January 25th, 2018 at 3:27 PM ^
January 25th, 2018 at 1:10 PM ^
January 25th, 2018 at 1:40 PM ^
...with a completely different set of rules, making it not football.
January 25th, 2018 at 4:28 PM ^
These rule changes, allowing college teams to make trades, having all your wide receivers redshirt so they can learn pro route trees by the draft: it's Terrible Ideas Day on MGoBlog.
January 25th, 2018 at 12:54 PM ^
Make it the feeder system to the NFL. Hire college/NFL coaches, pay recruits and disrupt the college market, which is hysterically open to competition.
January 25th, 2018 at 1:13 PM ^
I say "desperately". But you're absolutely right.
We need an alternative to college football in the worst way. College football is absolutely fine as-is. Students shouldn't be paid for their extra-curricular sports. Transfer wait periods should be left intact. They are students. These are schools.
If these young men would rather earn a modest living instead of getting a college education, then by all means please go do exactly that. They need an option - just like minor league baseball and junior hockey.
Taking on the NFL is dumb. The NFL is already an incredibly successful version of what you want a pro football league to be. Why try to reinvent a perfectly functional wheel? But taking on the NCAA model is ripe for the picking. There is a huge, glaring need for minor pro football that requires deep pockets, heavy promotion and patience to succeed. My fingers are crossed this is the direction McMahon will go.
January 25th, 2018 at 1:03 PM ^
Tebow vs. Manziel in the first XFL Superbowl. You heard it here first.
January 25th, 2018 at 1:16 PM ^
IF they do actually put up a rival league ... you saw it here first....
1. Do it in the spring - don't compete with the NFL in the fall. No TV ad dollars.
2. Don't worry about franchises. It is a pure TV league. Have 10 or 12 teams divided into two divisions. One broadcasts out of a East Coast studio and one out of a West Coast studio.
3. All games last 2 hours - minimal half times (no bands, no shows because minimal in studio audience) - use college OT rules. No TV time outs - run the ads as a box around the view screen, as banners on the side or projected on the field.
4. There are no stadiums but a football studio - An old airliner hanger with a field and grow lights, every 5 yards has a camera sited down it. Every end line, goal line and side line has a camera sited down them. Overhead cameras, and on every play you have individual cameras tracking the lines, every offensive player, LB and DB. Continuous stat update. Lots of video available. No stadiums, no live crowds mean less cost and less municipal stuff to deal with - it is a TV show.
5. Same ref team but have a ref watching everygame give rapid review. Refs see what TV audience sees and vice versa.
6. All players and coaches work for the company. Each HC/staff/admin and staff draft players. Winners share a preset prize fund.
7. Game schedule not pre-sent but pairs teams with the same record. (look up Swiss Pairing System if you are curious) - this system will produce a credible top two teams after just 6-7 games. The pairing system will guarantee a "good" game each week and a two bad teams but interesting betting game each week. Example: after 4 weeks, there will be a few 4-0 teams, some 3-1, some 2-2, some 1-3 and a few 0-4 teams. By matching up like records, even those games will be competitive and for the degenerate gamblers hard to resist. For pure game fans there will always be a good game - so by week 6 or 7 you will be seeing two winning teams (7-0 or 6-1 playing another good team, even if there are repeats). By having everyone work for the company and live near the two broadcast cities, there is NO travel issue.
8. The championship game is between the two division winners.
9. End of the year, top four teams get to stay intact, but lose 10% of players to re-draft. Every other team and HC/admin team are dissolved and have to re-apply.
10. All monies for players are guaranteed for that season and multi-year contracts could be signed but with the company - again guaranteed like a TV or movie deal with sequels.
Key advantages: no travel costs, no stadium lease costs, all players and coaches and staff can live near the studio, ideal TV images, pairing system guarantees a good game each week and a good wagering game each week.
Key disadvantage: take someone really willing to take a whole fresh look at how the game is broadcast.
January 25th, 2018 at 5:38 PM ^
I'm making this official now: you win Terrible Ideas Day.
