Vince McMahon considers move to bring back the XFL

[brett_c_b]

7 hours ago, The Unknown Poster said:

Very surprised they are using XFL for two reasons.  1) all the bad press associated with it 2) XFL was owned by WWE, which means to use it, Alpha has to license it.  That wouldnt matter if WWE was privately owned but they cant just gift the trademarks to Vince because he's the chairman.

Word is the launch would be 2020 so they have given themselves some time to do it right.

quick trademark search shows WWE abandoned the trademark on it in 2003. In December 2017 Alpha trademarked it.

http://tmsearch.uspto.gov/bin/showfield?f=doc&state=4810:jagwo7.2.2

[SpeedFlex27]

Makes all kinds of sense to use a name that crashed & burned. 

[Tracker]

10 hours ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

Makes all kinds of sense to use a name that crashed & burned. 

Its a preview.

[Tracker]

Vince's past is beginning to leak out:

On a Saturday afternoon in January of 2006, a young woman walked into a Papa John’s pizza restaurant at the end of a Boca Raton strip mall and asked for help. The woman, who worked at a tanning salon a few doors down, was in tears. A man had just tried to “attack and rape her” at the salon, she told an employee of the pizza joint.

That man was later identified as Vince McMahon, chairman of World Wrestling Entertainment. The Boca Raton police believed they had enough evidence to file an arrest warrant against McMahon for misdemeanor simple battery after the tanning salon employee accused him of groping her and trying to kiss her, according to a police report reviewed by The Daily Beast.

The allegation against McMahon was covered at the time by local media and in an Associated Press report. Some of the details about the alleged crime were included in the reports, but press attention dissipated after McMahon was not criminally charged, with prosecutors citing a lack of independent evidence to charge him.

[Goalie]

19 minutes ago, tracker said:

Vince's past is beginning to leak out:

On a Saturday afternoon in January of 2006, a young woman walked into a Papa John’s pizza restaurant at the end of a Boca Raton strip mall and asked for help. The woman, who worked at a tanning salon a few doors down, was in tears. A man had just tried to “attack and rape her” at the salon, she told an employee of the pizza joint.

That man was later identified as Vince McMahon, chairman of World Wrestling Entertainment. The Boca Raton police believed they had enough evidence to file an arrest warrant against McMahon for misdemeanor simple battery after the tanning salon employee accused him of groping her and trying to kiss her, according to a police report reviewed by The Daily Beast.

The allegation against McMahon was covered at the time by local media and in an Associated Press report. Some of the details about the alleged crime were included in the reports, but press attention dissipated after McMahon was not criminally charged, with prosecutors citing a lack of independent evidence to charge him.

So therefore hes innocent. We all know about Vinces past.. Hes an Ass.. A ****** a ****... A prick... But guess what... If it cant be proven then by law hes innocent. This snowflake crap about ppl coming forward 10 15 20 years later needs to go away cuz u know what... You cant prove it. 

Edited January 27, 2018 by Goalie

[HardCoreBlue]

14 hours ago, Goalie said:

So therefore hes innocent. We all know about Vinces past.. Hes an Ass.. A ****** a ****... A prick... But guess what... If it cant be proven then by law hes innocent. This snowflake crap about ppl coming forward 10 15 20 years later needs to go away cuz u know what... You cant prove it. 

You're right innocent till proven guilty. I completely agree.

But you're statement about ppl coming forward after 10-20 years needs to go away makes me think that I hope you don't have anyone in your life that something bad has happened to them that is not their fault but for years has felt afraid (which could involve many different types of legitimate reasons in their silence) of speaking out. There is that type of person out there.

[Bigblue204]

15 hours ago, Goalie said:

So therefore hes innocent. We all know about Vinces past.. Hes an Ass.. A ****** a ****... A prick... But guess what... If it cant be proven then by law hes innocent. This snowflake crap about ppl coming forward 10 15 20 years later needs to go away cuz u know what... You cant prove it. 

This is quite the statement considering the quote under all your posts

Edited January 27, 2018 by Bigblue204

[WBBFanWest]

All this attention to a guy who basically said, "I'm starting a new league in 2020.  I don't have any teams or sponsors or a TV contract, but it's going to be huge"  I present The next president of the US everyone...

[17to85]

1 hour ago, WBBFanWest said:

All this attention to a guy who basically said, "I'm starting a new league in 2020.  I don't have any teams or sponsors or a TV contract, but it's going to be huge"  I present The next president of the US everyone...

