The Rock on MNF

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johnnyangryfuzzball
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Re: The Rock on MNF

Post by johnnyangryfuzzball »

GDAWG wrote: Tue Mar 29, 2022 1:21 pm
4th&long wrote: Tue Mar 29, 2022 10:45 am
laxtreme56 wrote: Tue Mar 29, 2022 10:14 am I can see an announcement coming the week of USFL opening kickoff as a way to take the wind out of their sails a bit.
Agreed, they've been using the "paper tiger" news announcements like Microsoft was (is) known for to blunt other's news. Though I'm sure they'll have at least some concrete news here.

And its starting to sound more and more like D league for good or bad:
>> From our exciting & ground breaking agreement with the @NFL focusing on INNOVATION & PLAYER DEVELOPMENT <<

Their city selection will be most telling, they may avoid all cities with NFL teams, or limit it to get just enough TV interest.
The scenario I had in my mind was instead of Los Angeles, it's Anaheim and instead of New York, it's Brooklyn but then I realized that there are no stadiums in those two cities for the XFL to place teams in.
Depending on how big of an audience they want, NYC would have options. I had my hopes that the Staten Island ballpark would be available but it appears the Atlantic League swooped in on that. So you'd basically be talking smaller fields like Icahn Stadium (which was a nightmare for the WFL even when it was pro-sized) or trying to convince the college teams like Fordham or Columbia to lease their fields in the middle of winter, which isn't very likely and would pose nightmares for parking. And Arthur Ashe Stadium has the capacity but the playing surface is way too small, so that's out of the question.

An NYC team would be an intriguing angle for the XFL. The problem is that MetLife and its predecessor Giants Stadium has always been the easy 'get' for the leagues of the past, and it'd be hard for most NYC venues to match what MetLife has to offer.

They'll likely need NY and LA to land a good TV deal, though the current round of the USFL has shown that may not be 100% set in stone if they're desperate enough.
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Re: The Rock on MNF

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A Toronto XFL team is going to have significant roadblocks from hardcore Canadians who don't want 4 down football of any kind unless it's NFL. There will be people who will demand that the Canadian Football Act (which prevents any American leagues from putting teams into Canada) be signed to law in order to protect the CFL. I get why Canada is so protective of the CFL though: it's rules makes the CFL unique from the NFL.
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Re: The Rock on MNF

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MGB01 wrote: Wed Mar 30, 2022 4:28 pm
*-In addition to San Antonio, which may already exist
Schrodinger's football team.
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Re: The Rock on MNF

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GDAWG wrote: Wed Mar 30, 2022 5:44 pm A Toronto XFL team is going to have significant roadblocks from hardcore Canadians who don't want 4 down football of any kind unless it's NFL. There will be people who will demand that the Canadian Football Act (which prevents any American leagues from putting teams into Canada) be signed to law in order to protect the CFL. I get why Canada is so protective of the CFL though: it's rules makes the CFL unique from the NFL.
Sure but the whole CFA threat was also with the CFL at its height attendance-wise, just a few years after that Exhibition Stadium was expanded for the Blue Jays and the Als moved into the Big O right after the Olympics and there were often crowds of 60-65,000.

Contrast that to now with the Argos drawing less than 10K, although restrictions would give them some leeway, would there even be much of a protectionist sentiment? Reminds me of Duron Carter getting into it with some dude on Twitter a couple years back ("What's this our league? You ain't showing up!")

(Also the TSN poster from 2020 that had all the Toronto stars--Pozuelo, Lowry (since gone), Vlad, Auston Matthews, and........Brady :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: )
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Re: The Rock on MNF

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MGB01 wrote: Thu Mar 31, 2022 1:01 am
GDAWG wrote: Wed Mar 30, 2022 5:44 pm A Toronto XFL team is going to have significant roadblocks from hardcore Canadians who don't want 4 down football of any kind unless it's NFL. There will be people who will demand that the Canadian Football Act (which prevents any American leagues from putting teams into Canada) be signed to law in order to protect the CFL. I get why Canada is so protective of the CFL though: it's rules makes the CFL unique from the NFL.
Sure but the whole CFA threat was also with the CFL at its height attendance-wise, just a few years after that Exhibition Stadium was expanded for the Blue Jays and the Als moved into the Big O right after the Olympics and there were often crowds of 60-65,000.

