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Top Two Cities for Expansion (and their names)

Posted: Mon Sep 07, 2020 1:58 pm
by Regular Joe
Im thinking theres gonna be no XFL in 2021, but they come back strong in 2022 with 2 expansion cities. Who do you think are the TOP TWO cities and what you would do as far as names and if you would like to throw in a coach.

I think San Francisco & Miami are at the Top of the list. Warm , weather (ish) and HUGE television markets. And you wont be competing with the Marlins in the spring. I thought San Diego, but market size dictates the move up the road to San Fran.

How about Miami Machine w/ Steve Spurrier at Coach and San Francisco FC. Spurrier can stay in Fla and hes a great coach. I dont know if there is a copyright infringement with the name Machine, I do remember thinking it was a cool name for a team when I watched the Montreal Machine back in the day. I think San Francisco might not mind a little international flare with their name. After all, they are the football fans that invented wine spritzers Bartyles & James. (Im more of a Cisco guy. Gets you LIT) I dont have a coach for San Francisco.

Re: Top Two Cities for Expansion (and their names)

Posted: Mon Sep 07, 2020 2:41 pm
by GDAWG
With San Francisco, it's a better option than Oakland. Yes, the 49ers play in Levi Stadium, but Santa Clara is closer to San Jose (15 minutes) than San Francisco (50 minutes) but it would likely be called SF anyways. The issue with Oakland is the lack of a venue. Not a chance in hell that the Oakland A's will allow football at the Coliseum anymore and the A's plan to transform the site around the Coliseum into residential and commercial spaces once they get their new ballpark, leaving up the Oakland Arena. Berkeley is 15 minutes from Oakland but no way the University of California will allow any pro football to be played there after their bad experience with the Oakland Raiders for a game in the 1970's. The stadium seen in Season 3 of Last Chance U, Laney College is way too small (5,000 seats) for an XFL team in Oakland.

Re: Top Two Cities for Expansion (and their names)

Posted: Mon Sep 07, 2020 9:32 pm
by johnnyangryfuzzball
If they do San Francisco, I suspect Kezar Stadium would be the likely venue of choice to avoid conflict with the Giants—which would be the same issue the league would face trying to share Oakland Coliseum with the A's. Rent is cheap and capacity, while on the small side, could be expanded with temporary seating.

As for Berkeley, the main issue at this point is parking; I seriously doubt they'd hold a grudge about an event that happened over 40 years ago now. Plus, the Athletics don't own the Coliseum; Alameda County does, and if they say the A's have to share the Coliseum with the XFL, they're going to share the Coliseum with the XFL. So I wouldn't rule out Oakland just yet.

But at this point, you're looking at cities that have either major markets and/or proven success with pro football in the past. San Francisco, with its history with the Demons, fits both categories.

I don't really see Miami being a huge target. Perhaps Fort Lauderdale if they aim for that market... but two Florida teams (assuming Tampa Bay either sticks around or moves to Orlando) would be a tough sell for a league with this few teams.

I do think they aim for at least one market in the non-Florida south. Which one would be a serious challenge. Birmingham and Memphis are small-time cities. Atlanta's track record supporting the Legends was, as expected, not that good. New Orleans is too small, and Shreveport even smaller. That only leaves a handful of options: Norfolk/Virginia Beach, Carolina (with Raleigh being the leading contender) and Nashville.

As for names, I'm not even going to touch that topic.

Re: Top Two Cities for Expansion (and their names)

Posted: Tue Sep 08, 2020 10:04 am
by Firecop
Call me crazy but I say SF and Birmingham,; Birmingham will bend over backwards with some sweet deals for the XFL IMO.

Re: Top Two Cities for Expansion (and their names)

Posted: Tue Sep 08, 2020 11:42 am
by GDAWG
johnnyangryfuzzball wrote: Mon Sep 07, 2020 9:32 pm If they do San Francisco, I suspect Kezar Stadium would be the likely venue of choice to avoid conflict with the Giants—which would be the same issue the league would face trying to share Oakland Coliseum with the A's. Rent is cheap and capacity, while on the small side, could be expanded with temporary seating.

