https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/wwe/5157988/wwe-chief-vince-mcmahon-considers-bringing-back-the-xfl/

 

29 minutes ago, 66 Chevelle said:

I'll  be in Dallas for game 1, Houston for game 2, and St. Louis for games 3 and 4... I'll let you know how it goes... being told that the first home game in St. Louis is expected to be a sell out...

Sellout of the lower, lower, bowl, maybe. That dome seats 67,000 people.

 

4 hours ago, 66 Chevelle said:

being told that the first home game in St. Louis is expected to be a sell out...

hmm, wonder if this'll run like the old Baltimore Football Club / CFLers / CFL Colts / Stallions -- new team in weird league makes a splash in a city that the NFL jerked around.

(man, the US expansion was so weird and so so CFL. even the successful team had more names than years in existence)

4 hours ago, JCon said:

Sellout of the lower, lower, bowl, maybe. That dome seats 67,000 people.

If it sells out I'll eat this table

1 hour ago, Geebrr said:

If it sells out I'll eat this table

What's the table look like? Lol

I'll be in Seattle on March 22nd.  Seattle has a home game. My son & I might check it out.

17 hours ago, Booch said:

What's the table look like? Lol

This was based on the 67k capacity, not the 27.5k reconfiguration they are using  ha ha

 

They have 21 k season tickets sold in St. Louis 

26 minutes ago, Jpan85 said:

They have 21 k season tickets sold in St. Louis 

Source?

Yeah I got that all wrong Seattle has sold 20000 for season opener St. Louis has sold 6000 season tickets 

LIKE similar leagues..interest peaks originally...then wanes pretty fast

Fans hate "spring" (ha ha, sure) football as it starts in February. The only way the XFL has a chance to survive is to switch to the same season as the NFL & take them on head to head in every way. Even then, they still have no chance. 

Edited February 5, 20206 yr by SpeedFlex27

From the article so you don't have to actually read it. 😉

Quote

Meltzer goes on to note that Vince is actually aware of just how much money he is going to lose, but has a plan regarding how to make it all back:

“The way it’s structured is that Vince is probably gonna lose $375 million on this league and he will and he knows and that’s what he’s gonna do and at the end of those three years the idea is that he will be able to get television deals that will total over $125 million a year which will cover his losses and then he’s okay. You know… there’s a lot of factors involved in that. Again, the ratings are one of them. If he can get… if these stations feel it’s valuable to pay that much. It’s not as long of a shot as everyone thinks.”

 

Edited February 5, 20206 yr by Jacquie

16 hours ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

Fans hate "spring" (ha ha, sure) football as it starts in February. The only way the XFL has a chance to survive is to switch to the same season as the NFL & take them on head to head in every way. Even then, they still have no chance. 

Unless its indoor football and not arena style on 1/2 a field. I think the idea of bringing football early is a solid one, IF they played during the NFL season I think their best shot would be on none nfl days. But yeah they dont stand a chance. 

11 minutes ago, Jacquie said:

From the article so you don't have to actually read it. 😉

 

So if they last 3 years, hes hoping the tv deal 3-4 years after that would pay back his initial investment. What then covers his losses from the first 3 years after the initial, and the next 3-4 while 90% of the income is paying back his investment? Its a 0 percent chance to be flush after 7 years he is banking on. Just insane. How many pro football leagues other then the CFL and NFL have operated for 7 consecutive years? Just the arena league? With no tv money and 10k fans a game? Seems like financial suicide to me. 

I don't see how it makes money...  when was the last "new league" or sport been successful?   UFC 15 years ago? 

The plan makes no sense.  He's somehow going to run the league for three years, struggle and then get TV deals worth hundreds of millions?  What's special about three years from now?  The product is a hit this season or it's pretty much done.  I think he's overestimating his own willingness to burn money.

36 minutes ago, JuranBoldenRules said:

The plan makes no sense.  He's somehow going to run the league for three years, struggle and then get TV deals worth hundreds of millions?  What's special about three years from now?  The product is a hit this season or it's pretty much done.  I think he's overestimating his own willingness to burn money.

Pftt.

