USFL, are fans allowed?

[Gregg]

XFL and USFL won't make it. All the top talent will go to the NFL ($$$$) so the quality of football in these leagues will be average at best. Many times, it's just bad football. The only 4 leagues that really matter in America are the NFL, MLB, NHL, NBA. Also, college football and basketball are big as well.

[Matt_In_NH]

They allow 20-30 fans but that is it.

[SoCal Deek]

6 minutes ago, Matt_In_NH said:

They allow 20-30 fans but that is it.

So everyone gets their own urinal! 👍

[Matt_In_NH]

Just now, SoCal Deek said:

So everyone gets their own urinal! 👍

Or you can share the circle urinal

[HOUSE]

I am not missing Gunsmoke and Green Acres for USFL football.

Yesterday Mr Hanny sold Oliver a coffee grinder with no handle , you need a Pipe wrench to turn.

Edited April 17, 2023 by HOUSE

[Brianmoorman4jesus]

In not even sure if they still do it but them having all of the games in the same place is one of the dumbest ideas I have ever seen. And if you insist on that…do it in NYC or a place where there is a constant flow of people in volume.

[SoCal Deek]

4 minutes ago, HOUSE said:

I an not missing Gunsmoke and Green Acres for USFL football.

Yesterday Mr Hanny sold Oliver a coffee grinder with no handle , you need a Pipe wrench to turn.

When we were kids we lived in a Tonawanda subdivision called Green Acres. We were sure that the show would be about our neighborhood…but nope! It was not to be. 🙁

[NC-billsfan!]

9 hours ago, KDIGGZ said:

Again with these leagues, how is this time any different? The level of play is hard to watch and there's no fans. Why do they keep trying to recreate these leagues the same exact way as before and then wonder why they fail? What's different? There needs to be something to lure people in and they haven't found that yet.

I kind of wish the Bills and all NFL teams (teams could share a minor league team) had a minor/developmental league. Like the Amerks. No more practice squads. I’d watch to see our future stars develop. You gotta think it would help development of some players. Basically jacked up college teams. I don’t need the silly rules of XFL or whoever. I do like listening in on coordinators though.

[Ridgewaycynic2013]

10 hours ago, HappyCat said:

The XFL has a team in St. Louis.  They are drawing near sell-out crowds.  They want to get back into the NFL.

Not to worry.  Rams should be back any year now...😁

[Gregg]

13 minutes ago, Ridgewaycynic2013 said:

Not to worry.  Rams should be back any year now...😁

 

The Rams have a better shot at making it in LA for the long term then the Chargers do. When all of this moving went down it should have been the Raiders going to LA with the Rams. The Raiders have a fanbase in LA. The Chargers don't belong there at all. They should have been the team to move to Vegas.

[K D]

48 minutes ago, NC-billsfan! said:

I kind of wish the Bills and all NFL teams (teams could share a minor league team) had a minor/developmental league. Like the Amerks. No more practice squads. I’d watch to see our future stars develop. You gotta think it would help development of some players. Basically jacked up college teams. I don’t need the silly rules of XFL or whoever. I do like listening in on coordinators though.

And there you go, that's something different. Have farm clubs affiliated to certain NFL teams. That might make it somewhat interesting. But what they keep doing is the same exact thing every time and then nobody cares and they go out of business. It's maddening how bad they are at business 

[Arkady Renko]

18 minutes ago, Gregg said:

 

The Rams have a better shot at making it in LA for the long term then the Chargers do. When all of this moving went down it should have been the Raiders going to LA with the Rams. The Raiders have a fanbase in LA. The Chargers don't belong there at all. They should have been the team to move to Vegas.

The NFL was worried about the gang popularity for the Raiders in LA supposedly.  They also hate the Davis family. 

1 minute ago, KDIGGZ said:

And there you go, that's something different. Have farm clubs affiliated to certain NFL teams. That might make it somewhat interesting. But what they keep doing is the same exact thing every time and then nobody cares and they go out of business. It's maddening how bad they are at business 

I’ve always wondered if the NFL shouldn’t just have like a developmental version of each team that plays during the week in the main team stadiums.  Fans love watching preseason games.  I imagine the diehards would love watching prospects live as well. 

[PromoTheRobot]

A lot of misunderstandings in this thread about these leagues. First off @Gregg they are not competing for talent with the NFL. These are second-chance leagues for players that got cut, or undrafted, to keep playing and hope for another look. FYI, 51 players from the USFL last year earned NFL camp invites.

 

Second, these leagues are backed up by TV networks. The XFL by ESPN/ABC and the USFL by Fox and NBC. They are there mostly to create sports programming in the spring. So far these games are right there ratings-wise with other non-premier sporting events.

 

Third, @Don Otreplyasked why are they doing this again when every other spring league failed? (Which isn't entirely true.) Aside from the TV networks having a stake in these leagues, the reason is sports betting. 

 

The USFL is trying to save money by playing in only 4 locations, doubling teams up. So that explains why some games have nobody at them. (Birmingham did have 17,500 at their USFL opener against NJ, but the NO/Pitt game played later at the same stadium had only a handful of fans.)

 

Another big change this year is Fox came to an agreement with the owners of the USFL trademark. That means they can now promote the historical aspect of these teams, show footage of old games and bring back former players. At the Memphis home opener they honored Reggie White who started his career in Memphis during the original USFL. 

