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The USFL is back in 2022


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Here's a crazy idea...

 

Instead of going from zero to 2 spring football leagues every time, why not try ONE?

 

USFL has brand recognition and some great history, and spring football can be a lot of fun. But every time it's been tried lately it's multiple leagues, which spreads the talent pool thinner and waters down the product, plus cannibalizes the viewing audience. 

 

Put all of the talent, money, players, coaches, executives, and broadcast partners who want to make spring football work together in one league and really try it. 

Edited by TheFunPolice
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2 hours ago, TBBills said:

I didn't watch a single game b.c honestly it's a bunch of failures that couldn't make the real game.

 

It's like watching division 3 football... You only watch b.c someone you know personally is playing.

A bunch of people thought the same way about the AFL and we all know how that worked out.  Football in the spring is a hard sell because there are more things for people to do.  I will probably watch a couple of games just to see how good or bad it is.  I have low expectations for the league.

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3 hours ago, chongli said:

 

Haha, good question. According to his linkedin page, he is no longer with the XFL and is now the managing partner at Beautiful Game Group, LLC:

 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/dougwhaley

 

"Beautiful Game Group LLC

1 year 2 months

 

Managing Partner

May 2020 - Present 1 year 2 months

 

COO and Managing Partner

May 2020 - May 2020 1 month

 

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States

Beautiful Game Group LLC is a modern private equity company, that intends to invest in a network of professional sports teams across a variety of global growth sports.

We intend to invest in soccer, basketball, eSports, cycling and rugby teams, employing extensive industry knowledge and research, to seek to achieve sustained sporting success and enhancing brand value, with social responsibility at our core."

And with one fell swoop, he's in the same pool as the crypto and forex crowd...blocked. 😁

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1 hour ago, buffalostu2 said:

Using the USFL and team names is just inviting Trump to try and grab a share of any success.

If he gets a team, the team will go undefeated-no matter how many games they lose.  

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4 hours ago, chongli said:

 

The USFL was actually good to Buffalo in that regard. Jim Kelly, Doug Flutie, Kent Hull, Scott Norwood, Ray Bentley, Dwight Drane, and others all played there first. Bill Polian, Marv Levy, and John Butler also were there before Buffalo.

 

https://www.espn.com/blog/afceast/post/_/id/4953/remembering-how-useful-the-usfl-was-to-buffalo

 

"Bills fans despised the USFL for harboring Kelly and luring away star running back Joe Cribbs, yet no other team benefited more from the USFL than the Bills did.

The man who built their Super Bowl teams (Bill Polian), his eventual replacement (John Butler) and the man who coached them (Marv Levy) all came from the Chicago Blitz. Three-time Pro Bowl center Kent Hull was undrafted out of college, but proved himself with the New Jersey Generals.

 

[...]

 

Polian wouldn't have gotten his break when he did. Somebody else would've needed to make selections such as Thurman Thomas, Andre Reed and Shane Conlan.

Without the USFL, enough variables would have altered Bills history that they wouldn't have gone to four consecutive Super Bowls.

 

And it's safe to say one other memorable event wouldn't have occurred.

 

Birmingham Stallions kicker Scott Norwood probably wouldn't have made it to the NFL either."

Had the USFL never existed, maybe Kelly pulls a Tom Cousineau and refuses to report to the Bills at all, forcing a trade.

 

Graham's thought that Kelly might have forced a trade is wrong.  Kelly was in the Bills office about to sign a rookie contract.  How did Graham forget one of the best known stories in Buffalo sports history?  

Edited by Albany,n.y.
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10 hours ago, teef said:

listen...you just need to stick to arguing with badolbilz.  it's wildly entertaining to me.

 

 

Yeah @Royale with Cheesebeen feisty this week.........it's been amusing..........maybe CSCU caught up with him at the job and further garnished his salad?    We'll know soon enough.......he can't resist the need to overshare to thousands of lurkers on the off chance that he can get a laugh out of you.😍

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22 hours ago, Rochesterfan said:

The 2 point conversion was already part of college football - well before the USFL and was one of several college rules that the USFL adopted - similar to stopping the clock after the 2 minute warning with a first down.  Not a USFL innovation.

The 2 point conversion was also part of the AFL during its existence in the 60s. 

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On 6/3/2021 at 8:56 AM, Don Otreply said:

It’s only chance of survival is if it turns into a feeder league for the NFL, otherwise it will need very deep pockets for at minimum a decade, to establish itself as a separate football entity, that I don’t see happening, but hey, more power to them, if the pockets are deep enough, they could get some better level talent to sign with them..., maybe...,

I've always thought that this is the best model for a new league, basically something like the minor leagues are to MLB. Players assigned to the minor league affiliates on developmental contracts, with separate ownership but negotiated affiliations. We will generally ignore this new USFL, as we did the XFL and many others before and after. We wouldn't ignore something like the Myrtle Beach Bills with a roster including 20 or so players under Bills developmental contracts. The NFL Europe experiment was getting toward this, but it was aimed more at building an American football audience rather than sustaining offseason interest in existing U.S. fans. I think there's enough Christian Wade obsessives here to drive TV ratings. Even I would watch. (Well, a bit ...). Maybe the NFL just doesn't need the complications (CBA, etc.), or maybe they're afraid of antitrust implications. 

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1 hour ago, PromoTheRobot said:


 

I really wish all of these alternate leagues would just take a step back - form 1 well funded league that could actually survive more than 1 - 2  seasons and come up with a proper business model in alternate cities away from the NFL and treat themselves as they are - a second class, last resort feeding ground.

 

Make it fun and energized and sustainable, but they all want to be first and fast.

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2 hours ago, Rochesterfan said:


 

I really wish all of these alternate leagues would just take a step back - form 1 well funded league that could actually survive more than 1 - 2  seasons and come up with a proper business model in alternate cities away from the NFL and treat themselves as they are - a second class, last resort feeding ground.

 

Make it fun and energized and sustainable, but they all want to be first and fast.

There is definitely a TV market for spring football. I don't understand why someone hasn't pulled it off. Actually, I think Vince McMahon was on his way with the XFL but COVID blew that up.

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5 hours ago, PromoTheRobot said:

 

Good find!

 

Here's a short excerpt from that article:

 

https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2021/06/04/does-the-new-usfl-have-the-legal-right-to-call-itself-the-usfl/

 

Does the new USFL have the legal right to call itself the USFL?

 

“I was surprised when I heard about it this morning,” Steve Ehrhart, former USFL executive director, told Domowitch. “I want to dig into it and see who they’re claiming they acquired these rights [to the name] from. Because it didn’t come from any legitimate source.

 

“My guess is there’s some knucklehead out there who claimed he had registered the name and had the rights to it. We’re not being antagonistic. But if they want to do this, they should do it the right way and talk to the actual people, not some guy who sent in an Internet registration or something like that.”

 

Erhart contends that the USFL still exists, and that league officials still get monthly royalty checks. Brian Woods has resurrected the USFL, with FOX as the broadcaster and equity partner.

 

“We were only around three seasons, but the USFL was a classy, well-respected name,” Erhart said. “We always said that we didn’t want to just jump in there and sell it to somebody who was going to be underfunded and blow up and give a halfway kind of effort. So we never did give or sell or authorize the rights to anybody.”

 

[end]

 

I'm surprised league officials  still get monthly royalty checks after all these years. They still have money to give out?

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