XFL Showcase locations, dates announced

XFL Football discussion.
User avatar
johnnyangryfuzzball
Head Coach
Posts: 1855
Joined: Sat Apr 27, 2019 8:22 pm

Re: XFL Showcase locations, dates announced

Post by johnnyangryfuzzball »

GregParks wrote: Thu May 05, 2022 5:14 pm And I hope we can all agree that having a straight-up open tryout where anyone can come probably isn't the answer, either. You may end up wasting a lot of time on guys who have no business being there.
Open tryouts work for small-ball indoor leagues. Not for a league with national aspirations. It's no different than any other occupation, other than perhaps the shorter length of career. Human resources (personnel departments) hire the people they think will be the best for the job, and that takes into account experience, performance, and level of work. One has to pay their dues to earn a career playing professional football, not just show up at a tryout one day and expect to dazzle them with mad skillz.
User avatar
SamTheRam28
Quarterback
Posts: 315
Joined: Sat Feb 23, 2019 11:16 pm

Re: XFL Showcase locations, dates announced

Post by SamTheRam28 »

johnnyangryfuzzball wrote: Thu May 05, 2022 7:56 pm
GregParks wrote: Thu May 05, 2022 5:14 pm And I hope we can all agree that having a straight-up open tryout where anyone can come probably isn't the answer, either. You may end up wasting a lot of time on guys who have no business being there.
Open tryouts work for small-ball indoor leagues. Not for a league with national aspirations. It's no different than any other occupation, other than perhaps the shorter length of career. Human resources (personnel departments) hire the people they think will be the best for the job, and that takes into account experience, performance, and level of work. One has to pay their dues to earn a career playing professional football, not just show up at a tryout one day and expect to dazzle them with mad skillz.
Will you just defend everything the XFL does and shit on anything the USFL does?

You can't possibly defend a $250-410 fee to run a 40 yd dash and run a couple drills. It's absurd. And it doesn't matter that players that make the league are reimbursed. A ton of players won't make it and they're SOL. Plus, they're likely already broke and doing this as a last resort to extend their career.

This is scummy to the highest degree. At least if you paid to play in TSL you actually got to play football games that were broadcast on national television. You could pay hundreds of dollars for nothing with this.
St. Louis BattleHawks
Tank55
MVP
Posts: 2804
Joined: Tue Mar 05, 2019 3:57 pm

Re: XFL Showcase locations, dates announced

Post by Tank55 »

SamTheRam28 wrote: Thu May 05, 2022 8:15 pm At least if you paid to play in TSL you actually got to play football games that were broadcast on national television. You could pay hundreds of dollars for nothing with this.
Well, maybe in 2021. TSL ran for years without a television deal. I remember watching Year 1 on Facebook.

TSL was gross, but at least they were broadly honest about the deal -- play to practice, and you'll get an honest look. That's pretty much true, I think. My concern with these open tryouts is that you don't get an honest look. If you have hundreds and hundreds of attendees for one day, that's almost impossible. I went to a UFL open tryout (as a media member), and they had so many guys they had to tell some to come back the next day. And some had driven halfway across the country!

Now, it's very not necessarily fair to hold the XFL accountable for the UFL's sins. I think there are some sensible guardrails you can use to keep the headcount low enough so that people's time isn't being wasted. Being no more than four years out from organized ball is a great one. Perversely, another one is raising the cost to attend.
2020 East Division Champions
2021 February Monthly T-Shirt Giveaway Champion
GregParks
UFLBoard Correspondent
Posts: 2095
Joined: Tue May 28, 2019 8:09 pm

Re: XFL Showcase locations, dates announced

Post by GregParks »

Tank55 wrote: Thu May 05, 2022 8:43 pm My concern with these open tryouts is that you don't get an honest look. If you have hundreds and hundreds of attendees for one day, that's almost impossible.
You'll have each head coach there, potentially their full staff of assistant coaches as well, maybe GMs of the teams (if they're going in that direction with team front offices) and probably league personnel and scouts. That's a lot of eyeballs, and we're not sure the number of participants each combine will be capped at ("hundreds of hundreds of attendees" seems like a stretch, but who knows?).

I'm guessing they'll also film everything to potentially watch back later. It's in the XFL's best interest to find the best talent for their league wherever they can, so to not give people a fair shake certainly isn't in the league's best interest. Plus, as noted earlier, they're working with American National Combines, whose literal job is to run these things, so having a group that knows how to do it should help.
@gregmparks
MGB01
MVP
Posts: 3314
Joined: Wed Aug 14, 2019 8:42 pm

Re: XFL Showcase locations, dates announced

Post by MGB01 »

