Updated info on XFL player acquisition

XFL Football discussion.
Tank55
MVP
Posts: 2804
Joined: Tue Mar 05, 2019 3:57 pm

Re: Updated info on XFL player acquisition

Post by Tank55 »

Gotcha. Great insight Greg, thanks for sharing.
2020 East Division Champions
2021 February Monthly T-Shirt Giveaway Champion
4th&long
MVP
Posts: 6475
Joined: Sun Nov 24, 2019 2:27 pm

Re: Updated info on XFL player acquisition

Post by 4th&long »

GregParks wrote: Tue Jun 14, 2022 12:15 pm
4th&long wrote: Tue Jun 14, 2022 12:03 pm
GregParks wrote: Tue Jun 14, 2022 11:37 am

I actually got to ask Doug Whaley this question last night. Subscribers to Tyler Dunne's "Go Long" Substack were treated to a Zoom "Happy Hour" with Whaley (Dunne is a former Bills beat writer and his "Go Long" podcast partner is former Bills FO member and current XFL VP Jim Monos). I hopped on about halfway in, thinking there'd be a ton of people so I'd just sit back and see if there were any XFL questions. Turns out, there were only five of us there. So I asked him how the league plans to deal with the QB position.

Naturally this far in advance they don't have a concrete plan yet.
From my interpretation of his answer, the idea seemed to be that the league would take a look at the QBs who are in the draft pool closer to draft time, and based on the quality or lack thereof, will decide what to do draft-wise with the position. When the entire video is posted I'll go back and expand on his answer if necessary, as well as any other XFL questions that he got that I may have missed.
Wow... interesting.
Is it really, though? The draft is five months away. Does it matter what the draft format is, whether it's like 2020 or something different, in June? I don't think the format for the 2019 draft was made public until just a few days before the draft.
GP

It just says how little has been thought out in almost 2 years. They are not where we were hearing they would be in fall of 2021. Is it end of world, certainly not. But they are not where they were supposed to be.
MGB01
MVP
Posts: 3314
Joined: Wed Aug 14, 2019 8:42 pm

Re: Updated info on XFL player acquisition

Post by MGB01 »

4th&long wrote: Tue Jun 14, 2022 4:50 pm It just says how little has been thought out in almost 2 years. They are not where we were hearing they would be in fall of 2021. Is it end of world, certainly not. But they are not where they were supposed to be.
While the USFL is running back SuperTSL in 2023 :lol:
Gopher123
Quarterback
Posts: 395
Joined: Sat Mar 13, 2021 7:07 pm

Re: Updated info on XFL player acquisition

Post by Gopher123 »

Pretty good access to Whaley there, Greg! I used to listen to their podcast but it was mostly about them hashing over the NFL playoff games and predicting the upcoming ones. Hardly anything XFL related but that was months ago.

I’m not surprised you didn’t get a definitive answer at this point. The draft is a long way off with much that can change. I would bet there is going to be no announcement of a qb signing months before the draft this time. Even if they choose to assign qbs and have the team personnel submit lists like last time, I would think as long as they had the lists in hand by sometime in August that would be enough time. We obviously are roughly 6-8 weeks from that yet. Also, maybe they know more than they want to say right now, we know if there’s one thing this group isn’t going to do is release news too early.
GregParks
UFLBoard Correspondent
Posts: 2095
Joined: Tue May 28, 2019 8:09 pm

Re: Updated info on XFL player acquisition

Post by GregParks »

The entire interview with Whaley is on Youtube here:

Among other highlights:

-Whaley said internal expectations for the league in 2020 was 10,000 fans per game; they were at 12,500 through five weeks. TV viewership expectations were 750,000 and he said they were at 900,000 when the league shut down.
-Called XFL 2020 an "unbelievable experience," which is why he returned this time around.
-What he learned from his jobs in the NFL that he carries into the XFL: Surround yourself with smart people and people you like to be around.
-When scouting NFL training camps for talent, focusing on guys 65-85 (out of 90) on training camp rosters, practice squad or fringe practice squad types.
-Mentioned pushing the draft back to November (from October last year) in an effort to pick up as many guys cut from rosters at the end of NFL training camps as possible (early September), then allow XFL teams to watch video on players, set their draft boards, and be as prepared as possible (my aside, but also allows them more time to recruit those fringe NFL players to be in the draft).
-"You don't want to be a gimmick," he said when asked about, say, a guy like Terrell Owens coming in, someone older but with a big name that might draw viewers.
-Though he's not in charge necessarily of this part of the league, used Netflix's "Drive to Survive" series as an example of how it ended up getting people interested in F1 racing. Used it to draw a parallel to what the XFL wants to do with its ancillary programming.
Last edited by GregParks on Sun Jun 19, 2022 4:08 pm, edited 1 time in total.
@gregmparks
4th&long
MVP
Posts: 6475
Joined: Sun Nov 24, 2019 2:27 pm

Re: Updated info on XFL player acquisition

Post by 4th&long »

GregParks wrote: Sat Jun 18, 2022 6:18 pm The entire interview with Whaley is on Youtube here:

Among other highlights:

-Whaley said internal expectations for the league in 2020 was 10,000 fans per game; they were at 12,500 through five weeks. TV viewership expectations were 750,000 and he said they were at 900,00 when the league shut down.
-Called XFL 2020 an "unbelievable experience," which is why he returned this time around.
-What he learned from his jobs in the NFL that he carries into the XFL: Surround yourself with smart people and people you like to be around.
-When scouting NFL training camps for talent, focusing on guys 65-85 (out of 90) on training camp rosters, practice squad or fringe practice squad types.
-Mentioned pushing the draft back to November (from October last year) in an effort to pick up as many guys cut from rosters at the end of NFL training camps as possible (early September), then allow XFL teams to watch video on players, set their draft boards, and be as prepared as possible (my aside, but also allows them more time to recruit those fringe NFL players to be in the draft).
-"You don't want to be a gimmick," he said when asked about, say, a guy like Terrell Owens coming in, someone older but with a big name that might draw viewers.
-Though he's not in charge necessarily of this part of the league, used Netflix's "Drive to Survive" series as an example of how it ended up getting people interested in F1 racing. Used it to draw a parallel to what the XFL wants to do with its ancillary programming.
TV viewership was 1900k not 900k according to all sources we've seen.

Attendance was 18k.

(wiki & showbuzz)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_XFL_season

Not sure where he's getting his numbers. Unless they are looking to lower expectations? Or just not accurate?
Last edited by 4th&long on Sat Jun 18, 2022 6:44 pm, edited 1 time in total.
laxtreme56
Coach
Posts: 886
Joined: Tue Jul 28, 2020 6:16 pm

Re: Updated info on XFL player acquisition

Post by laxtreme56 »

Perhaps he meant "paid" attendance, which in that case is probably right. As for the 900k viewers, perhaps based upon the weekly decline that's what they expected to steady off at.
4th&long
MVP
Posts: 6475
Joined: Sun Nov 24, 2019 2:27 pm

Re: Updated info on XFL player acquisition

Post by 4th&long »

laxtreme56 wrote: Sat Jun 18, 2022 6:43 pm Perhaps he meant "paid" attendance, which in that case is probably right. As for the 900k viewers, perhaps based upon the weekly decline that's what they expected to steady off at.
very odd
Tank55
MVP
Posts: 2804
Joined: Tue Mar 05, 2019 3:57 pm

Re: Updated info on XFL player acquisition

Post by Tank55 »

Honestly, that’s not within the scope of his job, so he may just be confused on the exact numbers. He’s probably directionally correct in that they set modest goals and were modestly exceeding them through five weeks.
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: Updated info on XFL player acquisition

Post by GregParks »

Tank55 wrote: Sat Jun 18, 2022 8:05 pm Honestly, that’s not within the scope of his job, so he may just be confused on the exact numbers. He’s probably directionally correct in that they set modest goals and were modestly exceeding them through five weeks.
That would be my guess. He certainly didn't have the numbers right in front of him, and it was more than two years ago.
@gregmparks
Post Reply