Still better than Trump

[iHeart]

On 12/18/2017 at 10:15 PM, tracker said:

This is probably a Trumpish thing- if your name falls out of the public consciousness, you say something outrageously stupid to stir things up.

good god I hate to find out what the Kardashians would do if this happened

[do or die]

Might enjoy all that eye candy....

Wait an minute...

[JCon]

23 hours ago, Goalie said:

So therefore hes innocent. We all know about Vinces past.. Hes an Ass.. A ****** a ****... A prick... But guess what... If it cant be proven then by law hes innocent. This snowflake crap about ppl coming forward 10 15 20 years later needs to go away cuz u know what... You cant prove it. 

It was reported and investigated at the time of incident. 

[wbbfan]

On 1/26/2018 at 12:22 AM, SpeedFlex27 said:

Makes all kinds of sense to use a name that crashed & burned. 

No kidding eh. I wonder is the XFL the least successful start up pro football league in history?  The USFL played what 4 years?  They produced a few HOFers as well. The NFLE lasted a long while, didnt produce a ton of star power but a few guys. The AFL stuck in various  versions of it self for a long while and produced a couple guys too.  Did AFL2 out last the xfl as well?

[Brandon]

Didn't Mark Cuban start up a football league that lasted one season?

[The Unknown Poster]

The Vince story is old.  And its not a case of someone coming forward with a new allegation.  Anyone who is insensitive enough to attack victims coming forward years later needs to get off the internet and reconsider their life.  Or use the Internet for good and do some research.  Makes you wonder...

In Vince's case, it was investigated and no charges were laid.  So its not likely a story that will gain any traction.  He was also accused of rape by a former WWE referee.  And ofcourse he was put on trial for steroid distribution.  Then there was the underage sex scandal and all his admitted affairs.  All if it is out there.  Unless something new comes along, he's fine.

[The Unknown Poster]

11 hours ago, wbbfan said:

No kidding eh. I wonder is the XFL the least successful start up pro football league in history?  The USFL played what 4 years?  They produced a few HOFers as well. The NFLE lasted a long while, didnt produce a ton of star power but a few guys. The AFL stuck in various  versions of it self for a long while and produced a couple guys too.  Did AFL2 out last the xfl as well?

I couldn't find ratings for USFL in terms of viewers, just share and rating number.  Sounds like they did very well.  Their TV deals were lucrative.  Thats the key.  If the XFL gets a TV deal in the tens of millions, it makes success a lot more likely.

[Jaxon]

IMHO, Vince McMahon's biggest problem going forward is making the jump from "sports entertainment" to competitive sports.    Rightly or wrongly, he is the king of fake sports.  Yes, it's a show, some may find  entertaining, but I'm not sure that it's a brand that is compatible with competitive sports.    Trying to change the impression of a brand is a tough marketing job.   I don't believe that national sponsors are lining up in droves to have their brand associated with "fake sports", even if this league is real.

Secondly, the NFL, even with all of it's flaws and problems, is the big dog.   I'm not convinced that there is much market in the US for second tier football.     The professional sports market is saturated with NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, and a growing MLS.     After that, there is the college sports phenom.      And yes, I know that there is minor league baseball, arena football, AHL hockey and the like, but none of them get national attention.   They have some local interest in their own smaller markets, and survive on ticket sales, or support for being a farm team to a big league club.   They offer nothing on the national scale that McMahon is looking for.   All the hoopla in the world won't create a  long term national audience for the XFL.   

[17to85]

I think you hit the nail on the head with the comment about college sports. They're too big and they serve as the not NFL football fix for most people. 

[wbbfan]

1 hour ago, The Unknown Poster said:

I couldn't find ratings for USFL in terms of viewers, just share and rating number.  Sounds like they did very well.  Their TV deals were lucrative.  Thats the key.  If the XFL gets a TV deal in the tens of millions, it makes success a lot more likely.

Wasnt the primary partner for vince and the XFL a major network? The usfl was probably the most successful indy league out side of the cfl. 

2 hours ago, Brandon said:

Didn't Mark Cuban start up a football league that lasted one season?

Apparently the UFL ran for 4 seasons. Cuban was supposed to own a team but backed out. 

[wbbfan]

2 minutes ago, 17to85 said:

I think you hit the nail on the head with the comment about college sports. They're too big and they serve as the not NFL football fix for most people. 