 

But despite taking a year off I think the XFL has really been the bigger hit. Their teams play in home cities and in some locations get good crowds. (St. Louis, San Antonio) Their rules are more innovative. And probably the biggest plus, is they mic everyone from coaches to refs so you can hear what's being discussed. I really love having Dean Blandino doing live commentary during replays. The Rock, with his experience in acting and WWE, has really created a better product to watch and the USFL has a lot of catching up to do.

 

 

13 minutes ago, KDIGGZ said:

And there you go, that's something different. Have farm clubs affiliated to certain NFL teams. That might make it somewhat interesting. But what they keep doing is the same exact thing every time and then nobody cares and they go out of business. It's maddening how bad they are at business 

 

That will never happen because the NFL does not want any additional liability for CTE, etc. They are more than happy to scout and partner with these leagues for officiating etc, while keeping the connection to them at arm's length.

Edited April 17, 2023 by PromoTheRobot

[PromoTheRobot]

14 hours ago, frostbitmic said:

Will they be playing all games in Birmingham again ?

 

If so, the only team in the league that'll have any fans will be the Birmingham team.

 

They play in four cities this year. Two teams based in each city.

[PetermansRedemption]

1 hour ago, NC-billsfan! said:

I kind of wish the Bills and all NFL teams (teams could share a minor league team) had a minor/developmental league. Like the Amerks. No more practice squads. I’d watch to see our future stars develop. You gotta think it would help development of some players. Basically jacked up college teams. I don’t need the silly rules of XFL or whoever. I do like listening in on coordinators though.

Would love this. Run the league in the spring. Have an 8 team league, each team is affiliated with 4 NFL squads. I know many NFL fans that would watch that. I’d imagine ratings would be similar to the preseason. 

[HOUSE]

Ok, I will watch one game just to show my support for Bug Howard

[Don Otreply]

1 hour ago, PromoTheRobot said:

A lot of misunderstandings in this thread about these leagues. First off @Gregg they are not competing for talent with the NFL. These are second-chance leagues for players that got cut, or undrafted, to keep playing and hope for another look. FYI, 51 players from the USFL last year earned NFL camp invites.

 

Second, these leagues are backed up by TV networks. The XFL by ESPN/ABC and the USFL by Fox and NBC. They are there mostly to create sports programming in the spring. So far these games are right there ratings-wise with other non-premier sporting events.

 

Third, @Don Otreplyasked why are they doing this again when every other spring league failed? (Which isn't entirely true.) Aside from the TV networks having a stake in these leagues, the reason is sports betting. 

 

The USFL is trying to save money by playing in only 4 locations, doubling teams up. So that explains why some games have nobody at them. (Birmingham did have 17,500 at their USFL opener against NJ, but the NO/Pitt game played later at the same stadium had only a handful of fans.)

 

Another big change this year is Fox came to an agreement with the owners of the USFL trademark. That means they can now promote the historical aspect of these teams, show footage of old games and bring back former players. At the Memphis home opener they honored Reggie White who started his career in Memphis during the original USFL. 

 

But despite taking a year off I think the XFL has really been the bigger hit. Their teams play in home cities and in some locations get good crowds. (St. Louis, San Antonio) Their rules are more innovative. And probably the biggest plus, is they mic everyone from coaches to refs so you can hear what's being discussed. I really love having Dean Blandino doing live commentary during replays. The Rock, with his experience in acting and WWE, has really created a better product to watch and the USFL has a lot of catching up to do.

 

 

 

That will never happen because the NFL does not want any additional liability for CTE, etc. They are more than happy to scout and partner with these leagues for officiating etc, while keeping the connection to them at arm's length.

   Actually I did not ask why, I suggested that the money spent and lost on all of the Jr football leagues looks questionable as to the continued  funding, that up to this point has been a total flop as a fan draw,  and a financial black hole, hence the money laundering comment, it’s either that or a huge tax write off for the truly affluent.  Sure one or two teams showed a glimmer of hope, but they to have fallen by the wayside, the proverbial exception to prove the rule…, 

[PromoTheRobot]

23 minutes ago, Don Otreply said:

   Actually I did not ask why, I suggested that the money spent and lost on all of the Jr football leagues looks questionable as to the continued  funding, that up to this point has been a total flop as a fan draw,  and a financial black hole, hence the money laundering comment, it’s either that or a huge tax write off for the truly affluent.  Sure one or two teams showed a glimmer of hope, but they to have fallen by the wayside, the proverbial exception to prove the rule…, 

 

Did you read my post? All the teams are owned by the leagues. This is being done more for TV and gambling than fans in the seats.

1 hour ago, HOUSE said:

Ok, I will watch one game just to show my support for Bug Howard

Watch the XFL rather that the USFL right now. XFL has played longer. Better games.

[Bob Jones]

4 hours ago, HOUSE said:

I am not missing Gunsmoke and Green Acres for USFL football.

Yesterday Mr Hanny sold Oliver a coffee grinder with no handle , you need a Pipe wrench to turn.

Hmm....have you ever even watched the show, because it's Mr. HANEY? LOL

[msw2112]

I love football, but have not watched either of these two leagues.  I suppose that if I had nothing to do and was flipping through the channels, or having a bite at a sports bar and it was on, I would watch, but that's about it.  I agree that if it were a NFL development league, I might be interested in seeing how the Bills' practice-squad-type. or end of the roster players were doing.  For example, the Bills need a MLB (Klein signing notwithstanding).  If Spector was playing for the Memphis Showboats (no idea if that's actually one of the teams) to try and accelerte his development so he'd be more ready to win a spot for the Bills, I'd watch some of that.  Or a backup or 3rd string QB that was part of the Bills 90-man training camp roster.  Maybe the OL from Michigan State they just signed....