College Football Season

XFL Football discussion.
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johnnyangryfuzzball
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Re: College Football Season

Post by johnnyangryfuzzball »

laxtreme56 wrote: Wed Aug 12, 2020 9:36 amCourt various media outlets, Fox and ESPN aren't going to pay a penny to air the games, but DAZN or Amazon may shell out $10-15 million for a Thursday night game of the week, that would cover 50-75% of payroll before a single ticket or T-shirt is sold. The XFL is not conducive to a bubble tournament, people in Tampa aren't going to care about the Vipers if they physically can't watch them at Raymond James Stadium.
First off, not a single soul in the United States gives a **** about DAZN, much less can they even find them. Signing a deal with that company would be a death sentence for the league.

Second, as intriguing as going online-only may seem, it's only intriguing on paper. Consider: Fox pays the NFL over $650 million per year just for Thursday Night Football. Amazon pays a tenth of that for the same games and doesn't have to foot any production expenses. That's because, despite all the buzz about online-only deals, broadband isn't always reliable everywhere, and far more people watch TV over-the-air, on cable and/or satellite than on an Internet stream. If ESPN and FOX won't pay for the XFL, then Amazon won't either. Heck, about the only online platform that would have the near-ubiquitous reach to compare with TV as we know it is Facebook Inc.—and they're not buying.

The XFL needs a broadly available, traditional television partner to draw enough viewers to make this venture worthwhile. The free-airtime deals they got with ESPN and FOX are likely the best deal they or anyone else are going to get, unless they're starved for content (which may be the case in fall 2020).
laxtreme56
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Re: College Football Season

Post by laxtreme56 »

johnnyangryfuzzball wrote: Wed Aug 12, 2020 9:50 pm
laxtreme56 wrote: Wed Aug 12, 2020 9:36 amCourt various media outlets, Fox and ESPN aren't going to pay a penny to air the games, but DAZN or Amazon may shell out $10-15 million for a Thursday night game of the week, that would cover 50-75% of payroll before a single ticket or T-shirt is sold. The XFL is not conducive to a bubble tournament, people in Tampa aren't going to care about the Vipers if they physically can't watch them at Raymond James Stadium.
First off, not a single soul in the United States gives a **** about DAZN, much less can they even find them. Signing a deal with that company would be a death sentence for the league.

Second, as intriguing as going online-only may seem, it's only intriguing on paper. Consider: Fox pays the NFL over $650 million per year just for Thursday Night Football. Amazon pays a tenth of that for the same games and doesn't have to foot any production expenses. That's because, despite all the buzz about online-only deals, broadband isn't always reliable everywhere, and far more people watch TV over-the-air, on cable and/or satellite than on an Internet stream. If ESPN and FOX won't pay for the XFL, then Amazon won't either. Heck, about the only online platform that would have the near-ubiquitous reach to compare with TV as we know it is Facebook Inc.—and they're not buying.

The XFL needs a broadly available, traditional television partner to draw enough viewers to make this venture worthwhile. The free-airtime deals they got with ESPN and FOX are likely the best deal they or anyone else are going to get, unless they're starved for content (which may be the case in fall 2020).
I'm not necessarily disagreeing with you, but if someone is willing to pay, take the money and run. Look at the new wrestling promotion AEW, netting nearly $45 million a year for 600-750k viewers, USA and FOX wouldn't give them a penny, but TNT shelled out the big bucks.
Tank55
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Re: College Football Season

Post by Tank55 »

Since I looked it up, AEW is grossing $45M and netting ~$19M.
The new extension is said to be for 4 years and $175 million in rights fees, just under $45 million per year, and that the deal also includes TNT having an option for 2024 at a significantly increased price. In an update, Dave Meltzer reported in the latest edition of The Wrestling Observer Newsletter that the new deal will be worth about $19 million per year for the company since TNT will no longer be covering production costs for the show. The production costs totaled around $500,000 per week, or about $26 million per year
https://www.wrestlinginc.com/news/2020/ ... th-665015/
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MGB01
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Re: College Football Season

Post by MGB01 »

This all sounds great, but here's the problem. We're now to the point, and you can argue that it's been that way going back to ABC with the AFL 60 years ago, but it's even become more of a thing. The only way these leagues/promotions are getting a dime from these companies is if they position themselves as some sort of chief rival. I don't particularly like that for AEW going forward because TNT jumped in all "Oh it's the Monday Night Wars all over again"--so the expectation from Turner's end is they become the 87th attempt to replicate WCW.

