Vince McMahon to Target Alienated NFL Fans with 'New XFL'

I don't get the app explanation either

 

As I understood the podcast, in two years, the AAF would have had an app that would have delivered instant info to your phone if you lived in a state that permitted casino gambling. (Down and distance, perhaps other stuff.) You could then bet on the outcome of a specific play? Will the Orlando team pass on second down? Who will catch the pass? Etc.
So you could bet in real time on plays and, if you going to lose the point-spread bet, mitigate your losses by playing these in-game bets.

 

One thing about this league -- and the XFL V. 1.0 -- that I thought was a mistake was the dash to start right after the Super Bowl. I'm with you; I need a break. Besides, in Salt Lake City, Memphis and Birmingham, the crowds of shivering fans for some games revealed it wasn't "spring football" ... it was "winter football." And people aren't going to come out and freeze their baguettes off for minor-league football. (The XFL V. 2.0 will learn this with its planned franchises for New York, Washington and Seattle, which is the first of likely many mistakes it will make.)

Start the season over the first weekend of April, with games on Friday night and Sunday so you don't compete with the Final Four on Saturday. You've also then avoided the heart of March Madness. If you're going to draw football fans, this is the best play -- at the time when some have started to miss the sport a little bit. The regular season ends around June 11. A two-week playoff and you're done before July.

 

XFL is making a massive mistake by putting 7 of its 8 teams in NFL cities. No one's going to give a shit.

Only two AAF teams were in NFL cities and their attendance was awful.

 

Like Mr. Tony and Wilbon said on PTI, the public in general (particularly Millennials) is losing Interest in football. And the hard-core fans who are interested have pre-draft combine and the draft itself To give them their football fix in the spring.

 

Wilbon and Kornheiser are shells of their former self. They did nothing but find one thing to rant about ("interest") and they didn't even look into the facts.
Other than Arizona and Salt Lake, the games averaged more than 10K/home game with San Antonio getting more than 25K for almost all their games. That's pretty good for a minor league team. Which is what they set out to be, not competition of the NFL. The ratings were steady after a big debut. Seemed good enough for CBS to put a game ahead on before the NCAAs this weekend before the plug was pulled.
I wasn't a fan of any team, but I did set up DVR to record the games and usually had it on as background noise on Sunday nights and if a game was close, I would actually watch it.
But since "millions of people" didn't watch, somehow it was a failure? Geez. PTI can go back to discussing the Wizards, Knicks, Bears and whatever other teams those two care about. You know...stuff they don't have to do work on to know what they are talking about.

 

Dunbon is catching hell because he's the one who pulled the plug, but the real blame goes to the people who decided to start the league without having the venture capital in hand to withstand a couple of years of losses on the front end. The league was near not making payroll after *two weeks*, when Dundon stepped in and kept the league from cratering. Yeah, he pulled the plug later, after he was down $70m... but I'm not sure I blame him for getting cold feet at that point.

 

It was a "competent" league from what I saw. The teams were well coached, the players knew what they were doing - and the games were far more interesting than the Pro Bowl. But yeah - if the game plan is "we just need to get the games on the field, then investors will come flooding in" is not a business plan. All of the VC firms who were initial investors in this thing should be embarassed.

 

How the hell did he spend $70 million in eight weeks?

I saw the players had $70k contracts. If each team had 50 players, that means season payroll for the league was about $28 million. Add in coaches’ salaries and other expenses, it couldn’t have been more than $40 million. Where’d that other $30 million go?

 

Hookers and blow, probably.