As for Berkeley, the main issue at this point is parking; I seriously doubt they'd hold a grudge about an event that happened over 40 years ago now. Plus, the Athletics don't own the Coliseum; Alameda County does, and if they say the A's have to share the Coliseum with the XFL, they're going to share the Coliseum with the XFL. So I wouldn't rule out Oakland just yet.

But at this point, you're looking at cities that have either major markets and/or proven success with pro football in the past. San Francisco, with its history with the Demons, fits both categories.

I don't really see Miami being a huge target. Perhaps Fort Lauderdale if they aim for that market... but two Florida teams (assuming Tampa Bay either sticks around or moves to Orlando) would be a tough sell for a league with this few teams.

I do think they aim for at least one market in the non-Florida south. Which one would be a serious challenge. Birmingham and Memphis are small-time cities. Atlanta's track record supporting the Legends was, as expected, not that good. New Orleans is too small, and Shreveport even smaller. That only leaves a handful of options: Norfolk/Virginia Beach, Carolina (with Raleigh being the leading contender) and Nashville.

As for names, I'm not even going to touch that topic.
The A's own half of the Coliseum and Dave Kaval, President of the A's says that the plans are for residential and commercial housing on the site of the Coliseum.

Re: Top Two Cities for Expansion (and their names)

Posted: Tue Sep 08, 2020 4:01 pm
by Tank55
Kezar Stadium does not look like a viable option, IMO. Way too small time, despite its history.

Re: Top Two Cities for Expansion (and their names)

Posted: Tue Sep 08, 2020 6:29 pm
by MGB01
Tank55 wrote: Tue Sep 08, 2020 4:01 pm Kezar Stadium does not look like a viable option, IMO. Way too small time, despite its history.
No kidding, says it's around 10,000. Doesn't look much bigger to me than the Pine Bowl (Whitworth) which is about four miles from me

Maybe it's location :?:

Re: Top Two Cities for Expansion (and their names)

Posted: Tue Sep 08, 2020 8:54 pm
by johnnyangryfuzzball
Tank55 wrote: Tue Sep 08, 2020 4:01 pm Kezar Stadium does not look like a viable option, IMO. Way too small time, despite its history.
It would have to be expanded—but given that it used to hold somewhere around 60K, adding bleachers wouldn't be that difficult to get it to the 20K range that the XFL seeks. And it's not unprecedented; the UFL did the same thing in Virginia Beach and had pretty good results, as did the CFL in Moncton.

I'm just saying that places like Oracle Park and the Oakland Coliseum are going to run into clashes with MLB (note that none of the current XFL franchises share their stadium with a baseball team) while college stadiums are going to have issues with parking. Kezar, for all its flaws with age and capacity, has neither of those issues, and it's recently had some upgrades (along with some of the seating from Candlestick) after an NASL team used it so it's not like we're dealing with a rinky-dink high school field.

Re: Top Two Cities for Expansion (and their names)

Posted: Tue Sep 08, 2020 8:56 pm
by johnnyangryfuzzball
Firecop wrote: Tue Sep 08, 2020 10:04 am Call me crazy but I say SF and Birmingham,; Birmingham will bend over backwards with some sweet deals for the XFL IMO.
As much as I might not agree with it and it probably doesn't fit the business model, I can't rule them out, either. The new stadium they're building to replace Legion Field is the ideal size.

Just for fun, I'd play up the old "Football Capital of the South" slogan and nickname the team the Alabama Rowdies. The South would either eat them up or love to hate them.

Re: Top Two Cities for Expansion (and their names)

Posted: Tue Sep 08, 2020 10:38 pm
by promotherobot
If you want actual attendance I can't think of worse places to put a team than SF and MIA. You should be in football-mad markets: San Antonio, OKC, Buffalo if it wasn't so cold, though you did have a team in NYC.