wbbfan

Yes but that was with MTL and Tor being carried by the league and basically dead in the water every year. Which is not the case now. Not to mention while attendance in game was going down, the tv deal was going up. And if the doors were opened this summer fully we would probably see the highest attendance average in my life time.

Idk that comes off like hes been long convinced the CFL game was doomed and is fine with the death of the cfl. Comes off like he would rather be covering american football. Especially the part where he thinks its a foregone conclusion that the majority of canadians would rather watch NFL. I didnt see any of this talk of impending doom and gloom and unsustainability from him prior to covid. If im wrong, please some one post the article I dont by any means read all of his work. I dont think its sustainable to carry a team and their loses like TO and MTL. Its also not sustainable to have no in game revenue. But I dont think those are an issue going forward. It isnt going to be a multi year thing of no fans in the stands, and TO has deep pocket owners now and MTL is in a good space. Not great situations, they need some better venues but sustainable yes.

Thats true. However, a lot of the talk has been based on speculation. Im very leery of claims from the CFL media especially of a merger.

I wonder if the deal could possibly end up being the XFL season ends before the cfl season begins, and the XFL gets access to sign CFL players for their own season. Kind of like the old arena league stuff where guys would go down to the AFL then come back up part way through the cfl season. And for that ability the XFL would include a couple CFL games in its national US tv deal (LDC, grey cup, grey cup re match at the start of the year) As well as perhaps an interest free loan coming our way. Maybe, its more than just players. Maybe some front office types or even coaches would help in getting the XFL up and running. Maybe thats why the XFL season cancellations were pending the CFL discussions. Its a huge risk for the players and the teams, it was really hard on a lot of the guys who played a season of AFL and half a season of CFL back in the day.

I see a lot of people using the excuse that the nfl is more entertaining than ever, but like tim said in that video its gotten better because they have adapted more of our style of play. A few of the rules im not too worried about. The 55 yard line, and the rouge on the missed fg for instance. If we went down to a 100 yard long field we would see a more engaging kicking game imo. Teams would try more long field goals and be in scoring range quicker. And the single point on the missed field goal wouldnt effect the returning of missed FGs, because its still a huge opportunity to score. But out side of that we have a lot of tremendous advantages that make our game much much more entertaining to watch. I dont like the XFL could if they wanted to. They dont have their own infrastructure. I dont think most places they play could be adapted to the CFL field with out considerable work, and the owners wont do that as they already see use for american football rules.

This is what I had assumed. That vince co would have much better network connections than redbird. But he took a HUGE gamble on the xfl 2.0 tv deal and it wasnt on track to pan out imo. And his track record on risks out side of the wwe is not good. The cfl would not survive changing to 4 down football. Itd be like being lost a drift at sea and trading your hull for a mast. You go from listing aimlessly to sunk.

Thats true, but the off season hype train for the riders from 3d and cfl.ca etc has been sickening. Stuff like this https://www.cfl.ca/2021/03/15/mmqb-way-early-positional-bests/

Does redbird have connections at networks better then the bigmac? Idk but I dont feel like they would. I also really dont see them being willing to lose the kind of money he did in the xfl. They are not the type of company to lose money, and the XFL will not be in a position to make money for a very long time. Remember the NHL struggling soo hard to get tv deals in the states? Free broadcast rights to ESPN, and didnt they get dropped from that and have their games in the US on like outdoor network for a while in the us? I dont follow hockey and im not sure i have it right. But the US cares more about hockey than about canadian/3down football.

Idk how any one can look at the riders and see any thing coming other than a step back. But it seems the same people who think the riders will win the west and have the best offense in the league think the argos will be good too.

The XFL v2.0 got 0 dollars for its tv deal with ESPN and FOX. IDK how any one thinks they are gonna help get us significantly more TV dollars from the US networks than what we get already from TSN. https://blog.jipel.law.nyu.edu/2020/04/the-xfl-tv-rights-deal-are-the-terms-favorable/#:~:text=On May 6th%2C 2019,right to air their games.

If he has a better career than casey printers ill honestly be shocked.

Vince and his investors had more money before the failed senate run and 2 attempts at the XFL. Also investing in a group like FSB is just that. Long term thats almost as safe as investing in a hedge fund. And right now, is the lowest time in probably close to a century to buy into that group. That was just a brilliant long term money making move. Redbird has drastically better money making iq than vince. The problem with that is Vince has no problem dropping half of his net worth on pipe dreams. Redbird would cut loses much much sooner. But to be devils advocate, vince is still worth some 2.1 Billion. While the rock is worth 320m. But redbird has about 25-50% more money invested in various parts of the market as vince is worth.

Good call. I wonder if Idaho wouldnt be a better target market too.

Idk is there another prime US city that would be an expansion market like that for the xfl? Baltimore in that era was a perfect storm.

