TURNOVER: WWE’s Vince McMahon to LAUNCH NFL ALTERNATIVE

[shockedcanadian]

I suggested this a couple of months ago on this very forum. This is the perfect time to try, even though it's an uphill battle, you can draw many former NFL fans.

TURNOVER: WWE’s Vince McMahon to LAUNCH NFL ALTERNATIVE | Sean Hannity

According to ESPN, the wrestling powerhouse’s production company, Alpha Entertainment, issued a “media advisory” warning news networks and sports enthusiasts that McMahon was about to unleash a “major sports announcement” by Thursday afternoon.

McMahon attempted a similar feat in 2001, when he launched the ill-fated XFL.

Now, the sports mogul believes the time is right to launch another football league following the NFL’s disastrous 2017 season. The embattled NFL has been hemorrhaging viewers for over a year as furious fans tune-out following months of professional athletes “taking a knee” during the performance of the national anthem.

The issue was thrust into the national spotlight last year, when President Trump called for an all-out boycott on the NFL until owners and officials require their players to remain standing during the ‘Star-Spangled Banner.’

The wrestling titan’s announcement comes as the NFL struggles to regain viewers with the Super Bowl less than two weeks away. Media predictions for the event aren’t good, with the league’s post-season playoff ratings down to their lowest levels in five years.

 

[aaronleland]

He already tried before, and it failed miserably.

 

[Mikeoxenormous]

He already tried before, and it failed miserably.

What doesn't kill us, just makes us stronger. I bet this arron loves his Pissburg Kneelers. McMahon will make sure in the contract, there will be no kneeling or sucking of other mens dicks.

 

[rightwinger]

XFL came at a time of great WWE popularity

McMahon is a shell of what he was then
He will never get the investors

 

[Windparadox]

`
You know, our current president, was heavily involved in the first XFL. McMahon says he's going it alone. Vince McMahon: XFL to return in 2020 without gimmicks. It's a good read, for those so inclined.

 

[rightwinger]

`
You know, our current president, was heavily involved in the first XFL. McMahon says he's going it alone. Vince McMahon: XFL to return in 2020 without gimmicks. It's a good read, for those so inclined.

Trump owned the New Jersey Generals in the USFL

The league was fairly successful until Trump convinced them to sue the NFL for $2 billion
He ended up winning $3

 

[Montrovant]

`
You know, our current president, was heavily involved in the first XFL. McMahon says he's going it alone. Vince McMahon: XFL to return in 2020 without gimmicks. It's a good read, for those so inclined.

No criminal record is going to dilute the talent pool even more than it already is. The idea of shortening the games to 2 hours is nice. The idea of only having 1 owner is terrible. Having the games not only be streaming, but intentionally filmed with streaming audiences in mind (perhaps giving the option to change camera views, or play highlights during the game yourself, something like what I imagine watching NFL's game pass is like) sounds like a good way to go about it.

The NFL has many more issues than the kneeling players, whatever some on this site might want to believe. A new league might be able to improve on some of them, but others, like player safety issues, may be insurmountable.

Hopefully this is better than the first XFL. It would be great to have a decent league to watch during the NFL offseason. I'm not going to hold my breath that it is successful, though.

 

[Rocko]

He already tried before, and it failed miserably.

yes, but this time a lot of ppl are down of the nfl. maybe mcmahon can capitalise this time.

 

[TheOldSchool]

I suggested this a couple of months ago on this very forum. This is the perfect time to try, even though it's an uphill battle, you can draw many former NFL fans.

TURNOVER: WWE’s Vince McMahon to LAUNCH NFL ALTERNATIVE | Sean Hannity

According to ESPN, the wrestling powerhouse’s production company, Alpha Entertainment, issued a “media advisory” warning news networks and sports enthusiasts that McMahon was about to unleash a “major sports announcement” by Thursday afternoon.

McMahon attempted a similar feat in 2001, when he launched the ill-fated XFL.

Now, the sports mogul believes the time is right to launch another football league following the NFL’s disastrous 2017 season. The embattled NFL has been hemorrhaging viewers for over a year as furious fans tune-out following months of professional athletes “taking a knee” during the performance of the national anthem.

The issue was thrust into the national spotlight last year, when President Trump called for an all-out boycott on the NFL until owners and officials require their players to remain standing during the ‘Star-Spangled Banner.’