+ high school football. If any thing football in america is a saturated market. 

[17to85]

honestly a new football league could probably work, the key though is to start small and grow naturally, but I don't think anyone has the patience for that these days or to lose the money it would require. 

[Rich]

If the evidence and awareness of concussions continues on its current trajectory, I wonder if it is really a smart thing to invest in a new football league.

What happens over the next 10+ years if enough parents decide to just stop enrolling their kids in football?   

Are you coming into the game too late, (on its downtrend) or can you find a way to innovate and change the game to be safer and use that as a selling point.    Might be too early if it is the latter.

[The Unknown Poster]

1 hour ago, Jaxon said:

IMHO, Vince McMahon's biggest problem going forward is making the jump from "sports entertainment" to competitive sports.    Rightly or wrongly, he is the king of fake sports.  Yes, it's a show, some may find  entertaining, but I'm not sure that it's a brand that is compatible with competitive sports.    Trying to change the impression of a brand is a tough marketing job.   I don't believe that national sponsors are lining up in droves to have their brand associated with "fake sports", even if this league is real.

Secondly, the NFL, even with all of it's flaws and problems, is the big dog.   I'm not convinced that there is much market in the US for second tier football.     The professional sports market is saturated with NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, and a growing MLS.     After that, there is the college sports phenom.      And yes, I know that there is minor league baseball, arena football, AHL hockey and the like, but none of them get national attention.   They have some local interest in their own smaller markets, and survive on ticket sales, or support for being a farm team to a big league club.   They offer nothing on the national scale that McMahon is looking for.   All the hoopla in the world won't create a  long term national audience for the XFL.   

Definitely.  And thats the bitter pill Vince learned last time.  If you look at the XFL last time, it actually got better as the season progressed and the over-the-top stuff got toned down.  Interestingly, even though they wanted to downplay the wrestling announcers, as I recall, Jim Ross was the best commentator and ended up with the main job before too long.  While he is most known for wrestling, he's called a variety of sports as well.  He was very good.

In the presser Vince said he intended to be a behind the scenes guy and would hire experts to run the league.  So if he actually does that, there shouldn't be too much worry about the antics.  One thing WWE is very very good at is slick production.  The knock against WWE production is that its been the same for so long, but its very very good.  I would strongly suspect that XFL games will feel major league when you watch them.

[The Unknown Poster]

1 hour ago, wbbfan said:

Wasnt the primary partner for vince and the XFL a major network? The usfl was probably the most successful indy league out side of the cfl. 

Apparently the UFL ran for 4 seasons. Cuban was supposed to own a team but backed out. 

Yes, NBC.  Vince was close with **** Ebersol from the Saturday Night Main Event days.  **** is credited with taking WWE from smoke filled bingo halls to slickly produced arena shows (not entirely accurate but he showed Vince how much better it could look).  Vince announced XFL without a partner and **** called him and asked him not to sign with anyone else until they had a chance to talk.   NBC then bought 50% of the XFL and I believe some percentage of WWE also.

After the first season, NBC backed out and Vince was willing to go it alone for another season but his other broadcast partner (I believe it was Paramount) cancelled them.

[wbbfan]

20 minutes ago, 17to85 said:

honestly a new football league could probably work, the key though is to start small and grow naturally, but I don't think anyone has the patience for that these days or to lose the money it would require. 

Depends on what you mean by work. In the same way the nfle and usfl and the first go round of the AFL worked at recycling talent and serving to give another chance to guys who would have fallen out of football for sure. Could one last for good? Idk i wouldnt bet on it. 

3 minutes ago, The Unknown Poster said:

Definitely.  And thats the bitter pill Vince learned last time.  If you look at the XFL last time, it actually got better as the season progressed and the over-the-top stuff got toned down.  Interestingly, even though they wanted to downplay the wrestling announcers, as I recall, Jim Ross was the best commentator and ended up with the main job before too long.  While he is most known for wrestling, he's called a variety of sports as well.  He was very good.

In the presser Vince said he intended to be a behind the scenes guy and would hire experts to run the league.  So if he actually does that, there shouldn't be too much worry about the antics.  One thing WWE is very very good at is slick production.  The knock against WWE production is that its been the same for so long, but its very very good.  I would strongly suspect that XFL games will feel major league when you watch them.

Agree on the upward trajectory of the quality of the game and production as it wore on. It jumped the shark then turned it around but too late.