Future XFL Expansion

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

Re: Future XFL Expansion

Post by johnnyangryfuzzball »

The XFL Today wrote: Thu Dec 26, 2019 4:18 pm Personally, I think the best choices for expansion are for the following cities:
Birmingham, Alabama (former home of the Bolts)
Chicago, Illinois (former home of the Enforcers)
Las Vegas, Nevada (former home of the Outlaws)
Memphis, Tennessee (former home of the Maniax)
Orlando, Florida (former home of the Rage)
Portland, Oregon
San Antonio, Texas

Some of these cities have a hard time hanging on to teams, but this XFL should make sure teams are placed in these cities, especially Birmingham, Memhis, Orlando, Portland and San Antonio. But Chicago is essential and crucial.
I really don't get why we keep bringing up Birmingham. It's not that big of a market. Its fan support has been inconsistent at best. Alabama's a relatively poor (financially speaking) state. It was next-to-last in attendance in the old XFL, ahead of only Chicago. UAB football gets so little support that they tried cancelling the program a few years back. Honestly, I think the only reason Birmingham keeps getting brought up is that the WFL put a team there in the 1970s and every league feels some sort of strange obligation to keep coming back.

Birmingham brings almost nothing to the XFL.
User avatar
johnnyangryfuzzball
Head Coach
Posts: 1855
Joined: Sat Apr 27, 2019 8:22 pm

Re: Future XFL Expansion

Post by johnnyangryfuzzball »

Rangersking669 wrote: Fri Dec 27, 2019 2:18 am\

I think Raleigh-Durham is an underrated option. No NFL team in market, plenty of stadiums, minimal competition, over 1 million TV homes(25th). Charlotte could work too though. Having a team in either allows you to probably parlay both TV markets somewhat. Unfortunately, Sacramento lacks good stadium options for now unless you really want to play football in really old, not as updated stadiums like at sacramento state or hughes. Portland is a good option too but you only have one option to play at Providence Park but if you can make that work, do it. san antonio is an easy option for sure. Indianapolis is also pretty underrated as a market and provides unique NFL relationship building opportunities. Birmingham and Memphis could work as well, but the AAF left a pretty bad taste in my mouth from them. Vegas is a good option but I'm concerned about attendance and ratings compared to san diego who has abandoned Chargers fans. Despite being close to Tampa, Orlando still is a sizable market and only has the Magic to compete with and it has a pretty promising history of supporting offseason football. Market size is smaller than san diego though.
Keep in mind though that they upgraded Sacramento State for the UFL several years back. It would be a fairly promising market, given the success of the MoLos there and a decent winter climate.

I agree on Raleigh, though. It's an NHL market (and the XFL has shown an affinity for sharing markets with the NHL, probably because Jeff Pollack is Gary Bettman's brother) and if the XFL ever does get into franchising—though I'm not convinced Vince ever will do that because that's not really his business model—they have a potential owner in Tom Dundon, who probably would be a little more inclined to invest in a league where he's not dependent on being its financial savior like he was last time.

About the only thing they'd have to worry about is Duke basketball, which of course is huge in Raleigh. But I don't see it as insurmountable.
ev1357
Kicker
Posts: 21
Joined: Mon Mar 11, 2019 12:57 pm

Re: Future XFL Expansion

Post by ev1357 »

johnnyangryfuzzball wrote: Fri Dec 27, 2019 10:24 am I really don't get why we keep bringing up Birmingham. It's not that big of a market. Its fan support has been inconsistent at best. Alabama's a relatively poor (financially speaking) state. It was next-to-last in attendance in the old XFL, ahead of only Chicago. UAB football gets so little support that they tried cancelling the program a few years back. Honestly, I think the only reason Birmingham keeps getting brought up is that the WFL put a team there in the 1970s and every league feels some sort of strange obligation to keep coming back.
Birmingham brings almost nothing to the XFL.
Birmingham is consistently the top college football market. According to this website, http://oswreview.com/history/xfl-tv-ratings/, Birmingham had the third best tv ratings for XFL 2001. They're getting a new open air stadium in 2021. I think it's an attractive location.
GDAWG
MVP
Posts: 2885
Joined: Wed Feb 20, 2019 6:15 pm