The wrestling titan’s announcement comes as the NFL struggles to regain viewers with the Super Bowl less than two weeks away. Media predictions for the event aren’t good, with the league’s post-season playoff ratings down to their lowest levels in five years.

Until Football figures out a solution to the CTE crisis, this is absolutely the WORST time to try this. McMahon must be hoping for a niche audience that can give him a profit with a tiny fraction of the revenue that the NFL makes.

 

[shockedcanadian]

I suggested this a couple of months ago on this very forum. This is the perfect time to try, even though it's an uphill battle, you can draw many former NFL fans.

TURNOVER: WWE’s Vince McMahon to LAUNCH NFL ALTERNATIVE | Sean Hannity

According to ESPN, the wrestling powerhouse’s production company, Alpha Entertainment, issued a “media advisory” warning news networks and sports enthusiasts that McMahon was about to unleash a “major sports announcement” by Thursday afternoon.

McMahon attempted a similar feat in 2001, when he launched the ill-fated XFL.

Now, the sports mogul believes the time is right to launch another football league following the NFL’s disastrous 2017 season. The embattled NFL has been hemorrhaging viewers for over a year as furious fans tune-out following months of professional athletes “taking a knee” during the performance of the national anthem.

The issue was thrust into the national spotlight last year, when President Trump called for an all-out boycott on the NFL until owners and officials require their players to remain standing during the ‘Star-Spangled Banner.’

The wrestling titan’s announcement comes as the NFL struggles to regain viewers with the Super Bowl less than two weeks away. Media predictions for the event aren’t good, with the league’s post-season playoff ratings down to their lowest levels in five years.

Until Football figures out a solution to the CTE crisis, this is absolutely the WORST time to try this. McMahon must be hoping for a niche audience that can give him a profit with a tiny fraction of the revenue that the NFL makes.

I disagree. He can have them sign waivers and deal with intentional head to head tackles fiercely.

Every physical sport has to deal with this, check out the issues with hockey, and they are skating and hitting each other all game at sometimes 100 MPH.

Sports is dangerous, that's one of the reasons they are so well paid. If you consider CTE with football, how is boxing still a sport?

 

[TheOldSchool]

I suggested this a couple of months ago on this very forum. This is the perfect time to try, even though it's an uphill battle, you can draw many former NFL fans.

TURNOVER: WWE’s Vince McMahon to LAUNCH NFL ALTERNATIVE | Sean Hannity

According to ESPN, the wrestling powerhouse’s production company, Alpha Entertainment, issued a “media advisory” warning news networks and sports enthusiasts that McMahon was about to unleash a “major sports announcement” by Thursday afternoon.

McMahon attempted a similar feat in 2001, when he launched the ill-fated XFL.

Now, the sports mogul believes the time is right to launch another football league following the NFL’s disastrous 2017 season. The embattled NFL has been hemorrhaging viewers for over a year as furious fans tune-out following months of professional athletes “taking a knee” during the performance of the national anthem.

The issue was thrust into the national spotlight last year, when President Trump called for an all-out boycott on the NFL until owners and officials require their players to remain standing during the ‘Star-Spangled Banner.’

The wrestling titan’s announcement comes as the NFL struggles to regain viewers with the Super Bowl less than two weeks away. Media predictions for the event aren’t good, with the league’s post-season playoff ratings down to their lowest levels in five years.

Until Football figures out a solution to the CTE crisis, this is absolutely the WORST time to try this. McMahon must be hoping for a niche audience that can give him a profit with a tiny fraction of the revenue that the NFL makes.

I disagree. He can have them sign waivers and deal with intentional head to head tackles fiercely.

Every physical sport has to deal with this, check out the issues with hockey, and they are skating and hitting each other all game at sometimes 100 MPH.

Sports is dangerous, that's one of the reasons they are so well paid. If you consider CTE with football, how is boxing still a sport?

Yeah and boxing is super popular these days

You think waivers for suing about CTE will help? Football's future, no matter the league, is in bad shape as long as CTE doesn't get under control.

Report Shows Continuing Drop in High School Football Players
Youth football participation declines as worries mount about concussions, CTE

 

[Montrovant]

I suggested this a couple of months ago on this very forum. This is the perfect time to try, even though it's an uphill battle, you can draw many former NFL fans.

