Nfl alumni academy partnership possibly ending

[4th&long]

This was Mike on the rumors of the XFL breaking the deal by not paying the NFLAA...



Mike is usually very careful and measured with his words. Think it's interesting he's coming out so strongly against this rumor here.

GP,

They knew how many players were coming from the NFL-AA so why was the XFL caught surprised by the lack of Rosters spots available.

Here's XFLNewsHubs own article days ago.

https://xflnewshub.com/xfl-news/doug-wh ... rtnership/

>> April 11th, the XFL announced that they were partnering up with the NFL Alumni Academy to help players reach their goals by hosting a training camp for players who look to be ready to join an NFL team. Scouts from NFL teams would go out and watch the training camp to see which players look to be ready to be signed.

If some players weren’t signed they immediately had a contract with the XFL to give them another shot. November 9th, Charlie Boots sat down with Senior Vice President of Player Personnel For The XFL Doug Whaley to discuss how this partnership helps players get to the NFL. <<

Like I said above it was a deal that was going to be hard to fulfill anyway, but that's what the XFL was saying a few short months ago. And they sold it as a deal with the NFL, it not the NFL its the NFL-AA but they marketed it that way. Now its a different story. We didn't have roster spots in a 66 player per team camp? Please.

[4th&long]

Might be just me, but I don't think Woodson, a Pro and College Football HOFer, is at a draft in Vegas when his fall gig's next outing is three days away in Baltimore if the league can't pay anybody.

Same with all the other coaches, most of whom have similar chops.

Like Mike Singletary or Steve Spurrier etc... in AAF?

[MGB01]

Might be just me, but I don't think Woodson, a Pro and College Football HOFer, is at a draft in Vegas when his fall gig's next outing is three days away in Baltimore if the league can't pay anybody.

Same with all the other coaches, most of whom have similar chops.

Like Mike Singletary or Steve Spurrier etc... in AAF?

So are you saying RBC is Reggie Fowler?

[laxtreme56]

Might be just me, but I don't think Woodson, a Pro and College Football HOFer, is at a draft in Vegas when his fall gig's next outing is three days away in Baltimore if the league can't pay anybody.

Same with all the other coaches, most of whom have similar chops.

Like Mike Singletary or Steve Spurrier etc... in AAF?

Spurrier basically said he took the job for fun and wasn't really hands on in the organization. He seemed pretty indifferent on the AAF demise. Ditto for Mike Martz as well. Money is not an issue for Redbird, let's wait until official word from the NFLAA before jumping to conclusions

[4th&long]

Might be just me, but I don't think Woodson, a Pro and College Football HOFer, is at a draft in Vegas when his fall gig's next outing is three days away in Baltimore if the league can't pay anybody.

Same with all the other coaches, most of whom have similar chops.

Like Mike Singletary or Steve Spurrier etc... in AAF?

So are you saying RBC is Reggie Fowler?

NO, i'm talking about your last post. I'm saying major players in CFB and NFL got hoodwinked by AAF, it can happen to XFL coaches too. Is Rod Woodson or Hines Ward smarter than Steve Spurrier? Mike Martz? Rick neuheisel, Mike Riley? All Pro Mike Singletary?
It can happen.

[4th&long]

Might be just me, but I don't think Woodson, a Pro and College Football HOFer, is at a draft in Vegas when his fall gig's next outing is three days away in Baltimore if the league can't pay anybody.

Same with all the other coaches, most of whom have similar chops.

Like Mike Singletary or Steve Spurrier etc... in AAF?

Spurrier basically said he took the job for fun and wasn't really hands on in the organization. He seemed pretty indifferent on the AAF demise. Ditto for Mike Martz as well. Money is not an issue for Redbird, let's wait until official word from the NFLAA before jumping to conclusions

Money is ALWAYS an issue.

[MGB01]

Like Mike Singletary or Steve Spurrier etc... in AAF?

So are you saying RBC is Reggie Fowler?

NO, i'm talking about your last post. I'm saying major players in CFB and NFL got hoodwinked by AAF, it can happen to XFL coaches too. Is Rod Woodson or Hines Ward smarter than Steve Spurrier? Mike Martz? Rick neuheisel, Mike Riley? All Pro Mike Singletary?
It can happen.

So answer the question: is RBC Reggie Fowler? He was (supposed to be) the money.

[Gopher123]

Like Mike Singletary or Steve Spurrier etc... in AAF?

Spurrier basically said he took the job for fun and wasn't really hands on in the organization. He seemed pretty indifferent on the AAF demise. Ditto for Mike Martz as well. Money is not an issue for Redbird, let's wait until official word from the NFLAA before jumping to conclusions

Money is ALWAYS an issue.

It is. Kind of like when Brian Woods (TSL) absolutely SCREWED an Indianapolis hotel out of a million dollars. Has that ever been paid? At the time you called that a nothing burger, but now you think this is a big deal. Come on.

[4th&long]

So are you saying RBC is Reggie Fowler?

NO, i'm talking about your last post. I'm saying major players in CFB and NFL got hoodwinked by AAF, it can happen to XFL coaches too. Is Rod Woodson or Hines Ward smarter than Steve Spurrier? Mike Martz? Rick neuheisel, Mike Riley? All Pro Mike Singletary?
It can happen.

So answer the question: is RBC Reggie Fowler? He was (supposed to be) the money.

You're conflating.

Is RBC willing to lose money for 3-5 years ? That's the real question. Things can change. Just like 2020 and 2001.

We'll see if NFL-AA is a money issue, PR issue or BS. But imo, as I've said before, is not the white knight with a blank check IMO.

[GregParks]

Looking back on it, logistically, guaranteeing all NFLAA graduates a spot in XFL training camps was daunting especially with the increased NFLAA roster sizes this year. Maybe the XFL was unsure of the quality of player they'd be able to attract and this was their safety net? As we saw with the draft, they were able to snag pretty high-quality non-NFL players, perhaps making the NFLAA partnership somewhat moot. As noted, figuring the roster of drafted players, plus supplemental draft players, and all of a sudden there isn't much room for the NFLAA session three and four graduates.

Now, does that exempt the XFL from the responsibility of fulfilling their end of the deal? Probably not. Unless, as Mike alluded to, they're trying to or have changed the terms of the deal with the NFLAA. That would certainly make more sense given the above situation. Still doesn't look great that the XFL entered into a deal they couldn't fulfill, but if it's because the talent in the draft was more plentiful and deeper than they expected, then that's a good problem to have I guess. If it's just because they couldn't do the math, well then that's silly and they deserve to be made fun of for it, but that seems unlikely. I'm not sure we'll ever know the "why" of the change, if in fact one is made.

As far as the money thing goes, it's absolutely concerning, but I think it'd be more concerning if the league was in a holding pattern. If they had no announcements lined up and no hires being made AND this news was coming out, yeah, that'd be a HUGE problem. But they're revealing jerseys on ESPN tomorrow, they're actively hiring people (press releases made last week, others being hired locally), they're sending team hats and personalized "welcome" cards to drafted players and continuing to move forward. How do you square that with the allegations of defaulting on this payment? If they were truly "out of money" or whatever euphemism you want to use for them not wanting to spend, would they still be moving forward in these ways? That seems suspicious to me.

Ultimately, we won't know for sure what the deal is until we get an official response from either party. I'm not holding my breath on that.