Vince McMahon considers move to bring back the XFL

[Brandon]

I just don't see how it succeeds?     Back in the day when XFL first launched they had red hot wrestling to promote it which would pull a tonne of their target demographic crowd over.  They had gimmicks which at least made it seem to be an edgier football product.    They had good tv and better football players.

I don't see how they succeed this time around when WWE has 50+ year old audiences who are already entrenched with their own favorite NFL clubs,   watered down players,  no gimmicks,  way more competition for entertainment...   Also while football has had a good past two seasons.... previous to that the NFL was worried because they were on a downward trend with an aging audience losing big time fans going over to the NBA.

Vince has a tonne of cash to blow,  but for his one success (wrestling) he's failed miserably at everything else. 

[The Unknown Poster]

1 hour ago, Geebrr said:

Nobody is fine losing 400M

You don't get to a point in life that you are able to lose 400M by being ok with losing 400M

That is nonsense 

There’s a difference between losing $400 million on nothing and betting it on what you think will be a billion dollar idea.  Vince can afford it. It’s not like he took out a loan.  He sold stock for the entire amount and still controls 80+% of voting shares.   Compared to previous gambles this is actually not that bad for Vince.  If he loses it all he’s still super rich 

[The Unknown Poster]

20 minutes ago, Brandon said:

I just don't see how it succeeds?     Back in the day when XFL first launched they had red hot wrestling to promote it which would pull a tonne of their target demographic crowd over.  They had gimmicks which at least made it seem to be an edgier football product.    They had good tv and better football players.

I don't see how they succeed this time around when WWE has 50+ year old audiences who are already entrenched with their own favorite NFL clubs,   watered down players,  no gimmicks,  way more competition for entertainment...   Also while football has had a good past two seasons.... previous to that the NFL was worried because they were on a downward trend with an aging audience losing big time fans going over to the NBA.

Vince has a tonne of cash to blow,  but for his one success (wrestling) he's failed miserably at everything else. 

Yup. I doubt it works. But with the rights fees and streaming. Who knows. 

[Geebrr]

4 hours ago, The Unknown Poster said:

There’s a difference between losing $400 million on nothing and betting it on what you think will be a billion dollar idea.  Vince can afford it. It’s not like he took out a loan.  He sold stock for the entire amount and still controls 80+% of voting shares.   Compared to previous gambles this is actually not that bad for Vince.  If he loses it all he’s still super rich 

Super rich people don't get super rich by being fine losing money.

For any reason.

That is fallacy IMO

[The Unknown Poster]

4 hours ago, Geebrr said:

Super rich people don't get super rich by being fine losing money.

For any reason.

That is fallacy IMO

No one said Vince would throw himself a celebration if he loses the money.  What I said and what others have said if you look around is, he's willing to take a huge risk where the odds are he loses.  Because he can afford it.  This is a guy that was offered a large sum to sell the defunct IP of the XFL and, instead, decided to invest his own money into a start up.  This is a guy who has seen the share price of WWE slowly erode with much of the criticism levied at him.  He's a nut.  He wants to win.  But $400 million either way wont change his life much.

[Geebrr]

And I am telling you that I don't think he is willing to take a huge risk.

"Because he can afford it" is the logic I am disagreeing with you about now for the third time. "400M doesn't matter to him"

That is not how super wealthy people operate.

Edited February 6, 2020 by Geebrr

[17to85]

"I didn't get rich by writing a lot of cheques" 

Rich folks aren't ok losing hundreds of millions of dollars. They just aren't. 

[WBBFanWest]

Something that you guys are not calculating in, which you really need to:  hubris.  It's the engine that drives a lot of these folks.

[SpeedFlex27]

3 minutes ago, WBBFanWest said:

Something that you guys are not calculating in, which you really need to:  hubris.  It's the engine that drives a lot of these folks.

And ego. Vince has plenty of that. 

[Geebrr]

8 minutes ago, WBBFanWest said:

Something that you guys are not calculating in, which you really need to:  hubris.  It's the engine that drives a lot of these folks.

They also like using other people's money for their hubris 

[Geebrr]

5 minutes ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

And ego. Vince has plenty of that. 

Not giving away his money for ego.

[SpeedFlex27]

1 minute ago, Geebrr said:

Not giving away his money for ego.

Sure he has, it's his money. He sold his stock in WWE to finance this little venture. Who else has invested nearly $400 million?

[BomberBall]

This is from an article about Landry Jones.  Doesn't sound like there's much anticipation, for the XFL, in Dallas.

On this evening, Jones and Stoops were the featured guests at the Renegades Rally meet-and-greet, but the autograph session was cut 15 minutes short due to low attendance, and no one in the sparse crowd asked a question during the public portion of the Q&A.