Why would anyone root for any team if they're all based wherever the studio is? If people can't really root for team on a geographical basis, why are they watching?
January 25th, 2018 at 6:45 PM ^
When I started thinking about this, it struck me that one of the many reasons why competing leagues didn't do well was the large start up costs of getting a stadium and the logistics of travel.
Most of the top teams actually draw fans from well outside their area. Consider the top team sports teams in the world: Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Manchester United, Chelsea, the much hated Yankees, Dallas Cowboys, Oakland/LA/Las Vegas Raiders, Green Packers - they have international following that transcends anyone actually going to the game. Look at how some people will tune in to watch a team anywhere in the world, so that fandom does exist - can it transcend location completely?
I think it could. People will tune in to watch star players, great performances, nail biting games and the structure of the scheduling - pitting teams with the same record each week means the best teams at the time will be playing each other and all of the other games will be competitive.
If people want, pick theme and create a team, get a sponsor - the Spacely Sprockets Spacemen, Cogswell Cogs Chargers, Tamaribuchi-Matsumura Mr. Sparkles,etc.
People will root for good teams, good players and good play. They follow teams, like they follow TV shows. I know this is a stretch for many people - I will follow UM football regardless of which kid is the QB and who is the HC, but for a lot of people, it is just one more form of entertainment. If you start looking at that way, and need to sell it some TV channel or media supplier (Amazon, Netflix), it makes sense to just make it a total on-line/broadcast thing.
So I get your point, but if someone/group had the money for a start up league (hundreds of millions), they are already not in the same mindset as the people who are the current owners. They don't want to "join the owners club". They want to create something completely different and control it. Most of your team sports revenue was always going to be from TV, so why not cut out the "middle man" costs (stadium, travel). People will watch - so long as the performances are good and the results are honest (not fixed). This is a way to do so. The players won't mind - they can all live near the big media centers and endorsement options will be easier and there will be no "ugh I don't want to play for this x weather city" crap.
January 25th, 2018 at 6:51 PM ^
January 25th, 2018 at 1:43 PM ^
...with the NFL. Wouldn't mind a kind of crossover with the CFL. Non-border Canadians support their football, and a merger of sorts would be interesting. Obviously they'd have to address the differences in rules. Having regional players stay in their market would help. Just no more stupid gimmicks.
January 25th, 2018 at 2:01 PM ^
Agree with the regional players staying in their market and playing for the closest team. That way you could end up having a Devin Gardner and Jeremy Gallon playing for the Michigan/Detroit team and I am all of a sudden intrigued into watching them play and cheer for their team.
January 25th, 2018 at 1:59 PM ^
January 25th, 2018 at 2:38 PM ^
Bring back the USFL.
January 25th, 2018 at 3:04 PM ^
January 25th, 2018 at 4:32 PM ^
The entire opposing team has to take a shot.
This would make those 45-42 games a riot.
January 25th, 2018 at 4:34 PM ^
January 25th, 2018 at 4:53 PM ^
One thing McMahon could do to gain an advantage over the NFL is not have a "3-years post high school" rule. Imagine him offering the 24/7 Sports top 250 to come and get paid for those 3 years rather than work for free while you do college coursework and the university banks millions off of your athletic skills. I imagine that would be an appealing offer for many recruits.
January 25th, 2018 at 6:52 PM ^
January 25th, 2018 at 7:42 PM ^
January 25th, 2018 at 6:27 PM ^
The NFL lost, on average, 10% of its viewership this season compared to last season. Players kneeling played a part in losing viewers. Was it the major reason? Probably not, but it was certainly a reason for the decline in viewership.
If the NFL wants to lose less of the 40+ age crowd, it needs to convince its spoiled, tone-deaf, multi-millionaire players to stop kneeling during the national anthem.
January 25th, 2018 at 7:52 PM ^
January 25th, 2018 at 6:47 PM ^
January 25th, 2018 at 10:20 PM ^
January 25th, 2018 at 11:58 PM ^
January 26th, 2018 at 4:59 AM ^
January 26th, 2018 at 5:04 AM ^