So just curious, has anyone watched or. is watching any of these games. I confess I have not. Not really a conscious decision I just haven't watched any games.
OT: USFL
- Thread starter Harvard Gamecock
- Start date
Watched one last night, and was about to watch the one starting soon.
I'm that type of fan that just likes football.
Edit: or maybe I'm drunk. It says a game is on USA right now, but they're showing law and order reruns.
(Looked it up, weather delay)
I'm that type of fan that just likes football.
Edit: or maybe I'm drunk. It says a game is on USA right now, but they're showing law and order reruns.
(Looked it up, weather delay)
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Watched some today. Good coaches, good players, national broadcast - if they can get through a whole season (something spring leagues have a hard time doing), then why not?
initial tv ratings were decent. key will be if it can distinguish itself from other recent spring football leagues and increase, or at least maintain, ratings. all recent iterations have seen a steady decline in ratings from Week 1.
lol, ratings were decent, but look at the attendance here;
Weather delays and the holiday weekend are being blamed, but it doesn't even look like 200 people there.
Weather delays and the holiday weekend are being blamed, but it doesn't even look like 200 people there.
Friday's game was actually well attended - over 17,000 fans. Overall attendance will probably be decent, but sporadic for individual games. When you're playing all the games, league wide, in a smaller town like Birmingham, then you can only get so many people in the stands for 5 games a week. Families will probably attend at times that suit their schedule as opposed for any team in particular.
Playing all games in one location to reduce expenses.
A reminder to all that spring football is not the NFL, and it's not fair to compare the two. That would be like comparing the Columbia Chiggers (oops, I meant Fireflies) to the Atlanta Braves.
I think that the AAF would have been well on it's way as a successful league if it were well funded and no pandemic. XFL II would have on it's way if not for the pandemic.
I did like that AAF had a team in San Antonio and XFL in St. Louis, both large markets with no NFL franchise. Eventually, when the USFL grows and can place teams in home markets, they would do well to place franchises in the San Antonios, Oaklands and St. Louis' of the US.
A reminder to all that spring football is not the NFL, and it's not fair to compare the two. That would be like comparing the Columbia Chiggers (oops, I meant Fireflies) to the Atlanta Braves.
I think that the AAF would have been well on it's way as a successful league if it were well funded and no pandemic. XFL II would have on it's way if not for the pandemic.
I did like that AAF had a team in San Antonio and XFL in St. Louis, both large markets with no NFL franchise. Eventually, when the USFL grows and can place teams in home markets, they would do well to place franchises in the San Antonios, Oaklands and St. Louis' of the US.
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That’s for sure. The NFL could schedule a game between the Jaguars and Lions at midnight on a Tuesday in the middle of a hurricane and get more fans than the game posted abovez
Doesn’t really make sense. The previous game had 17k. Even considering the other factors, to drop off to maybe a couple hundred is astonishing.
It’ll just be interesting to see how this league does ratings-wise. The previous spring football iterations all peaked in Week 1. It seemed fans were interested but lost interest after seeing the product. I don’t see the product in the USFL being any better as it’s the same caliber of player.
They had a multiple hour delay due to weather. I would think that would drive casual fans home.
I really hope they make a go of it. I like the idea of spring football.
If one doesn't want to watch minor league professional sports, that's fine. But it's disingenuous to compare it to major league and complain.
I was agreeing with your point that this should not be compared to the NFL.
This was last night's game. There is almost nobody there.
The game was delayed from Sunday, but still, there might be 100 fans there. They are obviously adding fake crowd noise to the broadcast.
The game was delayed from Sunday, but still, there might be 100 fans there. They are obviously adding fake crowd noise to the broadcast.
I wonder how much of their revenue is ticket based anyway? They are selling them for $10, so 20,000 fans isn't a huge dent in their budget.
I wonder if it's gravy over their TV contract?
That being said, putting all the games in one spot helps with travel, but also hurts attendance, imho.
I wonder if it's gravy over their TV contract?
That being said, putting all the games in one spot helps with travel, but also hurts attendance, imho.