TURNOVER: WWE’s Vince McMahon to LAUNCH NFL ALTERNATIVE | Sean Hannity

According to ESPN, the wrestling powerhouse’s production company, Alpha Entertainment, issued a “media advisory” warning news networks and sports enthusiasts that McMahon was about to unleash a “major sports announcement” by Thursday afternoon.

McMahon attempted a similar feat in 2001, when he launched the ill-fated XFL.

Now, the sports mogul believes the time is right to launch another football league following the NFL’s disastrous 2017 season. The embattled NFL has been hemorrhaging viewers for over a year as furious fans tune-out following months of professional athletes “taking a knee” during the performance of the national anthem.

The issue was thrust into the national spotlight last year, when President Trump called for an all-out boycott on the NFL until owners and officials require their players to remain standing during the ‘Star-Spangled Banner.’

The wrestling titan’s announcement comes as the NFL struggles to regain viewers with the Super Bowl less than two weeks away. Media predictions for the event aren’t good, with the league’s post-season playoff ratings down to their lowest levels in five years.

Until Football figures out a solution to the CTE crisis, this is absolutely the WORST time to try this. McMahon must be hoping for a niche audience that can give him a profit with a tiny fraction of the revenue that the NFL makes.

I disagree. He can have them sign waivers and deal with intentional head to head tackles fiercely.

Every physical sport has to deal with this, check out the issues with hockey, and they are skating and hitting each other all game at sometimes 100 MPH.

Sports is dangerous, that's one of the reasons they are so well paid. If you consider CTE with football, how is boxing still a sport?

No one skates even vaguely close to 100 MPH. You're talking about how fast the puck can travel.

Hockey has far, far less direct collision than football does. The game and rules don't allow it. CTE and head injuries are still an issue, but not in the same way as football.

I'm actually a bit surprised sometimes that boxing and mma continue as sports with the ever-growing knowledge of how repeated head injuries affect people. Neither is anywhere near the NFL in terms of revenue as far as I know.

The XFL could ignore the dangers inherent in football and go back to a more old-school version of the rules, but would the league be able to entice high level talent that way? That question is especially pertinent if the XFL will be paying its players a lot less than the NFL does.

 

[Windparadox]

`
It's a very risky venture and is riding on the current anti-NFL sentiment. In Green Bay, where virtually every Packer game is a sell out, it will be a hard sell.

 

[Lewdog]

People have to remember a few things here. Linda McMahon, Vince's wife was appointed by Trump as the Small Business Administrator.

Johnny Manziel wants to play in the NFL, but if McMahon holds his stance, he can't because Manziel has a police record.

Lastly, the USFL started to fail because they moved their games from the spring to the fall to compete against the NFL head-to-head.

 

[DrLove]

We've already discussed Vinny's pipe dream.

Likely to be as big a waste of his money as the 5 million he and Linda donated to the phony Donald J Trump Foundation.

The XFL is basically an NFL for Trump supporters

 

[my2¢]

“The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results.” - attributed to various people.

 

[shockedcanadian]

I suggested this a couple of months ago on this very forum. This is the perfect time to try, even though it's an uphill battle, you can draw many former NFL fans.

TURNOVER: WWE’s Vince McMahon to LAUNCH NFL ALTERNATIVE | Sean Hannity

According to ESPN, the wrestling powerhouse’s production company, Alpha Entertainment, issued a “media advisory” warning news networks and sports enthusiasts that McMahon was about to unleash a “major sports announcement” by Thursday afternoon.

McMahon attempted a similar feat in 2001, when he launched the ill-fated XFL.

Now, the sports mogul believes the time is right to launch another football league following the NFL’s disastrous 2017 season. The embattled NFL has been hemorrhaging viewers for over a year as furious fans tune-out following months of professional athletes “taking a knee” during the performance of the national anthem.

The issue was thrust into the national spotlight last year, when President Trump called for an all-out boycott on the NFL until owners and officials require their players to remain standing during the ‘Star-Spangled Banner.’

The wrestling titan’s announcement comes as the NFL struggles to regain viewers with the Super Bowl less than two weeks away. Media predictions for the event aren’t good, with the league’s post-season playoff ratings down to their lowest levels in five years.

