Is anyone actually giving the XFL a chance to redeem itself?

[Capella 30,513]

1.6-1.8M viewers is better than almost any sport on at this time. Beat the combine, nhl, most nba and college games. 

[TheIronSheik 8,167]

Seattle concessions vendor tests positive for coronavirus.  

[otb_lifer 7,940]

5 minutes ago, TheIronSheik said:

Seattle concessions vendor tests positive for coronavirus.  

... if they start banning live attendance is anyone gonna really notice?

[TheIronSheik 8,167]

4 minutes ago, otb_lifer said:

... if they start banning live attendance is anyone gonna really notice?

Seattle is one of the best in attendance.

Total attendance through Week 4:

1. STL: 57,081 (2 games)

2. SEA: 51,232 (2 games)

3. DAL: 35,528 (2 games)

4. HOU: 34,918 (2 games)

5. DC: 32,194 (2 games)

6. TB: 30,366 (2 games)

7. NY: 29,750 (2 games)

8. LA: 27,190 (2 games)

[otb_lifer 7,940]

1 minute ago, TheIronSheik said:

Seattle is one of the best in attendance.

Total attendance through Week 4:

1. STL: 57,081 (2 games)

2. SEA: 51,232 (2 games)

3. DAL: 35,528 (2 games)

4. HOU: 34,918 (2 games)

5. DC: 32,194 (2 games)

6. TB: 30,366 (2 games)

7. NY: 29,750 (2 games)

8. LA: 27,190 (2 games)

down?

[Capella 30,513]

Around 35k total yesterday. 20 in Houston/15 in Dallas. Attendance seems to be trending well. 

[NewlyRetired 16,736]

On 3/6/2020 at 8:34 AM, TheIronSheik said:

Seattle concessions vendor tests positive for coronavirus.  

I just saw a stat that the Sounders drew 33,000 yesterday which was their smallest home crowd since 2009. 

It looks like the virus fear is going to have a real effect on Seattle for all sports and will probably get worse before it gets better.

[JaxBill 6,836]

this Vipers game in LA is so bad.

[NewlyRetired 16,736]

1 hour ago, JaxBill said:

this Vipers game in LA is so bad.

I have no idea what they will announce for attendance but in terms of butts in seats, it is the least I have seen.  There are entire sections that are tarped off and the camera has not shown the upper deck from my limited viewing, which might be very sparse.

It looks like less than 10k to me but butts in seats in not what they announce (they announce tickets distributed, like all other American leagues do) so the real number is kind of meaningless I guess since we won't ever know.

I don't think this is a virus fear issue since this exact same stadium was sold out last night for the Galaxy.

Edited March 9, 2020 by NewlyRetired

[Joe Summer 9,489]

The XFL has fired ("reassigned") an officiating supervisor after referees botch final play of Seattle-Houston game

[Joe Summer 9,489]

I feel sorry for this poor sideline reporter. "Please no cursing! Please no cursing!"

[Kal El 3,861]

9 minutes ago, Joe Summer said:

I feel sorry for this poor sideline reporter. "Please no cursing! Please no cursing!"

That's the drawback to instant interviews, though at this time of night, most kids are asleep on the East Coast.

[Capella 30,513]

4th and 1, one possession game, best running game in the league and Trestman kicks a FG. Now down 14. How is he so bad at this. 

[Kal El 3,861]

6 hours ago, Capella said:

4th and 1, one possession game, best running game in the league and Trestman kicks a FG. Now down 14. How is he so bad at this. 

Well, there's next season, I guess.

[Tom Servo 7,062]

5 hours ago, Kal El said:

Well, there's next season...maybe.

 

[Kal El 3,861]

19 minutes ago, Tom Servo said:

 

The plan(I know, plans change) is for the XFL to operate for 3 years, and then see what's going to happen with it.

[Tom Servo 7,062]

4 minutes ago, Kal El said:

The plan(I know, plans change) is for the XFL to operate for 3 years, and then see what's going to happen with it.

I meant for Trestman there may not be a next year.

Sorry for the confusion.

[Kal El 3,861]

27 minutes ago, Tom Servo said:

I meant for Trestman there may not be a next year.

Sorry for the confusion.

No problem, that explains a lot now.

[nirad3 2,691]

Watched most of the late game yesterday only because there was nothing else on.  Yikes.

[Hastur 371]

21 hours ago, Joe Summer said:

The XFL has fired ("reassigned") an officiating supervisor after referees botch final play of Seattle-Houston game

My buddy and I were watching that game. Almost laughable how they handled that.

[hagmania 8,861]

13 hours ago, Kal El said:

The plan(I know, plans change) is for the XFL to operate for 3 years, and then see what's going to happen with it.