Contrast that to now with the Argos drawing less than 10K, although restrictions would give them some leeway, would there even be much of a protectionist sentiment? Reminds me of Duron Carter getting into it with some dude on Twitter a couple years back ("What's this our league? You ain't showing up!")

(Also the TSN poster from 2020 that had all the Toronto stars--Pozuelo, Lowry (since gone), Vlad, Auston Matthews, and........Brady :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: )
There's still going to be Canadians that demand the Canadian Football Act to into effect in order to save the CFL.
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Re: The Rock on MNF

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Which is why it won't be right away (that and still too many immediate logistical challenges), but a lot harder to throw the CFA around when the Argos are barely hitting 10k than when they're are averaging 30-40,000

And the CFL wouldn't be at any more risk of, say folding, than they are now--especially with a team playing during the CFL's offseason, so demonstrating the need for protection becomes even harder. Only way that happens is if the Argos decide to bolt the CFL, which even though they predate even the NFL by nearly five decades would I imagine be a legal quagmire (not exactly Marshall getting out of CUSA early).

Also, the World League and the CFL played largely at the same time, thus the Northmen and Argos would have been in actual competition.
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Re: The Rock on MNF

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GDAWG wrote: Wed Mar 30, 2022 5:44 pm A Toronto XFL team is going to have significant roadblocks from hardcore Canadians who don't want 4 down football of any kind unless it's NFL. There will be people who will demand that the Canadian Football Act (which prevents any American leagues from putting teams into Canada) be signed to law in order to protect the CFL. I get why Canada is so protective of the CFL though: it's rules makes the CFL unique from the NFL.
Well, the other problem is that Toronto absolutely stinks at attending football games in general.

The one thing the XFL has going for it is that it is not trying to go head-to-head with established leagues, but to coexist with them. And if some schmidglek tries to pull the CFA card again, point to how little attendance the CFL is getting in Toronto and then we'll talk. Protectionism is harder to defend when the fans aren't willing to protect their own league.
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Re: The Rock on MNF

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MGB01 wrote: Thu Mar 31, 2022 1:22 pm Which is why it won't be right away (that and still too many immediate logistical challenges), but a lot harder to throw the CFA around when the Argos are barely hitting 10k than when they're are averaging 30-40,000

And the CFL wouldn't be at any more risk of, say folding, than they are now--especially with a team playing during the CFL's offseason, so demonstrating the need for protection becomes even harder. Only way that happens is if the Argos decide to bolt the CFL, which even though they predate even the NFL by nearly five decades would I imagine be a legal quagmire (not exactly Marshall getting out of CUSA early).

Also, the World League and the CFL played largely at the same time, thus the Northmen and Argos would have been in actual competition.
Back in the 80s, there was some noise about John Bassett putting his USFL team in Hamliton. Avoiding competition from the CFL by playing in the spring and from the NHL by avoiding Toronto should have appeased the Canadians, but no... one of the Canadian senators again threatened to bring back the CFA. Of course, it didn't help that Bassett envisioned teams in Montreal, Vancouver and Edmonton, too, which may have been the one thing that threatened them.
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Re: The Rock on MNF

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johnnyangryfuzzball wrote: Thu Mar 31, 2022 4:43 pm
GDAWG wrote: Wed Mar 30, 2022 5:44 pm A Toronto XFL team is going to have significant roadblocks from hardcore Canadians who don't want 4 down football of any kind unless it's NFL. There will be people who will demand that the Canadian Football Act (which prevents any American leagues from putting teams into Canada) be signed to law in order to protect the CFL. I get why Canada is so protective of the CFL though: it's rules makes the CFL unique from the NFL.
Well, the other problem is that Toronto absolutely stinks at attending football games in general.

The one thing the XFL has going for it is that it is not trying to go head-to-head with established leagues, but to coexist with them. And if some schmidglek tries to pull the CFA card again, point to how little attendance the CFL is getting in Toronto and then we'll talk. Protectionism is harder to defend when the fans aren't willing to protect their own league.
Toronto attendance isn't going to matter for those people, they will demand the CFA be signed into law regardless of the Agros attendance.
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