Re: Future XFL Expansion

Post by GDAWG »

The XFL Today wrote: Thu Dec 26, 2019 4:18 pm Personally, I think the best choices for expansion are for the following cities:
Birmingham, Alabama (former home of the Bolts)
Chicago, Illinois (former home of the Enforcers)
Las Vegas, Nevada (former home of the Outlaws)
Memphis, Tennessee (former home of the Maniax)
Orlando, Florida (former home of the Rage)
Portland, Oregon
San Antonio, Texas

Some of these cities have a hard time hanging on to teams, but this XFL should make sure teams are placed in these cities, especially Birmingham, Memhis, Orlando, Portland and San Antonio. But Chicago is essential and crucial.
No it is not. Chicago has never proven it can support alternative football, so what makes you think it'll be different?
GDAWG
MVP
Posts: 2885
Joined: Wed Feb 20, 2019 6:15 pm

Re: Future XFL Expansion

Post by GDAWG »

Rangersking669 wrote: Fri Dec 27, 2019 2:18 am
The XFL Today wrote: Thu Dec 26, 2019 4:18 pm Personally, I think the best choices for expansion are for the following cities:
Birmingham, Alabama (former home of the Bolts)
Chicago, Illinois (former home of the Enforcers)
Las Vegas, Nevada (former home of the Outlaws)
Memphis, Tennessee (former home of the Maniax)
Orlando, Florida (former home of the Rage)
Portland, Oregon
San Antonio, Texas

Some of these cities have a hard time hanging on to teams, but this XFL should make sure teams are placed in these cities, especially Birmingham, Memhis, Orlando, Portland and San Antonio. But Chicago is essential and crucial.
I think Raleigh-Durham is an underrated option. No NFL team in market, plenty of stadiums, minimal competition, over 1 million TV homes(25th). Charlotte could work too though. Having a team in either allows you to probably parlay both TV markets somewhat. Unfortunately, Sacramento lacks good stadium options for now unless you really want to play football in really old, not as updated stadiums like at sacramento state or hughes. Portland is a good option too but you only have one option to play at Providence Park but if you can make that work, do it. san antonio is an easy option for sure. Indianapolis is also pretty underrated as a market and provides unique NFL relationship building opportunities. Birmingham and Memphis could work as well, but the AAF left a pretty bad taste in my mouth from them. Vegas is a good option but I'm concerned about attendance and ratings compared to san diego who has abandoned Chargers fans. Despite being close to Tampa, Orlando still is a sizable market and only has the Magic to compete with and it has a pretty promising history of supporting offseason football. Market size is smaller than san diego though.

Notice, all of these options have no more than 1 NFL team and 1 non NFL team combined.

If I had to rank "small TV market" options
1. san antonio
2. Indianapolis(due to NFL relationship potential)
3.san diego(pending stadium renovation, farther from LA than Orlando to TB especially considering traffic)
4. Orlando
5. Portland(for the rivalry with seattle and having hardcore fans)
6. Raleigh-Durham/Charlotte
7. Las Vegas
8. Memphis
9. Birmingham
Realistic options left out: sacramento(stadium issues)

Big TV Market Options(1.5M TV homes or more)
1. Bay Area- if the XFL can work out a way to fix that coliseum's structural and plumbing issues with Oakland and the A's, they should come no more questions asked. If not, explore other options in Berkeley, san jose, or maybe even santa clara, but this may not be as ideal. The league crushed it in the bay area the last time, so this really seems like a must. Capturing abandoned Raiders fans in addition to the entire market of the Bay vaults this over Philly.
2. Philadelphia- Considering Chicago's laundry list of failed spring league teams, giving Philly a shot may not be a bad idea, and they still have over 6M people in their metro area. Philly also has a much stronger MLS attendance record compared to Chicago(which indicates families may be more willing to come out and spend) and Philly's MLS stadium would be much less difficult to fill as it is 10K seats smaller than in Chicago, if the XFL wanted to opt for that. Not to mention, Philly doesn't have two baseball teams to compete with like Chicago(yes, I know the Bay does, but the Bay is a unique situation because you have a ton of abandoned Raiders fans). Philly has a good history with spring football as well.
3. Detroit- Football fans in this city have suffered a TON this century with only 3 playoff appearances...why not bring an XFL team here? stadium options are pretty limited here, with only Ford Field being a viable option. The trouble here is there are a ton of options for a market that isn't that big and, while having troubled fanbases, doesn't have abandoned football fans and isn't a huge market like philly, and has all 4 big leagues unlike Tampa. Not a bad option to have in the long term.
4. Denver- There was a pretty strong history with the usfl here, and denver would be a solid market size wise to get into. There is also an mls stadium here to play in should the xfl want to. Helps that the Broncos are a mess for now.