Conversely the XFL was killing it (as night and day legit compared to the original) by not going all "we hit here". Sure money is #1, but product is the thing too, and if it creates a whole new set of "bounds" I'm not sure it's worth it.

Better to work up to it.
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Re: College Football Season

Post by MGB01 »

Big Ten to reportedly try January-March in domed stadiums. St Louis is mentioned in the piece, so there would go the bubble idea (at least in the month of Feb) if so.

https://www.jsonline.com/story/sports/c ... 602516002/
4th&long
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Re: College Football Season

Post by 4th&long »

MGB01 wrote: Wed Aug 19, 2020 5:12 pm Big Ten to reportedly try January-March in domed stadiums. St Louis is mentioned in the piece, so there would go the bubble idea (at least in the month of Feb) if so.

https://www.jsonline.com/story/sports/c ... 602516002/
3 month delay to play in doors, LAUGHABLE - hyper political decision to not play in fall. What's going to happen belween Sept 26th and Jan 1 - The election! Are fear porn cardiac issues going away in 3 months? Really? No but after the election all this fear porn isn't necessary. What BS

Fire the Ahole commissioner and play 8-10 games in fall - man up.
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johnnyangryfuzzball
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Re: College Football Season

Post by johnnyangryfuzzball »

Yeah, that isn't going to work.

The major consensus is and always has been that indoor events are far more dangerous for viral spread than outdoor ones. So consider that idea DOA because I suspect most authorities will never allow it.
laxtreme56
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Re: College Football Season

Post by laxtreme56 »

I'm in favor of spring college football. It'll draw ratings not seen since the early days of the USFL and can make the XFL transition in 2022 that much smoother. Once the casual sports fan realizes football in the spring isn't that "out there" the XFL can reap the benefits when they have spring to themselves in 2022.
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Re: College Football Season

Post by GDAWG »

laxtreme56 wrote: Thu Aug 20, 2020 10:32 pm I'm in favor of spring college football. It'll draw ratings not seen since the early days of the USFL and can make the XFL transition in 2022 that much smoother. Once the casual sports fan realizes football in the spring isn't that "out there" the XFL can reap the benefits when they have spring to themselves in 2022.
it depends on the type of College Football. It's 2 of the Power 5, so it will draw ratings. If Big 10 and Pac 12 had gone forward with a fall season, I don't know of a Mountain West/Mid American Conference/FCS/Division II/Division III will draw.
MGB01
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Re: College Football Season

Post by MGB01 »

laxtreme56 wrote: Thu Aug 20, 2020 10:32 pm I'm in favor of spring college football. It'll draw ratings not seen since the early days of the USFL and can make the XFL transition in 2022 that much smoother. Once the casual sports fan realizes football in the spring isn't that "out there" the XFL can reap the benefits when they have spring to themselves in 2022.
Well the reason USFL was initially such a big draw was based on effectively positioning themselves as a springtime competitor to the NFL--not alternative, but full blown competitor. I alluded to this in another thread, but networks that throw even the slightest bit of dollars have expectations.

Right now a few G5 conferences have week one all to themselves--though only Army and Navy are scheduled TV-wise. Depending on what ESPN's NBA playoff schedule is, I don't see them moving off it so they can show Arkansas State vs Memphis. That's September, now extrapolate that to Boise State/Air Force in March or April.

Big boys rule, this is originally why the Mountain West's marquee non conf game, Florida State/Boise State, was scheduled for a noon (10a local) start on FOX to avoid Georgia/Bama at 3:30 on CBS. Now the MWC will be dramatically be helped by FOX (mostly for Boise State) and more games on broadcast CBS--perhaps the MWCCG, which was on CBS for a couple years, but them and the other G5s anchor are tied to the Big Ten and Pac 12, and judging by what the Big Ten is trying to do--to which I'm sure the P12 mini me will follow, I'm not even sure they have that. That's the reason they turned down a move to the spring a few years ago.
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