Xfl

[BLJR]

I think OU is very tight with their stadium. What other events have they ever had there? I know they have had some HS Football championships there, and the Rolling Stones played there in the 90's once, but I think that is pretty much it, other than sooner football.

[dankrutka]

I’ll bet this never takes off. This is just my opinion, but CTE research is increasingly showing the long term dangers of playing football. Soon, it seems players will be able to test whether they have a degenerative brain disease that causes memory loss, confusion, impaired judgment, impulse control problems, aggression, depression, suicidality, parkinsonism, and eventually progressive dementia. Parents and kids are going to increasingly choose to play other sports. I think we’re going to see a real drop in the popularity of football in coming years. Unfortunately, there’s really no way to make the game safe as CTE is caused as much by the everyplay hits as the targeting ones.

If you’re dismissive of CTE and have never watched the Frontline documentary then I really recommend you do so: https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/f...gue-of-denial/

And, the evidence for CTE has increased dramatically since the documentary too. I don’t think there’s going to be a market for another football league in the future and I see the current leagues losing a lot of popularity.

These stories are coming out with more regularity and they're so gut wrenching. This one is from the wife of retired safety Rob Kelly: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/02/o...in-damage.html

"I don’t think the public has any idea how widespread this problem truly is. There are likely to be hundreds of wives and partners of football players, maybe more, who live a life like mine. Sadly, there is a feeling of shame among those affected, in both the men and their families. Rob and I hope that, in telling this story, we may help other families.

But who these men have become is not who they are, and I write that with conviction. The symptoms they display are beyond their control and occur through no fault of their own. These men chose football, but they didn’t choose brain damage.

I used to read all the articles about C.T.E., all the stories about football players committing suicide. I’d skim the comments to see remarks like: “They know what they signed up for” and “Of course football is bad for the brain, everyone knows that.”

But when all those big hits happened and the fans cheered, did they cheer in spite of knowing a man just greatly increased his risk for dementia? Was anyone worried about an A.L.S. diagnosis or a C.T.E.-related suicide at 40 after their favorite player suffered repeated blows to the head on the field? No, they cheered and they celebrated because they didn’t know. And neither did we."

Also, are leagues like the XFL going to be able to afford the CTE lawsuits?

[jerrywall]

No one has even broached the topic of streaming media. It’s not hard these days to launch a platform that gels with Roku, Apple TV, chrome, etc. The last couple years have seen entire networks that solely exist on streaming. Not to mention original content by Netflix and amazon. XFL streamed live with amazon prime subscription? Yup.

I can't imagine they wouldn't include this on the WWE Network, which is already on most streaming devices...

[Uptowner]

I imagine this is the way they are going. Make it cheap or free. In general it will be interesting to see their approach because it is going to be different.

Here’s something I’d pay for: imagine the general broadcast is free, but for a “season pass” subscription the game cuts away to highlights and commentary instead of commercials.

[Zuplar]

Here’s something I’d pay for: imagine the general broadcast is free, but for a “season pass” subscription the game cuts away to highlights and commentary instead of commercials.

Absolutely. Don’t know why the NFL hasn’t done something similar with their season pass product.

[Thomas Vu]

Absolutely. Don’t know why the NFL hasn’t done something similar with their season pass product.

Redzone?

[Richard at Remax]

Redzone is different. It was made for fantasy football and jumps around to every game.

Like above, I am surprised the NFL doesn't have a pay per view option for single games. I would gladly for over some $$$ to watch the Saints every week when they aren't on primetime.

[jn1780]

They probably still make a lot more money with the commercials then they would with paid commercial free subscriptions. I imagine one Netflix or amazon show is significantly cheaper than the cost to play one football game?

[d-usa]

There is always the possibility of following the Hulu model: pay for premium services and still get forced to watch commercials

[Laramie]

10 Possible Cities for XFL Teams in 2020:

10. Las Vegas, NV - Bringing an XFL team back to Vegas makes a marginal amount of sense. The Oakland Raiders will become the Las Vegas Raiders in 2020, so the desert city would become a football mecca almost overnight.

