Will the XFL lift their finger from the pause button?

[MGB01]

Well now that you say that I'm seriously impressed that they announced a year and a half from now

[MarkNelson]

Hoping I won't be trashed for defending what some perceive as a lie, but I believe the new owners thought they could do it in 2022 when they made the announcement last fall. The only issue seems to be that they did not have a clue what they were up against. Maybe they should not have bought the league?

I get sick when I think about the helmet walls, the "keys", and the bragging about how this league will be different. It seems their marketing departments had the right game, but the football operations department was completely bereft of many things, and most importantly money. They were probably smart not to spend any real money on this league, as they were never ready to start. Is it a lie or naivety?

[Firecop]

I can't imagine it was a lie; what is the point of dropping 15M or more likely 26M on a lie? As I have stated previously and elsewhere, I really believe that they overestimated their draw power and underestimated their costs/risks. If and when the CFXL deal folds and I hope it doesn't, I trust they have the maturity and fan consideration to simply call it a day and not leave us perpetually dangling.

[Tank55]

It's not slander to suspect that they bit off more than they can chew. There's two things about this attitude that I don't understand. (This isn't specifically directed at Mark; more at the general cynicism that we see around here.)

First, taking it so personally. Obviously, we were all emotionally attached to the XFL and it has been a very cruel twist of fate to see such a promising beginning snuffed out. It is natural to wish the original actors could be the ones to give it another go. But the new owners were the only bidder at the auction, correct? I know we all wanted Vince to buy it back, but he had already publicly bowed out. The new owners didn't steal this from him. And even if you think they're destined for failure, at least they're giving it a go. I think most clear-thinking people knew the AAF wasn't going to make it, but most of us appreciated the effort and enjoyed the ride. (At least those of us not stuck with an unpaid hotel bill.)

Second, getting mad at them before they even actually fail to deliver. They said they were coming back in 2022 and it's now March 2021. I think pessimism is fine and probably healthy, but so is some patience. They're clearly still working on something. Whether it works or whether we like it remains TBD, but getting pissed about dinner while it's still in the oven seems a bit unfair and premature.

It definitely feels like a lot of people have been rubbed the wrong way by Johnson and especially Garcia, and they no longer want this ownership group to succeed. But if that's how you feel, then why are you still following the league? Just move on with your life. That's how I felt about people who didn't like McMahon -- it's one thing to not support the league, but to root against it and enjoy it's failures? Seems like a miserable way to go through life.

[MGB01]

The mistake was assuming A into B. Just cause NBC has, now thanks to WWE Network, a large chunk of programming featuring The Rock (in addition to the ones he's already on), doesn't mean anything. Fact because of Garcia's declaration, Johnson's having about as much of a time getting this going as he did with Cory Schlesinger in his final college game.

We're nearly 40 years removed from the last major example of a secondary league getting any serious coin (just TV rights, not actual co-ownership). I already went over the who, how, and what. But the general consensus is that unless RBC is ready to go into that scenario, which I wouldn't even rate it the Lloyd Christmas variety, what they had with ESPN and FOX is as good as you're gonna get, short of perhaps the same deal the Arena League had with ESPN in 2007-08.

Remember, it was over a decade before MLS' first paying rights deal, the alternative football league market isn't exactly thriving historically. Hell Vince dropped the braggadocio (or at least toned it way down) by v2 and had come to the realization that you're not just going to walk into a paying rights deal--and think of where the WWF was back in the mid 90s so yes he does know of what he speaks here.

So more than they can chew? I'm not ready to go there but misfires? Definintely.

[GregParks]

The lack of communication by the new owners directly, or through the media, is what has allowed all kinds of wild scenarios, conspiracy theories, accusations, and even some reasonable speculation to commence. Now, they are entirely within their rights to keep things under wraps and not let what they're doing leak. But from the outside, it looks to some people like inaction (even though it's already been reported they were in the midst of a Chief Football Officer search before talks with the CFL put that on hold). I personally would much prefer an open and transparent process, especially from a group that has talked about 24/7/365 coverage of the league when it gets up and running.

When the new owners purchased the league, I would assume they did their due dilligence opening the books, looking at the contracts, and figuring out whether this was viable before they made a bid. They've worked closely with Jeffrey Pollack, the CFO, of XFL 2.0, through this entire process so they should've had a pretty good idea from the beginning how much $$ they'd need to operate and what they could accomplish and not accomplish with this property. So where did things go wrong? Did they even go wrong? The fact that we can't even settle on the answer to THAT question yet shows how their silence has allowed a wide range of opinions to fester.

