I think a football league using that model would be a lot more successful than the MLS. Unlike the MLS, they'd be offering a sport that Americans actually care about. Making it about the community would be a smart choice in the aftermath of three cities losing their NFL teams due to pure greed.
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Totally agree. And I'll add that not only does MLS have to sell Americans on soccer, they also have to convince that smaller % of fans to watch it over EPL and European soccer leagues. Still they're pulling tens of thousands of fans. Hell, Cincinnati is pulling over 20K per game for a league INFERIOR to MLS.
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Having the season start in January seems dumb
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Why? No competition with NFL or college football. Which also means you can easily use some of those stadiums. It's also the boringest month for sports with only the NBA and NHL regular seasons being offered.
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For the first few weeks, fan interest would be almost zero, considering NFL is still going on. Then your going to be relying on the wives and families of football fans to okay another 8 weeks of sitting on the couch. Plus don't underestimate the number of sports fans who would rather watch elite athletes play regular season basketball or hockey as opposed to seeing some Southwest Montana A&M backup QB throw an orange ball to "Not Good Enough for NFL WR A or B"
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There are plenty of people who watch sports constantly all year round. Including soccer fans who move on from EPL to MLS. But you're also looking at this as some mass market play. I think you're underestimating how many of those same families who live in Des Moines that are looking for things to do with their kids in January. If Major League Lacrosse can pull in a few thousand per game and MLS can pull in 15-20K despite being very inferior to European soccer (and if USL can pull 8K to even 20K for a league even inferior to MLS), then XFL can certainly pull in a decent crowd if it's run well. Portland soccer is an excellent example of how something like this could work.
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Completely agree. This will be a train wreck on an epic scale.

The original XFL was a train wreck that bombed in the ratings and was cancelled after one season, and that was BEFORE CTE and #MeToo. McMahon tried to sell the original XFL on Extreme Violence and Extreme Sexuality, and all he actually delivered was He Hate Me and boring minor league football.

And now he says nobody with any kind of criminal record will be allowed to play in the new XFL? :-) He NEEDS players like Manziel and Kaepernick to have any chance at all, and he just eliminated both of them.

Vince McMahon is a senile old man with more money than he knows what to do with and a desperate need for attention. If I were one of his heirs, I'd be pissed.
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Um, have you EVER watched the product that Vince McMahon made his fortune with?
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I just dont see much of a point? Why does McMahon think it will succeed this time?

Americans have this thing, we dont like to watch inferior sports leagues. We like to watch the top talent play.

The UFL crashed and burned a few years ago for the same reasons.....inferior talent and boring games. But At least Schottenheimer got himself a pro title before his health went south.....
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And yet minor league baseball, mls, and usl are doing well pulling decent crowds. Not blockbuster successes. But successful within their niche. The USFL failed because it tried to take on the nfl. The xfl 1.0 probably did too. This xfl doesn't look like they're doing that.
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Maybe it can develop a niche following. If McMahon's goal is to create something small like that Arena or the Indoor league, maybe he can. It's just hard to envision something that failed so spectacularly 20 years ago(basically)becoming a hit now. Also, you gotta get off the January thing. Nobody is watching this shit at least until the NFL season ends. If McMahon wants to give it any shot, he'd start it the week after the Super Bowl. He'll have a small window. Come the second week of March, nobody is watching the XFL either.
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We shall see. Its just really hard to convince people to watch an inferior league. Theres already a built in mindset that its a 'lesser' league and thats hard to overcome.

Maybe McMahon has lowered his expectations than the original league.
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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.
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Cant believe I'm saying this, but... I'm with Lex
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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.
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