road.
4th&long
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Re: Disney/Fox inquired about XFL

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Metallifreak10 wrote: Sat May 30, 2020 10:51 am Well, FOX would be the entity that would be best to buy and support the league in my opinion. I hope Vince would at least consider holding onto a minority stake in the XFL even if it’s just 5%. Just so he could at the minimum be a part of its success down the road.
I listened to part of Mike Mitchell's interview. And I've been thinking about it. There are multiple options here.

Let's look at Fox. When 20thCenturyFox sold out to disney for some $70 billion and New Fox was born the New Fox had 3 programing targets: 1) Live Sports, 2) News, 3) Reality TV So the XFL certainly fits their target.

Also Sports rights fees keep expanding and they were getting a 3yr free deal with XFL. for strong ratings

Also Fox has licensed their name and taken a 5% interest (that can be expanded at Fox's discretion. They can promote betting like

Now Disney. Disney has lots of need for programing including their ESPN+ streaming service, ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, etc...
Disney could use XFL to sell ESPN+.
A team in Orlando may fit in well with their Disney World/Epcot entertainment centric businesses.
Also a permanent NBA sch shift my open them up to Feb/April programming even more.

Others like CBS have shown that they were interested in XFL news coverage. With CBS losing the SEC contract in 2023 - they will be looking for FB properties and a chance to finally get CBSSN a proper push.

But I also think the 2 dark horses are Amazon and Netflix. Both have film/TV libraries and similar original programing. But they lack the 89% reason to watch TV (89% was the # of top 100 programs watched on TV in 2018 or 19 were live sports). $200-300 million to either of these companies is pocket change and with the pandemic losing steam, their streaming services will lose those who jumped on for Lockdowns. Amazon prime is streaming Thursday night NFL games again - BUT also has 1 exclusive NFL saturday game. They know they need live programing.

Whether the buyer group includes a broadcaster/streamer or not - they will be involved and aligned with who ever does.
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johnnyangryfuzzball
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Re: Disney/Fox inquired about XFL

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Amazon, maybe. They have sports rights (the NFL is on Amazon) and their Twitch platform is well-angled for out-of-the-box sports broadcasting.

But Netflix does not do live anything. They've consistently refused every opportunity to do any live sports, including the NFL. I would assume that's mainly because their platform isn't built for it; everything's entirely on-demand. So you can rule them out.

Social media platforms might be a bigger dark horse. Twitter picked up NFL games a couple years back; they don't emphasize live video as much as they used to but are well positioned to the "when you need to know it now" crowd, so live sports would fit in well there. Then there's Facebook, which has its flagship service and Instagram, both of which support live video and have arguably the largest reach of the social networks out there. Facebook also owns Oculus, which means VR—although it might not have amounted to much more than a gimmick, it may be enough of a gimmick to make XFL games stand out.

Google/Youtube, probably not. People were already pirating games on Youtube as it was last year. Alphabet knows they don't have to pay if they don't want.
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johnnyangryfuzzball
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Re: Disney/Fox inquired about XFL

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4th&long wrote: Sat May 30, 2020 1:29 pm(trimmed for brevity)
Regarding the big networks...

Fox would be an obvious choice for the reasons you stated: lots of cash and an orientation toward live events such as sports.

ESPN, they're tighter on cash right now and the league needs them more than they need the league. Yet even so, the ratings on FS1 were surprisingly good, so the XFL doesn't TOTALLY need the exposure ESPN provides. The league might have enough leverage to get ESPN to buy in.

NBC, their winter sports schedule is full. Olympics in '22, plus the NHL.

Then there's CBS. They took money from the AAF to carry games and got respectable ratings. But other than the NFL and college basketball, that's how their business model works. Especially with CBS Sports Network, which has a viewership that consistently hovers at... zero measurable audience. You look at how CBS walked away from the SEC and you can tell that they do not treat sports as a priority.

The other option is Turner. They have TBS, TNT, truTV, and even The CW (The CW may be a little out of the box but they cater to the younger demographic that the XFL does as well.)
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Re: Disney/Fox inquired about XFL

Post by GDAWG »

the way things are falling a part in this country, it's best that the XFL not return.
Metallifreak10
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Re: Disney/Fox inquired about XFL

Post by Metallifreak10 »

GDAWG wrote: Sat May 30, 2020 11:51 pm the way things are falling a part in this country, it's best that the XFL not return.
Yeah, I live 20 miles west of Chicago. The city is being destroyed. I’ve been listening to the police radio all night. It’s ridiculous.

On the plus side, clearly these large mass gatherings of people suggest that attended sporting events should be okay :). At least outdoor sporting events.
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Re: Disney/Fox inquired about XFL

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Metallifreak10 wrote: Sun May 31, 2020 12:47 am
GDAWG wrote: Sat May 30, 2020 11:51 pm the way things are falling a part in this country, it's best that the XFL not return.
Yeah, I live 20 miles west of Chicago. The city is being destroyed. I’ve been listening to the police radio all night. It’s ridiculous.

On the plus side, clearly these large mass gatherings of people suggest that attended sporting events should be okay :). At least outdoor sporting events.
All the lockdowns also had people on edge - its not good for mental health. People are going to feel unsafe in many of these cities due to rioting... but agreed this will supplant coronavirus and that will fade away from public view while media can ride this. Chicago had 50 shootings and 10 killed over Memorial Day weekend - that gets no news. Its all very disheartening.

Well back in FB world, the XFL looks to be coming back by someone and sports in general - I want that and it can't come soon enough.
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