I'm assuming they are putting all their eggs in the tv revenue basket. Otherwise, it makes no sense to play all your games in one small city. It make sense that there was a good turnout for the first game with almost completely empty stands for the others.
For tv ratings, their opening weekend ratings were about the same as the opening ratings for the XFL 2.0 and AAF, both of which eventually tanked. Fox, however, is kicking in $150 million to keep the league afloat, so it'll likely stick around for a bit even if ratings drop, which they most likely will. Maybe the NFL can give spring football the WNBA treatment.
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I think I remember hearing that Fox was a part owner - so the TV revenue is driving the league right now. I think with Covid still around it was a good idea to play in one place, get through a full season, and show that it can be done. Then they can take the momentum into next season, maybe get some higher profile players, and have some excitement with an additional "inaugural season" - this time with each team opening up in their home stadiums.
Some concern starting to emerge over ratings. They've been solid, though not spectacular, but took a significant hit recently. This is without any other spring football competition. XFL is set to re-re-debut next year. I've never been on board with spring football. Even so, I really don't see there being enough interest to support 2 spring football leagues. There certainly isn't enough interesting talent. What little I've seen of the USFL is kind of painful to watch. Can't imagine diluting the talent pool by half.
Aren't they playing all their games in Birmingham? If so then why chose that city? I would have went with a very large city. The one game I watched had like 400 people in the stands.
I wonder if expenses were less in B'ham than other cities, and running the numbers, they may be losing less money there than, say Orlando.
I regularly watch 10-minute highlights of college baseball games on the Wheels Youtube channel.
Your post reminded me that last week I watched highlights from the SWAC Tournament championship game between Alabama State and Southern. Most painful.
And the winner's "reward" was a trip to Knoxville to play the Vols.
But back to the USFL. If their focus was TV, then find an inexpensive (relatively) location which has the infrastructure to stage the league games, e.g., Birmingham. And if in-person attendance is good, then that's gravy.
And the winner's "reward" was a trip to Knoxville to play the Vols.
But back to the USFL. If their focus was TV, then find an inexpensive (relatively) location which has the infrastructure to stage the league games, e.g., Birmingham. And if in-person attendance is good, then that's gravy.
Yeah, I think the decision was covid-based and also to keep initial costs low. I don't know about others, but when I turn a game on and there's like 10 people in the stands, I screams "inferior product" to me. I just think it makes your product look bad.
lol, and USFL players just voted to unionize.
profootballtalk.nbcsports.com
That's not great news for a startup league looking to keep costs low.
What's the matter with people? You have here a bunch players who had no path forward in football. Their careers were dead. Enter a new spring league that offered them chance to keep playing the game they presumably love and, for a very small handful of players, maybe get picked up by an NFL team. In a show of gratitude, they unionize.
USFL players vote to unionize
The USFL didn't want its players to unionize.
profootballtalk.nbcsports.com
That's not great news for a startup league looking to keep costs low.
What's the matter with people? You have here a bunch players who had no path forward in football. Their careers were dead. Enter a new spring league that offered them chance to keep playing the game they presumably love and, for a very small handful of players, maybe get picked up by an NFL team. In a show of gratitude, they unionize.
lol, and USFL players just voted to unionize.
USFL players vote to unionize
The USFL didn't want its players to unionize.
That's not great news for a startup league looking to keep costs low.
What's the matter with people? You have here a bunch players who had no path forward in football. Their careers were dead. Enter a new spring league that offered them chance to keep playing the game they presumably love and, for a very small handful of players, maybe get picked up by an NFL team. In a show of gratitude, they unionize.
No one ever said you get to play in the USFL by being smart.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, I guess. What little I watched, the talent level seemed pretty bad.
Something I noticed for a lot of these start up leagues is that the initial season includes guys who have been out of football for a while.
Imo, what needs to happen is a few of those guys who just aren't good enough for the NFL to jump to this league immediately. A tier 2 player fresh out of college is better than a tier 2 guy who was selling cars a couple months ago.
Better name recognition as well, rather than "oh yeah, I always wondered what happened to that guy" type players.
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