09. San Diego, CA - The added benefit of putting a team in San Diego is the appeal for personnel. Southern California has a wealth of universities pumping out college football players.

8. Columbus, OH - In that same thread, Columbus would be poised to recruit players from one of the top football factories in the country.
...Columbus is halfway between Cleveland and Cincinnati. . .

7. St. Louis, MO - . . . The Dome at America’s Center, formerly known as the Edward Jones Dome, still stands, so the matter of a temporary home isn’t as big of an issue.

6. Birmingham, AL - . . . A revived franchise could bring professional pride back to ‘Bama, particularly if some underrated star power from the Crimson Tide finds its way onto XFL rosters.

5. Chicago, IL - . . . Would one of the most storied fanbases in the NFL say no to watching football year-round?

4. New York, NY - What? Four football teams in New York is too many? Nonsense. . .

3. Oklahoma City, OK - . . . Plus, the city is far enough from both Kansas City and Dallas to draw interest from fans looking for alternatives to the Chiefs and Dallas Cowboys.

2. Portland, OR - . . . Adding a professional football team helps round out the Portland Trailblazers and Portland Timbers and brings the city one step closer to becoming a sports hub in the northwest.

1. San Antonio, TX - . . . Football fans in San Antonio have to divide their loyalties between the Cowboys, the Houston Texans, or choosing another team that gets no local coverage on Sunday afternoon. Imagine tens of thousands of screaming fans packed into the Alamodome on gameday.

Source: http://lastwordonprofootball.com/201...fl-teams-2020/

[Zuplar]

10 Possible Cities for XFL Teams in 2020:

10. Las Vegas, NV - Bringing an XFL team back to Vegas makes a marginal amount of sense. The Oakland Raiders will become the Las Vegas Raiders in 2020, so the desert city would become a football mecca almost overnight.

09. San Diego, CA - The added benefit of putting a team in San Diego is the appeal for personnel. Southern California has a wealth of universities pumping out college football players.

8. Columbus, OH - In that same thread, Columbus would be poised to recruit players from one of the top football factories in the country.
...Columbus is halfway between Cleveland and Cincinnati. . .

7. St. Louis, MO - . . . The Dome at America’s Center, formerly known as the Edward Jones Dome, still stands, so the matter of a temporary home isn’t as big of an issue.

6. Birmingham, AL - . . . A revived franchise could bring professional pride back to ‘Bama, particularly if some underrated star power from the Crimson Tide finds its way onto XFL rosters.

5. Chicago, IL - . . . Would one of the most storied fanbases in the NFL say no to watching football year-round?

4. New York, NY - What? Four football teams in New York is too many? Nonsense. . .

3. Oklahoma City, OK - . . . Plus, the city is far enough from both Kansas City and Dallas to draw interest from fans looking for alternatives to the Chiefs and Dallas Cowboys.

2. Portland, OR - . . . Adding a professional football team helps round out the Portland Trailblazers and Portland Timbers and brings the city one step closer to becoming a sports hub in the northwest.

1. San Antonio, TX - . . . Football fans in San Antonio have to divide their loyalties between the Cowboys, the Houston Texans, or choosing another team that gets no local coverage on Sunday afternoon. Imagine tens of thousands of screaming fans packed into the Alamodome on gameday.

Source: http://lastwordonprofootball.com/201...fl-teams-2020/

They already announced cities I posted above and OKC barely missed out.

[Laramie]

Seems as though OKC barely missed being considered for this first expansion to Memphis.

OKC - 40%
Dallas - 7%
Austin - 7%
Memphis - 46%

West Division
San Diego
Las Vegas
Portland
Omaha

East Division
New York
Birmingham
Columbus
Memphis

Sorry Zuplar, I misread your post. Do you have a link to the above XFL 2020 announcement of cities.

[Zuplar]

Sorry Zuplar, I misread your post. Do you have a link to the above XFL 2020 announcement of cities.

I actually got that info directly from their Twitter.

[Laramie]

I actually got that info directly from their Twitter.

Found the Twitter reference; we almost made the cut. The difference between OKC and Memphis; Memphis has a city owned 56,000 seat stadium. We have 7,500 seat OKCPS Taft Stadium.