Here's the article, if you're interested - https://www.espn.com/espn/story/_/id/28640013/landry-jones-face-xfl-does-want-be

[Tracker]

3 hours ago, Geebrr said:

Not giving away his money for ego.

Wouldn't be the first or the last. I give you Donald Trump as an example.

[M.Silverback]

I don't get it. McMahon is obviously a smart man who has been incredibly successful. But there's no evidence at all that American fans will support a second rate pro football league. What's the plan? NFL expansion? It'll happen in London England before the St. Louis Battlehawks join the NFL. TV and streaming revenue? Honestly, CFL 2.0 is a better plan for getting  some online streaming revenue in a few years once there's some decent roster players from Japan, Germany, France ...

[wbbfan]

42 minutes ago, M.Silverback said:

I don't get it. McMahon is obviously a smart man who has been incredibly successful. But there's no evidence at all that American fans will support a second rate pro football league. What's the plan? NFL expansion? It'll happen in London England before the St. Louis Battlehawks join the NFL. TV and streaming revenue? Honestly, CFL 2.0 is a better plan for getting  some online streaming revenue in a few years once there's some decent roster players from Japan, Germany, France ...

Im guessing its hubris. 

[JCon]

Honestly, who cares how much of his money he spends. Better he spend it and redistribute it to the players, coaches, staff, and whoever else than it sit in a bank accumulating interest. 

 

At least those in the industry will benefit from the redistribution of wealth!

[wbbfan]

2 hours ago, JCon said:

Honestly, who cares how much of his money he spends. Better he spend it and redistribute it to the players, coaches, staff, and whoever else than it sit in a bank accumulating interest. 

 

At least those in the industry will benefit from the redistribution of wealth!

I very much doubt that is where the money will go. The none player/coach operations expenses involved in that many teams is whats gonna eat it up. 

But talent re-circulation for fringe players is great. 

[The Unknown Poster]

12 hours ago, Geebrr said:

And I am telling you that I don't think he is willing to take a huge risk.

"Because he can afford it" is the logic I am disagreeing with you about now for the third time. "400M doesn't matter to him"

That is not how super wealthy people operate.

But he is taking a huge risk. Unless you’re suggesting the XFL is a safe bet.  Vince is solely funding this.  
 

So his plan is to hopefully begin making a profit in 3 years when he’s 77?  And then eventually recoup his investment when?  By the time he’s 85, 90?  
 

yeah he’s really concerned about the initial investment.  
 

[The Unknown Poster]

6 hours ago, M.Silverback said:

I don't get it. McMahon is obviously a smart man who has been incredibly successful. But there's no evidence at all that American fans will support a second rate pro football league. What's the plan? NFL expansion? It'll happen in London England before the St. Louis Battlehawks join the NFL. TV and streaming revenue? Honestly, CFL 2.0 is a better plan for getting  some online streaming revenue in a few years once there's some decent roster players from Japan, Germany, France ...

Vince is very smart. About one thing. And his best days there are way behind him.   Football leagues, bodybuilding leagues, arenas, streaming networks, restaurants, boxing, movies etc.  All failed. 

[JCon]

14 hours ago, wbbfan said:

I very much doubt that is where the money will go. The none player/coach operations expenses involved in that many teams is whats gonna eat it up. 

But talent re-circulation for fringe players is great. 

Where do you think the money will go if it's not to the players, coaches, staff and all the people attached to the travel, the game day employees? 

[The Unknown Poster]

3 hours ago, JCon said:

Where do you think the money will go if it's not to the players, coaches, staff and all the people attached to the travel, the game day employees? 

Vince says they have 400 employees currently.  

[wbbfan]

3 hours ago, JCon said:

Where do you think the money will go if it's not to the players, coaches, staff and all the people attached to the travel, the game day employees? 

"The none player/coach operations expenses involved in that many teams is whats gonna eat it up."

They dont own any stadiums. How much do you think its gonna cost to occupy for TC, practices, and games for every team. They also need to upgrade to nation quality TV set up with cameras etc. They have no infrastructure for play tracking, film study, sleds to hit, equipment rooms, etc. 

The AAFL was only the most recent pro football attempt in the last 20 years. Many have tried and failed (AFL shut down for 2 years, AF2, Fall experimental, indoor football league, IPFL, UFL, NFLE, AAF, and the original XFL) The contractors and locals are going to jump at the cash from the XFL2, they arent gonna give freebies for another one year wonder. 

[JuranBoldenRules]

First game been real sloppy so far.  Looks like offenses relying mostly on screens.   Talent level not very high, which is pretty much always the downfall of these leagues, especially with QB's who can't pass.  Certainly not wide-open football, one offensive TD so far.

[SpeedFlex27]

Either the fans in DC are totally football starved being Redskin supporters or they papered the stadium to make sure it was full for the XFL's first ever tv game.  There's no way interest is that high all on its own. We'll see what happens in Week 2. attendance wise.