We don't know ? We do know that Fox / NBC had $64.6mm in ad revenue pre-championship game. We do know that Collin Cowherd said both NBC and Fox turned a profit. They were public statements made by a rep of the owner of the league. We do know that NBC has a rights deal with NBC - just not how much. We have no details stated publicly on the Disney XFL deal expect the term, one story quoting an unnamed source with no exact terms is not cutting it.johnnyangryfuzzball wrote: ↑Tue Aug 02, 2022 6:12 pmYou don't know that. We don't know either league's revenue situation at all. Both are getting rights fees, reportedly, but that's all we can confirm.4th&long wrote: ↑Tue Aug 02, 2022 12:21 pm
Agree directional with Tank, w/o the XFL USFL would have more room/time to grow. XFL is more costs heavy and has less TV revenue.
Greg, Leagues merge all the time. If it makes business sense - they will work that out. We can speculate more in a bit but AFL/NFL, AAFC/NFL, WHA/NHL, ABA/NBA even MLL and PPL etc...
If XFL bleeds money, they may not, if USFL bleeds viewers may not... Its wait and see
Now, as for merging leagues. The agreement to merge the AFL and NFL was struck in the 1966 offseason. Yet it didn't take effect for four more years after that. Why? TV contracts. As long as the rights to each league were held by separate networks (NBC and CBS respectively), they could not merge without violating those contracts. They could play Super Bowls, as long as the contract was negotiated separately.
The WHA and NHL were able to merge instantly because 1) neither the NHL nor WHA had an American national TV contract at the time and 2) it was structured so that it wasn't a merger, but an admission of four expansion teams using the WHA owners and intellectual properties. You couldn't pull that off with the XFL/USFL situation. Why would Fox buy into a league that is bound to an exclusive deal with a rival network?
So because the XFL has a deal with ESPN until at least 2027, there won't be a merger between it and the USFL until at least 2028. Plus there's the problem of reconciling the two different seasons they play in, the business model, among other things.
Now USFL being the direct owner of a league cuts out the middleman for sure. Making $$ easier. We do know XFL is paying more for players, longer camp, stadium leases, travel costs and has much more exec staff etc...than the USFL.
That's USFL MO - the low cost operating league. XFL is leaning a bit more that way than XFL 2.0, but not significantly.
Even merger contracts can be negotiated, happens in college alot.