USFL

[GUBRATS]

Just watching the Houston Gamblers playing the New Jersey Generals at the Liberty Stadium Houston 

A 58,000 capacity stadium with about 200 fans in it 

Wierd 

[HawkMan]

8 minutes ago, GUBRATS said:

Just watching the Houston Gamblers playing the New Jersey Generals at the Liberty Stadium Houston 

A 58,000 capacity stadium with about 200 fans in it 

Wierd 

I'm so grateful to you that you've started a whole new thread about this non event. RL fan giggles at a non RL sport with a poor attendance. Tee Hee ,how spiffing.

[GUBRATS]

3 minutes ago, HawkMan said:

I'm so grateful to you that you've started a whole new thread about this non event. RL fan giggles at a non RL sport with a poor attendance. Tee Hee ,how spiffing.

Just flicking through the channels and saw it , didn't know it existed , very creepy with literally family and friends in a huge stadium , not trying to make any point , if I was trying to do that I'd have put it on the general forum board instead of here 

Edited May 21, 2023 by GUBRATS

[HawkMan]

5 minutes ago, GUBRATS said:

Just flicking through the channels and saw it , didn't know it existed , very creepy with literally family and friends in a huge stadium , not trying to make any point , if I was trying to do that I'd have put it on the general forum board instead of here 

 

Whatever.

 

[JohnM]

According to Wikipedia, The United States Football League was a professional American football league that played for three seasons, 1983 through 1985. The league played a spring/summer schedule in each of its active seasons. The 1986 season was scheduled to be played in the autumn/winter, directly competing against the long-established National Football League. However, the USFL ceased operations before that season was scheduled to begin.

[GUBRATS]

4 hours ago, JohnM said:

According to Wikipedia, The United States Football League was a professional American football league that played for three seasons, 1983 through 1985. The league played a spring/summer schedule in each of its active seasons. The 1986 season was scheduled to be played in the autumn/winter, directly competing against the long-established National Football League. However, the USFL ceased operations before that season was scheduled to begin.

Restarted again last year 

[gingerjon]

26 minutes ago, GUBRATS said:

Restarted again last year 

There's it, the XFL and at least one other.

All with the full 'NFL' cameras and coverage set-up and about ten people in the stands.

There may very well be some money to be made from a springtime gridiron league but none of these leagues seem to have worked out how to do it.

[Gerrumonside ref]

The original USFL in the 1980’s did gain traction amongst American Football fans and I remember it well at the time.

It had some top players from the college football scene, interesting experimental rules (many later adopted by the NFL) and some of the franchises worked well.

Unfortunately for it Donald Trump who owned one of the franchises was keen to take the NFL to court and go head to head with the NFL which proved disastrous for the USFL in the end.

I seem to remember the judge awarded the USFL a single dollar in damages and the whole thing went bust although many of the top players and rule innovations found their way into the NFL.

I believe the main reason why springtime leagues are failing is the standard of play is just not high enough to convince fans to stick around for long enough.  Also where to place the franchises is a big question.

Edited May 22, 2023 by Gerrumonside ref

[Maximus Decimus]

2 hours ago, Gerrumonside ref said:

The original USFL in the 1980’s did gain traction amongst American Football fans and I remember it well at the time.

It had some top players from the college football scene, interesting experimental rules (many later adopted by the NFL) and some of the franchises worked well.

Unfortunately for it Donald Trump who owned one of the franchises was keen to take the NFL to court and go head to head with the NFL which proved disastrous for the USFL in the end.

I seem to remember the judge awarded the USFL a single dollar in damages and the whole thing went bust although many of the top players and rule innovations found their way into the NFL.

I believe the main reason why springtime leagues are failing is the standard of play is just not high enough to convince fans to stick around for long enough.  Also where to place the franchises is a big question.

Yeh I think the dream of a spring league is something that has just failed so often that it's hard to imagine it ever working.

I think culturally it just doesn't fit for a lot of Americans, they have a sporting calendar where different sports peak at different times. Football dominates autumn and winter.

The standard probably isn't bad and pretty much indistinguishable from NFL to the vast majority, but the knowledge that it is a B league will always affect perception.

IIRC the XFL was doing quite well before Covid struck. It was new so very tentative but I think they'd got some OK crowds. I don't think their return has been as successful.

[Gerrumonside ref]

2 hours ago, Maximus Decimus said:

Yeh I think the dream of a spring league is something that has just failed so often that it's hard to imagine it ever working.

I think culturally it just doesn't fit for a lot of Americans, they have a sporting calendar where different sports peak at different times. Football dominates autumn and winter.

The standard probably isn't bad and pretty much indistinguishable from NFL to the vast majority, but the knowledge that it is a B league will always affect perception.

IIRC the XFL was doing quite well before Covid struck. It was new so very tentative but I think they'd got some OK crowds. I don't think their return has been as successful.

It’s not just perception that the standard is much lower - it is on every level in comparison to the NFL and crucially the US audience know this and are no mugs.

This is the problem affecting every start up league is that they cannot attract enough NFL level calibre talent and they cannot afford NFL calibre wages.

This afflicted the US franchises in the World League (later known as NFL Europe) as well.

The TV companies are positive and supportive because the potential upsides of springtime American Football are amazing in economic terms if it could be made to work, but it feels hard to see the latest inception being able to underwrite the losses for very long.

[gingerjon]

19 hours ago, Maximus Decimus said:

Yeh I think the dream of a spring league is something that has just failed so often that it's hard to imagine it ever working.

I think culturally it just doesn't fit for a lot of Americans, they have a sporting calendar where different sports peak at different times. Football dominates autumn and winter.

The standard probably isn't bad and pretty much indistinguishable from NFL to the vast majority, but the knowledge that it is a B league will always affect perception.

IIRC the XFL was doing quite well before Covid struck. It was new so very tentative but I think they'd got some OK crowds. I don't think their return has been as successful.

XFL average this season is around 14,700 (wiki) which is about the same as for the aborted 2020 season. St Louis - worth noting as a city without an NFL team - drawing over 30,000 average.