Originally Posted by B_Ambuehl:
I think it has a chance to succeed, if it improves upon the rules of NFL football and the rules give way towards a more entertaining product. NFL football itself is boring to a lot of casual viewers. Teams run on 1st down for 0-2 yards. Rules regarding formations and eligible receivers are too restrictive. I would start by trending towards some of the CFL rules. Widen the field by 10 yards, change yards to go from 10 to 15 (or bring downs from 4 down to 3), eliminate ineligible receiver rules, allow more motion (like arena football), and maybe consider allowing forward passes past the line of scrimmage. The rules need to make the average football fan curious enough to wanna check it out, and from there you hope enough will stay interested.
The problem with the '01 XFL is it was still just a regular football game, but with lesser talented players.
I agree. There are tons of ways to innovate while making it still look like football. I don't think you need to look like arena, but you can look more like college or high school. And that innovation includes the stadium experience and how football is delivered through TV and merchandising. [Reply]
A few what if examples....
What if you put a team in Orlando and Tim Tebow was your QB
You put a team in San Antonio with Johnny Manziel
You put a team in Columbus with JT Barrett
There are plenty of big name college guys who don't fit in the NFL. And a lot of NFL guys who wouldn't fit in the XFL. You telling me Tebow and Manziel wouldn't be interesting to watch? That college towns wouldn't rally around these kinds of names in a pro league? [Reply]
Originally Posted by chiefzilla1501:
The more I think about how it could work, the more I don't see the need for gimmicks. You don't think this would do well offseason in a market like Portland, OKC, Louisville, Austin, des Moines, etc...? Second rate talent isn't an issue for mls, usl, or minor league baseball. And the xfl proposal we are seeing so far looks nothing like what was proposed 20 years ago which I would agree would end in disaster. But a measured approach to treat this like a niche league might stand a pretty good chance.
It would flop in OKC. Unless you had house hold OSU and OU players on it. And then it “might” half ass work, but I doubt it.
OU and OSU fans aren’t going to easily give up their disposable income on some jank football product when college football is king in Oklahoma. [Reply]