:meltzer:

[TheIronSheik 8,167]

I’ll be interested to see what they do in the playoffs. I’m not really a football guy, but I’m a competition guy. And I’ll usually watch anything where one team gets eliminated. 

[Tom Servo 7,062]

21 hours ago, TheIronSheik said:

I’ll be interested to see what they do in the playoffs. I’m not really a football guy, but I’m a competition guy. And I’ll usually watch anything where one team gets eliminated. 

What?  What kind of red-blooded American male DOESN'T LIKE FOOTBALL? 

What are you, some kind of COMMUNIST, PINKO ROOSKIE?????

[NewlyRetired 16,736]

The Washington Governor is about to announce that all gatherings in Seattle over 250 people will be banned.  This will effect MLB, MLS and XFL in the city.

[TheIronSheik 8,167]

5 minutes ago, NewlyRetired said:

The Washington Governor is about to announce that all gatherings in Seattle over 250 people will be banned.  This will effect MLB, MLS and XFL in the city.

The poor XFL.  What were the chances that the city with on of the best attendances and following would end up being the epicenter to the US outbreak?  I mean, I could understand if it was LA or NYC.  But Seattle?  How unfortunately random is that?

[NewlyRetired 16,736]

4 minutes ago, TheIronSheik said:

The poor XFL.  What were the chances that the city with on of the best attendances and following would end up being the epicenter to the US outbreak?  I mean, I could understand if it was LA or NYC.  But Seattle?  How unfortunately random is that?

Washington has a pretty large Asian population which may have brought it back with them via travel to and from Asia.

[NewlyRetired 16,736]

All active sports leagues across the world are going to be taking a financial hit.  The difference being that the hit is spread across a large ownership base where as in the XFL you only have one owner.

I have to assume that even in the XFL's worst case financial projections, they had no ability to forecast something like this Virus issue coming up.

[TheIronSheik 8,167]

2 minutes ago, NewlyRetired said:

Washington has a pretty large Asian population which may have brought it back with them via travel to and from Asia.

No, I get that.  I'm just saying when the XFL picked their locations 3 years ago, there's no way to know that your best city would also be the hotspot for a global pandemic.   

[TheIronSheik 8,167]

Just now, NewlyRetired said:

All active sports leagues across the world are going to be taking a financial hit.  The difference being that the hit is spread across a large ownership base where as in the XFL you only have one owner.

I have to assume that even in the XFL's worst case financial projections, they had no ability to forecast something like this Virus issue coming up.

I like to think in the meeting, when they asked about worst case scenarios, one guy said, "What about if a global virus starts to infect the world?"  Then they all laughed at him.  And right now, he's walking around asking everyone, "Hey, who was it who brought up the global pandemic that everyone laughed at?"  Then walks away smiling ear to ear.

[NewlyRetired 16,736]

Just now, TheIronSheik said:

I like to think in the meeting, when they asked about worst case scenarios, one guy said, "What about if a global virus starts to infect the world?"  Then they all laughed at him.  And right now, he's walking around asking everyone, "Hey, who was it who brought up the global pandemic that everyone laughed at?"  Then walks away smiling ear to ear.

The smile of course lasting only as long as it takes him to realize that he might be out of a job due to being correct.....

[TheIronSheik 8,167]

Just now, NewlyRetired said:

The smile of course lasting only as long as it takes him to realize that he might be out of a job due to being correct.....

And he dies from the coronavirus.  I mean, that's like an O. Henry story right there.  We should sell this!

[NewlyRetired 16,736]

Tough weekend for the XFL.  Both attendance and ratings hit their low point for the season.  As mentioned above, we know attendance is going to have issues outside of the XFL's control going forward.

The TV ratings are much more of a concern for long term viability.  Because the bottom has still not been found, it is hard to make any judgements.   Even with the consecutive week over week drops since the beginning, the viewership is still decent, even at the low point.  But they have to find bottom soon and stabilize.

The average viewership drop has been as follows, across all networks:

Week 1 to Week 2: -35.9%

Week 2 to Week 3: -21.8%

Week 3 to Week 4: -14%

Week 4 to Week 5: -16%

[Ron Swanson 2,932]

I've enjoyed watching Roughnecks games, but only because Houston is so good, relatively speaking. I doubt I would be watching any of the other teams regularly.

[NewlyRetired 16,736]

With the NBA and MLS now having suspended their seasons, I assume the NHL and XFL will be following shortly.

The XFL has the toughest call of all the leagues currently playing because they don't control their own venues and rescheduling games could be difficult especially with the tv slots they have.