6 of the 8 XFL franchises will probably be playing in city owned venue except Las Vegas & New York. NFL Raiders are scheduled to play in a new $2 billion stadium in Las Vegas in 2019. The XFL Las Vegas franchise will probably return to UNLV's 40,000 seat Sam Boyd Stadium.

We are probably the next city who could obtain an XFL franchise by relocation or future XFL expansion. Vegas' franchise will have a challenge--keep your eye on XFL - LV; will be much like Dallas with the NFL Cowboys & the AFL Dallas Texans (now Kansas City Chiefs) co-existed for one year.

OKC needs to partnership with the Funks; construct & fully finance a debt free 20,000-seat MLS stadium.

[Laramie]

It's not the NFL, but pro football will return in 2020 as XFL selects St. Louis for franchise: https://www.stltoday.com/sports/foot...=home-breaking

Teams and their venues (primary tenant in parentheses):

Dallas: Globe Life Park (Texas Rangers, MLB)

Houston: BBVA Compass Stadium (Houston Dynamo, MLS)

Los Angeles: StubHub Center (LA Chargers, NFL/LA Galaxy, MLS)

New York: MetLife Stadium (New York Giants and Jets, NFL)

St. Louis: Dome at America's Center (formerly St. Louis Rams, 1995-2015)

Seattle: CenturyLink Field (Seattle Seahawks, NFL/Seattle Sounders, MLS)

Tampa Bay: Raymond James Stadium (Tampa Bay Buccaneers, NFL)

Washington: Audi Field (D.C. United, MLS)

[Jhawk1021]

A new football league being created by former players picking OKC as a location for a team.

"The league did not say when it would begin play, though it did say the first 10 teams would be the San Diego Warriors, Oklahoma City Power, Portland Progress, Texas Revolution, Ohio Players, Florida Strong, Birmingham Kings, St. Louis Independence, Connecticut Underground and Oakland Panthers."

http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/2...ootball-league

[Jersey Boss]

And there are these guys who are slated to start in 2019, right after the Super Bowl.
https://aaf.com
Everybody is looking to make a buck. Track record for any start up since the AFL & NFL merged in 1970 is zero.
USFL, WFL, and others that never made it off the drawing board. Color me skeptical based on history.

[jedicurt]

A new football league being created by former players picking OKC as a location for a team.

"The league did not say when it would begin play, though it did say the first 10 teams would be the San Diego Warriors, Oklahoma City Power, Portland Progress, Texas Revolution, Ohio Players, Florida Strong, Birmingham Kings, St. Louis Independence, Connecticut Underground and Oakland Panthers."

http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/2...ootball-league

typically only about 2 in 7 of these leagues ever make it off the ground... there is one announced about every two years. We are still playing a wait and see with the AAF. (https://aaf.com/) they have their 8 teams announced and a start date of February 2nd of 2019. The XFL has big money behind it, so i think it will have at least one season.

most of these leagues only last 1 or 2 years. remember the UFL? the reformed WFL? the FXFL? the 2013 attempt to revive the USFL? the SFL? the SUSFL? the MWFL? most of these you can't even find on google and need to go back and find their now defunct sites on archive.org.

and this doesn't even include the literally 13 different indoor leagues that have existed since 2000

so we shall see if this league ever comes into existence.

[OKCRT]

A new football league being created by former players picking OKC as a location for a team.

"The league did not say when it would begin play, though it did say the first 10 teams would be the San Diego Warriors, Oklahoma City Power, Portland Progress, Texas Revolution, Ohio Players, Florida Strong, Birmingham Kings, St. Louis Independence, Connecticut Underground and Oakland Panthers."

http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/2...ootball-league

We don't want that one. We want the XFL. If any of the new leagues are going to make it I think the XFL has the best shot. They are in larger cities and can attract more eyeballs in turn leads to more advertising dollars which in turn leads to more stability.

Here's an idea. If OKC could get in the XFL then you could build an stadium that could also be the home to soccer. Prob. 20-25k seats should do it IMO.