[MGB01]

In that case I defer to the logic of the legend Leslie Nielsen

"Well can't you take a guess?"
"Not for another couple of hours"
"You can't take a guess for another couple of hours?"



There's too many moving parts here to come to a conclusion. Last summer everybody thought the CFL would be 100% back in 2021 and if these talks have been low-key happening since then there's enough to suggest there's something there.

Or maybe the latest kiloton threat against the NCAA (which will be a disaster that of course the do-gooders never planned for) will be a factor, although I would advise the league to stay away from anything that has USFL written all over it.

Whatever it is, it's not like the league's active right now so Rock or Pollack or whoever needs to come out and do anything, like that'll stop anybody anyway.

[4th&long]

Hoping I won't be trashed for defending what some perceive as a lie, but I believe the new owners thought they could do it in 2022 when they made the announcement last fall. The only issue seems to be that they did not have a clue what they were up against. Maybe they should not have bought the league?

I get sick when I think about the helmet walls, the "keys", and the bragging about how this league will be different. It seems their marketing departments had the right game, but the football operations department was completely bereft of many things, and most importantly money. They were probably smart not to spend any real money on this league, as they were never ready to start. Is it a lie or naivety?

In an answer... BOTH.

As others have posted they knew what they were getting into.

They clearly didn't do anything post 10/1 so clearly they lied. The CFL talk buys time and/or saves face for the time being.

As far as them being the only AUCTION bidder.... so what, someone else say VM could have bought the Assets in a post sale attempt auction. Buy the name, leases, equip etc... separately. Why pay $15mm and assume debts of the company when you can purchase the assets directly sans debt and for cheaper and not be tied to any prior commitments.

I think this die-on-the-vine XFL is worse than it just going fully bankrupt. Its just road blocking any other serious attempt at winter/spring FB.

On the CFL side - the league loses $8-16mm USD a year pre covid, the NBA was doing worse than that a few years ago. They need to fix that but they aren't losing big money. that's $900k-1.8mm a year per team. The XFL would be worth $300mm with those numbers.

Here's something I brought up when they bailedon 10/1/2020. Why bother buying a league with 5 games only to sit on it for 2 years.... What's it really worth? The further you get away from the 2020 season the lower the IP is worth. Now its talk of 2023? Why not just not buy it and start a new league in 2023?

Its a CF IMO and its time they started talking less puff and more stuff, or say they are putting it up for sale.

[johnnyangryfuzzball]

It definitely feels like a lot of people have been rubbed the wrong way by Johnson and especially Garcia, and they no longer want this ownership group to succeed. But if that's how you feel, then why are you still following the league? Just move on with your life. That's how I felt about people who didn't like McMahon -- it's one thing to not support the league, but to root against it and enjoy it's failures? Seems like a miserable way to go through life.

I rank among the more optimistic people on this board, though admittedly I have soured on the Johnson-Garcia partnership. But why am I following the XFL still?

Because I like football. I like having football to watch the weekend after Super Bowl Sunday. And the XFL was the most credible football to be played in mid-February since I can remember. More credible than the AAF, the original XFL, even arena ball. We've seen countless failures and we don't want to see a league implode like the AAF, or sputter to an ignominious death like the UFL or FXFL (though the latter still lives on in a sense with TSL). So if that's the path Johnson and Garcia are going to take, well, in the words of the late Rush Limbaugh, "I hope he fails!"

[johnnyangryfuzzball]

In an answer... BOTH.

As others have posted they knew what they were getting into.

They clearly didn't do anything post 10/1 so clearly they lied. The CFL talk buys time and/or saves face for the time being.

As far as them being the only AUCTION bidder.... so what, someone else say VM could have bought the Assets in a post sale attempt auction. Buy the name, leases, equip etc... separately. Why pay $15mm and assume debts of the company when you can purchase the assets directly sans debt and for cheaper and not be tied to any prior commitments.

I think this die-on-the-vine XFL is worse than it just going fully bankrupt. Its just road blocking any other serious attempt at winter/spring FB.

It didn't seem to stop FCF, which despite its off-the-wall novelties was serious enough to land big name talent.

But really, who else is going to try spring football and have the (financial and media) clout to make it a success? You act like there are all these millionaires out there, just waiting to give winter ball another try, but can't do it as long as Johnson and Garcia are sitting on their hands. FCF showed that the last part isn't true. I'd argue that given the XFL's sale price, the first part isn't true, either.