[joey 1,512]

1 hour ago, NewlyRetired said:

With the NBA and MLS now having suspended their seasons, I assume the NHL and XFL will be following shortly.

The XFL has the toughest call of all the leagues currently playing because they don't control their own venues and rescheduling games could be difficult especially with the tv slots they have.

and they only have a 10 game season. Even taking a 1 month break reduces it to just a 6 week season. Sad for the XFL and hopefully they can overcome this (likely) setback.

I read that the Seattle game will be played in an empty stadium (queue the "if a tree falls in the forest" joke ) but maybe that's a path to finishing the season. Televised only games across the league unless someone in the XFL (players, staff, etc) is actually diagnosed. hmmm...

[NewlyRetired 16,736]

2 hours ago, joey said:

and they only have a 10 game season. Even taking a 1 month break reduces it to just a 6 week season. Sad for the XFL and hopefully they can overcome this (likely) setback.

I read that the Seattle game will be played in an empty stadium (queue the "if a tree falls in the forest" joke ) but maybe that's a path to finishing the season. Televised only games across the league unless someone in the XFL (players, staff, etc) is actually diagnosed. hmmm...

Financially that is hard to make the numbers work.

They get no money from TV so they live on game day revenue.  Renting the stadiums are a massive cost usually offset with some game day revenue.  

If you have zero game day revenue and zero tv dollars, that is going to significantly accelerate lowering what ever nest egg Vince has intended for the league.

There is no good answer for any league to be honest, it is a financial nightmare across the board.

 

I did mention in another thread that I thought it was ironic that the one league (the NFL) that could withstand playing in empty stadiums is the one league that may not have to deal with this at all if things clear up in the coming months.

Edited March 12, 2020 by NewlyRetired

[Walking Boot 8,296]

Welp, it was a run

[Capella 30,513]

Season cancelled. Good luck with XFL 3.0 in 2040, Vince 

[joey 1,512]

47 minutes ago, Capella said:

Season cancelled. Good luck with XFL 3.0 in 2040, Vince 

so sad. I noticed the update I got said "regular season games" so maybe there's a (slim) chance that they come back, take the best 4 teams, and have 2 weekends of playoffs.

So sad for this little minor league. I hope they can return next year and beyond.

[IvanKaramazov 22,025]

That really sucks.  This league had a lot going for it, only to get knee-capped by a once in a lifetime event.

[joey 1,512]

1 hour ago, joey said:

so sad. I noticed the update I got said "regular season games" so maybe there's a (slim) chance that they come back, take the best 4 teams, and have 2 weekends of playoffs.

So sad for this little minor league. I hope they can return next year and beyond.

Nevermind. Just saw update that XFL is allowing players to sign with NFL teams after they finish their exit physical tomorrow. Season 1 is dead

[comfortably numb 7,553]

http://imgur.com/ERzAg1X

[Da Guru 6,444]

I loved hearing the players and coaches miked up. 

[NewlyRetired 16,736]

This is very good.  I wasn't sure how they would handle this (specifically the players)

====================

Despite the cancellation, the league said all players will be paid their base pay and benefits for the regular season, while ticket holders will receive refunds or credit toward future games.

[NewlyRetired 16,736]

You know what is really strange about all of this?  Every league that suspended play stated the Virus was the specific reason.

The XFL's short statement did not make one mention of the virus....Maybe since they went last today, they figured every one would know...

Edited March 13, 2020 by NewlyRetired

[JaxBill 6,836]

@KonnorFulk_XFL: The #XFL has suspended its Day to Day operations effective immediately and all team and league employees have been terminated

The statement was read to employees through a conference call by League President Jeffrey Pollack. No questions were taken. Call lasted all of 10 minutes

 

[Walking Boot 8,296]

Deja vu

[TLEF316 4,930]

See ya in 10 years when some rich dopes decide to throw away millions on a Spring football pipe-dream again..

Edited April 10, 2020 by TLEF316

[Tom Servo 7,062]

3 hours ago, TLEF316 said:

See ya in 10 years when some rich dopes decide to throw away millions on a Spring football pipe-dream again..

To be fair, the circumstances behind the death of XFL 2.0 are FAR different from what killed the others. This one had a fair start; it was not given a chance to succeed. 

[TLEF316 4,930]

43 minutes ago, Tom Servo said:

To be fair, the circumstances behind the death of XFL 2.0 are FAR different from what killed the others. This one had a fair start; it was not given a chance to succeed. 

Of course. But in reality (and I think McMahon knows this, which is why he shut down today) it almost certainly would have failed anyway. 

Guessing Vince has had a lot of time to think lately and saw the writing on the wall.  This whole situation has given him a nice excuse to give up right away rather than trudge on for multiple years like he said he was going to this time.