Next you will tell me it was a crazy idea to take a reverse mortgage so that I can get aggressive with lottery tickets.

Edited February 6, 20206 yr by Geebrr

The original XFL at least had a chance since at that time they had a lot of potential cross over fans from the WWE.  They had some good ideas and at least the roster had more NFL cast offs that casuals may recognize.

53 minutes ago, JuranBoldenRules said:

The plan makes no sense.  He's somehow going to run the league for three years, struggle and then get TV deals worth hundreds of millions?  What's special about three years from now?  The product is a hit this season or it's pretty much done.  I think he's overestimating his own willingness to burn money.

It’s all about tv rights fees which are through the roof.  They’re getting a billion dollars for pretty low ratings with wwe.  And bad demos.  If XFL can get better demos and consistent ratings even if there not huge someone will pay.   That’s the gamble.  
 

And I don’t think he cares much about his initial investment.   He’s 74. And he’s flush wirh cash.  Can’t take it wirh him.  I think it’s ego. He wants to prove he can make something other than wrestling work.  He’s failed at everything else.  It’s about legacy.  
 

I also have a feeling he might sell the wwe.  

24 minutes ago, The Unknown Poster said:

It’s all about tv rights fees which are through the roof.  They’re getting a billion dollars for pretty low ratings with wwe.  And bad demos.  If XFL can get better demos and consistent ratings even if there not huge someone will pay.   That’s the gamble.  
 

And I don’t think he cares much about his initial investment.   He’s 74. And he’s flush wirh cash.  Can’t take it wirh him.  I think it’s ego. He wants to prove he can make something other than wrestling work.  He’s failed at everything else.  It’s about legacy.  
 

I also have a feeling he might sell the wwe.  

Currently... he's betting that they will remain like that over the next few years and that the XFL demos are good enough that a network will be willing to pay that kind of money.  If either of those don't happen, his plan is shot.

46 minutes ago, The Unknown Poster said:

It’s all about tv rights fees which are through the roof. 

If it were that easy then the AAFL or Arena would still be in business....  I think Vince mistakes the amount of interest the XFL actually has.

I wonder what crazy ideas he will have mid season when ratings tank and he goes into desperation mode to get them up?

400 million in losses projected before kick off, for year 1? I bet that goes up another 100 million. Another stupid project from a rich *******.

Nobody is fine losing 400M

You don't get to a point in life that you are able to lose 400M by being ok with losing 400M

That is nonsense 

7 minutes ago, Geebrr said:

Nobody is fine losing 400M

You don't get to a point in life that you are able to lose 400M by being ok with losing 400M

That is nonsense 

What is nonsense is the XFL itself. These rich idiots never learn. 

2 hours ago, The Unknown Poster said:

It’s all about tv rights fees which are through the roof.  They’re getting a billion dollars for pretty low ratings with wwe.  And bad demos.  If XFL can get better demos and consistent ratings even if there not huge someone will pay.   That’s the gamble.  
 

And I don’t think he cares much about his initial investment.   He’s 74. And he’s flush wirh cash.  Can’t take it wirh him.  I think it’s ego. He wants to prove he can make something other than wrestling work.  He’s failed at everything else.  It’s about legacy.  
 

I also have a feeling he might sell the wwe.  

I get the play for TV money.  Of course TV is dying so streaming might be an option too with so many services competing.  Either way they'll know if the product is worth selling in the next couple months.  Three years from now is immaterial to success or failure.

I just don't see how it succeeds?     Back in the day when XFL first launched they had red hot wrestling to promote it which would pull a tonne of their target demographic crowd over.  They had gimmicks which at least made it seem to be an edgier football product.    They had good tv and better football players.

I don't see how they succeed this time around when WWE has 50+ year old audiences who are already entrenched with their own favorite NFL clubs,   watered down players,  no gimmicks,  way more competition for entertainment...   Also while football has had a good past two seasons.... previous to that the NFL was worried because they were on a downward trend with an aging audience losing big time fans going over to the NBA.

Vince has a tonne of cash to blow,  but for his one success (wrestling) he's failed miserably at everything else.