SamTheRam28 wrote: Thu May 05, 2022 8:15 pm
johnnyangryfuzzball wrote: Thu May 05, 2022 7:56 pm
GregParks wrote: Thu May 05, 2022 5:14 pm And I hope we can all agree that having a straight-up open tryout where anyone can come probably isn't the answer, either. You may end up wasting a lot of time on guys who have no business being there.
Open tryouts work for small-ball indoor leagues. Not for a league with national aspirations. It's no different than any other occupation, other than perhaps the shorter length of career. Human resources (personnel departments) hire the people they think will be the best for the job, and that takes into account experience, performance, and level of work. One has to pay their dues to earn a career playing professional football, not just show up at a tryout one day and expect to dazzle them with mad skillz.
Will you just defend everything the XFL does and shit on anything the USFL does?
After today, sounds good ;)
4th&long
MVP
Posts: 6475
Joined: Sun Nov 24, 2019 2:27 pm

Re: XFL Showcase locations, dates announced

Post by 4th&long »

Tank55 wrote: Thu May 05, 2022 8:43 pm
SamTheRam28 wrote: Thu May 05, 2022 8:15 pm At least if you paid to play in TSL you actually got to play football games that were broadcast on national television. You could pay hundreds of dollars for nothing with this.
Well, maybe in 2021. TSL ran for years without a television deal. I remember watching Year 1 on Facebook.

TSL was gross, but at least they were broadly honest about the deal -- play to practice, and you'll get an honest look. That's pretty much true, I think. My concern with these open tryouts is that you don't get an honest look. If you have hundreds and hundreds of attendees for one day, that's almost impossible. I went to a UFL open tryout (as a media member), and they had so many guys they had to tell some to come back the next day. And some had driven halfway across the country!

Now, it's very not necessarily fair to hold the XFL accountable for the UFL's sins. I think there are some sensible guardrails you can use to keep the headcount low enough so that people's time isn't being wasted. Being no more than four years out from organized ball is a great one. Perversely, another one is raising the cost to attend.
TSL was also televised in 2020 fall. But the point is - people were bashing TSL over paying to play (and it was designed to be a lowcost run Academy) yet defending this. Is this ANOTHER sign that XFL 3.0 will be much more cost conscious than XFL 2.0? Possibly.
Tank55
MVP
Posts: 2804
Joined: Tue Mar 05, 2019 3:57 pm

Re: XFL Showcase locations, dates announced

Post by Tank55 »

4th&long wrote: Thu May 05, 2022 10:39 pm But the point is - people were bashing TSL over paying to play (and it was designed to be a lowcost run Academy) yet defending this.
And you defended TSL over pay to play and are bashing the XFL over this. Honestly, stop wasting our time.
2020 East Division Champions
2021 February Monthly T-Shirt Giveaway Champion
Tank55
MVP
Posts: 2804
Joined: Tue Mar 05, 2019 3:57 pm

Re: XFL Showcase locations, dates announced

Post by Tank55 »

GregParks wrote: Thu May 05, 2022 10:01 pm You'll have each head coach there, potentially their full staff of assistant coaches as well, maybe GMs of the teams (if they're going in that direction with team front offices) and probably league personnel and scouts. That's a lot of eyeballs, and we're not sure the number of participants each combine will be capped at ("hundreds of hundreds of attendees" seems like a stretch, but who knows?).
You're totally right that we just have to see how it plays out. I am biased because of what I witnessed with the UFL, but that's not anyone's fault but the UFL's.

And FWIW, it wasn't the fault of the UFL coaching staffs. The coaches were engaged, professional, and honestly really impressive (I saw Jay Gruden and Marty Schottenheimer's staffs over two tryouts). But there's only time for so many reps, and if you split that across enough people, you end up with a sample size that just isn't useful. I may be misremembering the number of attendees, but I honestly think it was closer to 400 than 200.
2020 East Division Champions
2021 February Monthly T-Shirt Giveaway Champion
Gopher123
Quarterback
Posts: 395
Joined: Sat Mar 13, 2021 7:07 pm

Re: XFL Showcase locations, dates announced

Post by Gopher123 »

The XFL is running a business, not a charity. Pay to participate events happen all the time. They need to limit losses and eventually turn a profit. I have no problem with it. Let’s actually have a couple showcases first and see who’s there, how it’s run, and get feedback before talking about how bad the players are getting hosed.

I wasn’t sure they would come back with this many showcases, especially this spread out. We questioned months ago in another thread about how if it was worth it for XFL 2.0 to have that many and how many players were actually signed because of them. Obviously the structure is different this time and clearly XFL 3.0 needs to go far and wide to find all available talent. One of my biggest surprises is having a showcase in Hawaii and not the Midwest. I would think the Midwest would be more convenient/cheaper. As previously discussed, there’s a reason why the cities were chosen, we just don’t know yet.
Tank55
MVP
Posts: 2804
Joined: Tue Mar 05, 2019 3:57 pm

Re: XFL Showcase locations, dates announced

Post by Tank55 »

@GregParks, do you happen to know what the "graduation" rate was from the XFL 2.0 showcases? What percentage of guys who attended ended up being drafted?
2020 East Division Champions
2021 February Monthly T-Shirt Giveaway Champion
Post Reply