Options left out due to poor history- Atlanta, Chicago, Phoenix, Boston
Options left out due to having not enough market size/attendance, and too many other good options in sports and events- Miami, Minneapolis, Boston, Chicago, Atlanta

Anybody I left out here?
Providence Park in Portland would not be an option because the MLS Portland Timbers kicked the Portland State football team out and they are now playing in suburban Hillsboro, which seats 7,500.
User avatar
LeoNY
Head Coach
Posts: 1006
Joined: Sat May 25, 2019 8:20 pm

Re: Future XFL Expansion

Post by LeoNY »

Real simple for Birmingham. Be the #1 rated non XFL market in the ratings. The league will take notice of any regions that support the league the most.
GDAWG
MVP
Posts: 2885
Joined: Wed Feb 20, 2019 6:15 pm

Re: Future XFL Expansion

Post by GDAWG »

LeoNY wrote: Fri Dec 27, 2019 12:34 pm Real simple for Birmingham. Be the #1 rated non XFL market in the ratings. The league will take notice of any regions that support the league the most.
If that #1 rated market happens to be Chicago, then I wouldn't be opposed to an Chicago XFL team. If Chicago doesn't care about the XFL, the XFL should not go there, despite the TV market. My apprehension about Chicago is that they have never supported alternative football. Chicago had 2 teams in the WFL, both with poor attendance, the USFL's Blitz and the Enforcers of XFL 1.0 also had poor attendance. If Chicago had led all three leagues in attendance or were in the top 3 in attendance, I would not be opposed to Chicago joining the XFL when the league expands again. That did not happen. Yes, it's the 3rd largest TV market in the country, but its history of alternative football has been poor. Oliver Luck should take that into consideration when the league expands. If the XFL expands into Chicago only because of it's market size and disregards its history, it will look bad for the XFL's return to the Windy City if the attendance matches that of the Enforcers.
XFLInSTL
Running Back
Posts: 114
Joined: Thu May 16, 2019 3:17 pm

Re: Future XFL Expansion

Post by XFLInSTL »

A lot of people here are saying Chicago but the reality is that the XFL has failed there once and it has never really been successful for any other league. I'd like to see the league expand to 12 teams, with franchises in San Antonio, San Diego, Orlando, and possibly Indianapolis.
St. Louis Battlehawks
Metallifreak10
Running Back
Posts: 154
Joined: Tue Oct 29, 2019 9:44 am

Re: Future XFL Expansion

Post by Metallifreak10 »

So, I’ll defend Chicago a little bit once again. The Chicago Rush were near the top in attendance in the Arena League from 2003-2008. 14,000-16,000 per game in that 6-year span in an arena that can hold a little over 17,000. It was a fairly popular team that got local coverage from all of the news affiliates.

Allstate Arena is easy and convenient to get to, where as Soldier Field sucks to get to. I’d like to know if anyone has the local ratings from the original XFL? I’d like to see how Chicago placed among the 8 cities.
User avatar
LeoNY
Head Coach
Posts: 1006
Joined: Sat May 25, 2019 8:20 pm

Re: Future XFL Expansion

Post by LeoNY »

If the XFL comes off as a strong and viable league in year one and it’s a hit amongst sports fans. There will be a number of markets that demand it. It will be different than XFL 2001. The year two or year three franchises will be more open to the league than they would have been initially.
Last edited by LeoNY on Fri Dec 27, 2019 2:01 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Post Reply