USFL, are fans allowed?

[Bubba Gump]

First off, mods please move this thread to the appropriate area if need be. But is this league allowing fans? There are like 20-30 people at the stadium in New Orleans. This is opening week and I don't know how they last a whole season with no attendance. XFL drew at least some attendance. This is just pathetic. 

 

Edit: This game, Pittsburgh vs. New Orleans is being played in Birminghan, AL. No wonder no fans. Not to mention, this football sucks. 5 mins was enough for me. QBs are horrible 

Edited April 16, 2023 by Bubba Gump

[BuffBillsForLife]

I turned it on specifically because I heard there was nobody in the stands and wanted to see it.  It's like 2020 in the NFL, absolutely incredible.  The XFL must be feeling pretty good right now.

[Ridgewaycynic2013]

Gift shop:  Buy one, get ten...

[That's No Moon]

53 minutes ago, Bubba Gump said:

First off, mods please move this thread to the appropriate area if need be. But is this league allowing fans? There are like 20-30 people at the stadium in New Orleans. This is opening week and I don't know how they last a whole season with no attendance. XFL drew at least some attendance. This is just pathetic. 

 

Edit: This game, Pittsburgh vs. New Orleans is being played in Birminghan, AL. No wonder no fans. Not to mention, this football sucks. 5 mins was enough for me. QBs are horrible 

XFL quality of play has been better IMO and they've actually had some people in the buildings. Whether or not those people paid actual American currency to be there is debatable, but they were there 

[frostbitmic]

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.

[Ridgewaycynic2013]

16 minutes ago, frostbitmic said:

Will they be playing all games in Birmingham again ?

Then, wouldn't they all  be Birmingham teams?...😁

 

Asking for me.  A day late, and a dollar short, as per usual...🙁

[Steptide]

Xfl is mildly entertaining, and sometimes I watch cuz there's nothing else on, and I hate baseball. Usfl is just overkill. They shouldve waited and stated the usfl in like june

[17islongenough]

Games are being played in Detriot, Birmingham, Canton and Memphis.

 

My cousin plays football at UAB. That's where they are playing in Birmingham.  The players get free tickets.  I can't remember how many though and it still looks like no one is attending 

[Arkady Renko]

They all played in Birmingham last year except for the championship in Canton.  Now they have four “hub cities”.  Games are being played in Memphis, Detroit and one other place. 

[Don Otreply]

There must be some serious money laundering going on that supports these leagues, they all fail, yet they miraculously continue to rise from the ashes like a short lived phoenix…

Edited April 17, 2023 by Don Otreply

[Ridgewaycynic2013]

22 minutes ago, 17islongenough said:

My cousin plays football at UAB. That's where they are playing in Birmingham.  The players get free tickets.  I can't remember how many though and it still looks like no one is attending 

Probably scared they'll be pressed into service.  Remember Jim Thorpe!

[That's No Moon]

49 minutes 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.

I thought they were at the Liberty Bowl in Memphis the other day.

[akcash]

Why is TO not playing in these leagues? Hes been self promoting a comeback to the NFL.

[mikemac2001]

11 minutes ago, akcash said:

Why is TO not playing in these leagues? Hes been self promoting a comeback to the NFL.

1st - it’s not worth it 

 

2nd he doesn’t need a cheap shot for someone trying to get there name out that

 

3rd why would they bring him in it’s supposed to be a developmental league 

[HappyCat]

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

[KDIGGZ]

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.

[akcash]

33 minutes ago, mikemac2001 said:

1st - it’s not worth it 

 

2nd he doesn’t need a cheap shot for someone trying to get there name out that

 

3rd why would they bring him in it’s supposed to be a developmental league 

I guess I could see the point on  number one but his clock is ticking and it now or never to play professional tackle football. Number 2 I don't agree with. Its football. Number 3... are they all developmental leagues? Like USFL and XFL and not sure if that other league is still around. I would think he could fall under a developmental role since he's trying to get back into the NFL. And for teams and the league- ratings.

 

 

Edited April 17, 2023 by akcash

[Rc2catch]

I enjoy the XFL games.. I enjoy the rule differences but hearing the coordinators is my favorite.. Houston’s offensive coordinator AJ Smith, the guy is phenomenal. Hearing him call a game is a ton of fun and I would recommend watching one of their games just to hear him conduct the offense. Wade Phillips is the head coach. Since they can talk into the headsets right up to the snap and the whole offense hears it, he’s calling everything and still has his next play ready. I hope the XFL sticks around. Some consistency with coaching and the league actually having a follow up season on schedule and they will really start developing talent to the NFL. 
 

I have not watched the USFL yet and don’t know much about it 

Edited April 17, 2023 by Rc2catch

[billsfan89]

A singular spring football league with no direct competition hasn’t worked since the 1980’s. No idea why there is suddenly two spring football leagues. The XFL is actually a decent product so I hope they stick around despite the competition 

[Mr. WEO]

Forget the fans in the stands, the TV ratings are historically bad--even compared to previous iterations of these bogus leagues.

 

8 weeks in, they had a single game with over a million viewers.  Week 7 featured a matchup that boasted the lowest TV ratings ever for a televised pro football game (177,000 viewers).

 

 

 

 

[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.

[KDIGGZ]

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....