Commissioner

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herns
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Commissioner

Post by herns »

Jeffery pollack is out on mutual terms, Mike Mitchell said this has been in the works for a long time but they were waiting until they had their replacement lined up. Mike’s article also said the replacement will be filling in the role similar to commissioner and will be announced soon
GregParks
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Re: Commissioner

Post by GregParks »

Some context: This was the original report from Ben Fischer at Sports Business Journal on Pollack's departure today:
https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/D ... llack.aspx

And Mike's article on XFLNewsHub with more details:
https://xflnewshub.com/xfl-news/breakin ... ident-ceo/

This came as a shock to me at first but the more I thought about it, the more it made sense. Pollack was likely kept on for the transition and it's somewhat surprising, in hindsight, that he lasted this long. As we've mentioned before on this board, those that purchase companies like to put their own people in place to run things and effective or not, Pollack was not a RedBird/Johnson/Garcia hire.

It's good to see things are moving in the direction of a major hire, though it did strike me as odd Mike's column seemed to indicate a commissioner on the football side would be a replacement for Pollack, when that doesn't really account for his duties with the XFL - a commissioner would be more of a replacement for half of Oliver Luck's job. It could be someone from RedBird handling the financial side of things or there just could be a complete structural revamp of the league's front office.
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herns
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Re: Commissioner

Post by herns »

GregParks wrote: Thu Oct 14, 2021 9:21 pm Some context: This was the original report from Ben Fischer at Sports Business Journal on Pollack's departure today:
https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/D ... llack.aspx

And Mike's article on XFLNewsHub with more details:
https://xflnewshub.com/xfl-news/breakin ... ident-ceo/

This came as a shock to me at first but the more I thought about it, the more it made sense. Pollack was likely kept on for the transition and it's somewhat surprising, in hindsight, that he lasted this long. As we've mentioned before on this board, those that purchase companies like to put their own people in place to run things and effective or not, Pollack was not a RedBird/Johnson/Garcia hire.

It's good to see things are moving in the direction of a major hire, though it did strike me as odd Mike's column seemed to indicate a commissioner on the football side would be a replacement for Pollack, when that doesn't really account for his duties with the XFL - a commissioner would be more of a replacement for half of Oliver Luck's job. It could be someone from RedBird handling the financial side of things or there just could be a complete structural revamp of the league's front office.
I’m assuming that it means we’re going to see RedBird handle the business side of things like you say. I wonder if they kept Pollack so the league could still make some moves while they looked for the replacement. Hopefully with the commissioner out whatever they’re calling out announcement comes some news about what they’re aiming to be as a league
Gopher123
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Re: Commissioner

Post by Gopher123 »

In an earlier post I made mention of Jeffrey Pollack as someone who I was keeping an eye on. I felt that if the league was still quiet and he jumped ship, then it might very well be real that the XFL is done. Hopefully they announce a major hire soon to counter this most recent departure. With DG and DJ’s recent posts about a new meeting, it still gives me hope they are proceeding. It would be a breath of fresh air to see a new hire and a positive step forward as opposed to seeing virtually every position vacant, giving the feeling that the league is only getting farther away from kickoff.
GregParks
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Re: Commissioner

Post by GregParks »

Gopher123 wrote: Fri Oct 15, 2021 2:02 am In an earlier post I made mention of Jeffrey Pollack as someone who I was keeping an eye on. I felt that if the league was still quiet and he jumped ship, then it might very well be real that the XFL is done.
I think that's exactly why my initial reaction was "shock." It's really hard to discern from the articles I linked just whose decision it was for Pollack to leave - I got the sense Pollack willingly left from SBJ, but Mike's article made it sound like the new owners wanted someone new in the position (or wanted a new position altogether). That's what softened the blow a little for me.
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herns
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Re: Commissioner

Post by herns »