Its widely known the govt refused the request of the cfl for an interest free loan last year, despite the fact they have straight up given other companies money. The CFL XFL talks has brought up a lot of negative reactions and fear of the lose of our game. I havent seen the Canadian Football Act attempt mentioned this much in my life time, even when talk of it possibly being brought in again in the early 2ks was going on. It puts the liberal gov't in a position where they are throwing money at every thing and every one, except for the cfl to the point we risk losing it. So the feds and Trudeau can be the hero and give the interest free loan, or they can be the gov't in charge that spent money wildly but let the cfl go hungry. Just a tinfoil hat musing. I feel like this whole XFL talks thing has been soo murky and odd, it doesnt come off like a serious attempt at some thing between the xfl and cfl at all. If it was legit you would meet un announced, have preliminary talks and when you announce that you are in talks you have some thing of substance to announce from both ends. Thats how you build social momentum. You say youve had preliminary talks are considering a partnership, give a date when the next meeting will be and people get excited. When youre murky and seemingly poorly organized (announcing a meeting before any thing happens) it creates panic. QFT

I wonder if the whole xfl thing is an attempt to get what they want from the feds.

I dont agree that they wouldve made it. They had 2 massive losses in attendance and tv views before covid hit. The XFL 2.0 had vince take a huge gamble based on doubling the 2nd tv deal. With a continual downward trend in drawing power that wouldnt have happened. I think that is the best case scenario. If we got say 2 weeks of inter league play, a big multi league all star game, and a 2nd grand championship game that'd be a win for every one involved. Not to mention the potential of interleague trades and such.

So was the group behind xfl 1.0 and xfl 2.0 and the aafl. and the original arena football league. Backers dont invest money to lose it. And the longer money is spent with 0 progress the less long term matters. The wealthy elite does not throw away money willy nilly.

Either you have 1 perma set of rules for the ship game, you have an all star game and winning side gets their rules, or you alternate rules each year. Say year 1 its held in canada under CFL rules, year 2 its in the US under XFL rules. With maybe the current champs having it as an extra home game. Baseball does let teams have all kinds of whacky fields though. Oakland has a massive space out side the foul lines which drastically changes the game, some fields have ramps at the out field leading to the wall, some have massive freaking walls on one side and tiny ones on the other etc. IIRC at the end of babe ruths career kansas city? had some monstrous field they claimed to be impossible to hit a hr to dead center. Some thing like 450 feet. Personally I like alternating year to year as an option. It was but the XFL doesnt have much of any thing set in stone rn.

I would do it like NL and AL in baseball. The NL with pitchers hitting the AL with the DH, different venues have different size and shape fields etc. Have a limited series of 2 weeks of inter league play. Each team plays 1 home game and 1 away game. Home team rules play. Each league has a championship and the 2 champions play a unified championship game. You play the interleague games before the LDC. Maybe 1 interleague week after week 1 and 1 a couple weeks later. Or they could be back to back. Maybe you share a few basic rules. Like no fair catch, XP converts etc. But let each brand have their own thing. I believe the northern league used to do some thing like this. So the winner of the northern league would play the championship from another indy baseball league.

I looked around a bit an an/the XFL forum. https://xflboard.com/xfl-board/viewforum.php?f=1 Mostly what i expected. Would need some really hard concessions from one or both sides. The big thing I see is that the xfl fans seem to think they have leverage. The aaf had twice as much money available as the xfl was bought for and still failed miserably. They dont have any thing other than a bill of sale. They have no teams, coaches, players, infrastructure, management etc. They have a bill of sale, and a history of failure to make it more then 1 season. With out the talks with the CFL the XFL would have no pulse at all. With out the XFL, well you can always find backers, investors, and gov't money. I do not see us conceding field width, end zone depth, or 3 downs. The xfl simply doesnt have the value to discuss those points.

Ya I will. but its more for the immuno compromised ppl i take care of. I feel like if we dont hear serious news on the xfl merger in the next couple weeks, that this will turn into the biggest cfl nothing burger in ages. So far the comments following the announcement have been empty pleasantries.

For sure. Of all the local impacts I think thats the biggest one. I think that would make it very hard for any cfl team to sign FAs vs american linked merged w/e teams. Not to mention taxes. I dont think its a big impact with a canadian cfl. But in a merged with us teams/league world it would be far more difficult.

I know, I just think its an interesting talking point. Id trade my vaccination shot (when ever it comes) for some not XFL, not end of days cfl football talk.

I feel like we've just missed out on a few big FA swings. But if we had say the BC weather and night life, itd be much harder to have the blue collar, live and bleed football, team first celebrate tonight and back to work tomorrow attitude. Every player on the 2020 roster was a guy you could go to war with. Every one was going to be ready to do their best on game day. No planning the post game party on the side lines stuff. No other team in the league had that. The university of florida is where football players go to party. Alabama under Bear Bryant was where football players went to win. Its kind of like a litmus test, the guys who chose better night lifes, and weather, or slightly more money to play for other teams probably werent the right guys for us any way. Fifo. Its driven plenty of fans (like me) crazy, that we've stuck to vets with better guys on the bench or pr. Or not grabbed cfl cuts that would be an immediate upgrade for us. And its sure as hell worked for us. I think it also becomes much easier to maintain a winning franchise when you got there with work ethic and discipline than when you get there with divisive talent, low character and an egomaniac like chris jones running the show.