[bluedogok]

I wouldn't be surprised if the NFL starts it's own developmental league. I'm kinda surprised they haven't already. If you have ever watched hard knocks on HBO there are so many talented players that get cut. Maybe bring back some of the talent that goes to the CFL, and be above the talent of arena league. I think it would be very successful. They would play over the spring and summer, and those prospects who do well could make it on the parent team in the fall.

They did, the World League of American Football. Teams in the US and Europe in the spring. They closed the US division and Europe held on for awhile. Some owners didn't want to continue spending money on it.

The WFL and USFL failed because they tried to compete with the NFL for players and going to a fall season, the XFL was not going after NFL players directly. I think they learned a lot from the failed attempt and are looking for a more serious interpretation this time. The CFL attempted US expansion for a few years before terminating the US teams. I think there is more year round interest in football now than under previous attempts.

As far as the CTE issue a friend that I went all through school with and was an all-state running back is now battling ALS and its progression has been rapid. He was a battering ram type of running back and he feels he had more concussions from other sports/activities than he did football. Granted, it was more from a cumulative effect, no one will ever know. There are still many out there that want to play, if you play anything, participate in any activity (not just football) you assume the risks involved. The population is larger so you have a bigger pool of potential players willing to take the risk. That is the reason why there are so many more competitive college teams than in the past.

I think an MLS size stadium would be the perfect, a minor league type of league has no business playing in 60,000+ seat stadiums.

[amocore]

I am all for it if that helps us get a 20 to 30k seats soccer\football built nicely.
We could use for the energy FC, Minor Football, HS football and maybe the US Nat team and the gold Cup.

[d-usa]

Some of the state soccer tournaments could be played there as well. Plus concerts, motorcross, monster trucks, etc.

[Laramie]

_{A new stadium for Oklahoma City Energy Football Club is one of the proposed initiatives for the fourth Metropolitan Area Projects (MAPS) plan.}

“This is our time to write the next chapter in Oklahoma City’s story,” Holt said in a MAPS video posted on the city’s website. “It is time to talk about MAPS 4 and dream big again.”

Since October, Holt said he has received a little over 1,000 ideas from community members, and while an advisory board exists to review MAPS 3 projects, no such board has been created to assess ideas for MAPS 4 so far.

Oklahoma Gazette - Drawing MAPS: https://www.okgazette.com/oklahoma/d...nt?oid=5220549

The city’s Better Streets, Safer City initiative launched in 2017 and the temporary sales tax incorporated through the project will expire in Spring 2020, Holt said.

“We’ll dedicate 2019 to planning and 2020 to executing our plans,” Holt said. “2020 is right around the corner.”

[OKCRT]

Email Vince McMahon and ask for him to consider OKC for XFL. I actually think this league has a chance to stay around a while. I hear they will have a tv contract and will be looking for team owners in the future. Tons of really good players out there that just miss making an NFL roster can make for some pretty good football. I doubt OKC will ever get an NFL team but this XFL could be something that we could get behind. It would def. make passing a stadium pkg. easier if you coupled it with soccer. You would be in a league with larger cities and garner more great pub for Okc. I could get excited about it and would prob. buy season tickets. Not so much for the other 2 new leagues since they don't look to have the financial backing like the XFL does and prob. wont be around long.

[Dob Hooligan]

The upcoming Alliance of American Football and XFL are both offshoots of the first XFL: The XFL obviously has the name and one season heritage, plus Vince McMahon and his WWE organization, with their great marketing and male demographic understanding. But then NBC Sports president Dick Ebersol was the driving force behind the original XFL, with his recent loss of the NFL he had the cash and ready made Network TV structure for almost any football league to step into. Dick's son, Charlie, has always wanted to make another run at pro football, and has spent years developing a long term, spring football league. The original USFL model was a better pattern than the XFL, and Ebersol appears to be assembling cities that don't have NFL teams, are college football interest areas, is arranging regional talent pooling, deep pro football experience, senior Major TV experience, and a desire to draw younger viewers while keeping the long term fan.

I think AAF is going to be a better fit for Oklahoma City, both in terms of long term commitment and type of football played.