Gopher123 wrote: Fri Oct 15, 2021 2:02 am In an earlier post I made mention of Jeffrey Pollack as someone who I was keeping an eye on. I felt that if the league was still quiet and he jumped ship, then it might very well be real that the XFL is done. Hopefully they announce a major hire soon to counter this most recent departure. With DG and DJ’s recent posts about a new meeting, it still gives me hope they are proceeding. It would be a breath of fresh air to see a new hire and a positive step forward as opposed to seeing virtually every position vacant, giving the feeling that the league is only getting farther away from kickoff.
I think we’ll hear the hire soon. Mike’s article made it seem like it was something that was known for a long time and the xfl just finally found who they wanted to hire, mike also said the new version will have almost no resemblance to the 2020 league so they probably wanted someone that fit their new direction
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Re: Commissioner

Post by GregParks »

herns wrote: Fri Oct 15, 2021 11:26 am mike also said the new version will have almost no resemblance to the 2020 league
Not to hijack this thread, but Mike has mentioned this a couple of times, and I can't really figure out what he's getting at. On-field product? Team locations? Business operations? It's hard for football, either the on-field or business end of it, to look so drastically different from the version presented in 2020. Would a change in team locations live up to the "almost no resemblance" verbiage being thrown around?
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herns
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Re: Commissioner

Post by herns »

GregParks wrote: Fri Oct 15, 2021 12:22 pm
herns wrote: Fri Oct 15, 2021 11:26 am mike also said the new version will have almost no resemblance to the 2020 league
Not to hijack this thread, but Mike has mentioned this a couple of times, and I can't really figure out what he's getting at. On-field product? Team locations? Business operations? It's hard for football, either the on-field or business end of it, to look so drastically different from the version presented in 2020. Would a change in team locations live up to the "almost no resemblance" verbiage being thrown around?
I think it likely means business model but I’ve heard him say expect locations to be different and even some team names, almost think of it as a brand new league and not the xfl
4th&long
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Re: Commissioner

Post by 4th&long »

herns wrote: Fri Oct 15, 2021 12:49 pm
GregParks wrote: Fri Oct 15, 2021 12:22 pm
herns wrote: Fri Oct 15, 2021 11:26 am mike also said the new version will have almost no resemblance to the 2020 league
Not to hijack this thread, but Mike has mentioned this a couple of times, and I can't really figure out what he's getting at. On-field product? Team locations? Business operations? It's hard for football, either the on-field or business end of it, to look so drastically different from the version presented in 2020. Would a change in team locations live up to the "almost no resemblance" verbiage being thrown around?
I think it likely means business model but I’ve heard him say expect locations to be different and even some team names, almost think of it as a brand new league and not the xfl
Ok, so can someone tell me why they bought it?
GregParks
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Re: Commissioner

Post by GregParks »

4th&long wrote: Fri Oct 15, 2021 1:09 pm
herns wrote: Fri Oct 15, 2021 12:49 pm
GregParks wrote: Fri Oct 15, 2021 12:22 pm

Not to hijack this thread, but Mike has mentioned this a couple of times, and I can't really figure out what he's getting at. On-field product? Team locations? Business operations? It's hard for football, either the on-field or business end of it, to look so drastically different from the version presented in 2020. Would a change in team locations live up to the "almost no resemblance" verbiage being thrown around?
I think it likely means business model but I’ve heard him say expect locations to be different and even some team names, almost think of it as a brand new league and not the xfl
Ok, so can someone tell me why they bought it?
I think that's a fair question. But I also think their intents, timelines, etc. may have changed from when they first bought the league. If you go back and look at the initial reporting upon purchase (which I'm planning on doing for an upcoming column), it's very interesting to see what came to fruition and what didn't. That's one.

Two, they have access to a lot of data and studies the league and McMahon put together when he was considering resurrecting the XFL (I'm assuming that's all part of the purchase). That data, fan interest surveys, etc. may be worth something in rebuilding the league.
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