Until Football figures out a solution to the CTE crisis, this is absolutely the WORST time to try this. McMahon must be hoping for a niche audience that can give him a profit with a tiny fraction of the revenue that the NFL makes.

I disagree. He can have them sign waivers and deal with intentional head to head tackles fiercely.

Every physical sport has to deal with this, check out the issues with hockey, and they are skating and hitting each other all game at sometimes 100 MPH.

Sports is dangerous, that's one of the reasons they are so well paid. If you consider CTE with football, how is boxing still a sport?

No one skates even vaguely close to 100 MPH. You're talking about how fast the puck can travel.

Hockey has far, far less direct collision than football does. The game and rules don't allow it. CTE and head injuries are still an issue, but not in the same way as football.

I'm actually a bit surprised sometimes that boxing and mma continue as sports with the ever-growing knowledge of how repeated head injuries affect people. Neither is anywhere near the NFL in terms of revenue as far as I know.

The XFL could ignore the dangers inherent in football and go back to a more old-school version of the rules, but would the league be able to entice high level talent that way? That question is especially pertinent if the XFL will be paying its players a lot less than the NFL does.

Well, it was rumored Bobby Hull could skated 100 MPH

As for the the hits, there are more concussions of hockey players, including their biggest stars, than you see in the NFL. Some have had multiple concussions, Crosby, Eric Lindros, and many others. There is little solid science on repeated concussions, and we are talking about guys hitting with speed, guys flat out cold on the ice, guys who have gone a long time with memory problems, in their PRIME. Crosby had this scare just a couple of years ago, and there were rumours he might retire, in his prime as the best player in the league.

The gear hockey players wear now is like concrete, very hard plastic. They hit a guy in the middle of the ice when he isn't expecting it, maybe head down, or, they check a guy hard in the corner and the boards don't bend as they should. Elbows to the unguarded chin. This takes a toll, immeasurable and many irreparable.

Many "fighters", now a thing primarily of the past (thankfully), have committed suicide or are living on the streets. Some of them donated their brains to science and there is evidence of great damage to their brains. This is what makes hockey unique, very few big stars in the NFL deal with these issues, but in hockey, it's some of the biggest stars. Paul Kariya is another. If you can imagine a 6'4, beast of a man that Lindros is get knocked out cold and unable to move in the middle of the ice, well, you know this isn't a game of tennis.

The NFL did this to themselves. Horrible leaders and decision makers. They should have nipped it in the bud early, they have cost themselves revenue, and they will face low level competition. I don't see the NFL leaving anytime soon, or even the XFL competing, but they will find their market. Just as college sports find fans. They have upset so man fans that it's the right time to do so.

You could imagine all sorts of scenarios, such as Tebow joining the league if baseball falls through. Or players cut from the NFL. It won't be about having the best players, but entertaining and maybe doing some things that are off the charts. How about a team prayer with the fans before the game rather than a knell (can you imagine any better way to piss off the media)? How about military charities allowed in the areas at no charge? Give me a shot working with the XFL and I could think of 1000 great ideas. Whether thy succeed or not, who knows, but the country is in the mood for something different.

 

[Montrovant]

I suggested this a couple of months ago on this very forum. This is the perfect time to try, even though it's an uphill battle, you can draw many former NFL fans.

TURNOVER: WWE’s Vince McMahon to LAUNCH NFL ALTERNATIVE | Sean Hannity

According to ESPN, the wrestling powerhouse’s production company, Alpha Entertainment, issued a “media advisory” warning news networks and sports enthusiasts that McMahon was about to unleash a “major sports announcement” by Thursday afternoon.

McMahon attempted a similar feat in 2001, when he launched the ill-fated XFL.

Now, the sports mogul believes the time is right to launch another football league following the NFL’s disastrous 2017 season. The embattled NFL has been hemorrhaging viewers for over a year as furious fans tune-out following months of professional athletes “taking a knee” during the performance of the national anthem.

The issue was thrust into the national spotlight last year, when President Trump called for an all-out boycott on the NFL until owners and officials require their players to remain standing during the ‘Star-Spangled Banner.’

The wrestling titan’s announcement comes as the NFL struggles to regain viewers with the Super Bowl less than two weeks away. Media predictions for the event aren’t good, with the league’s post-season playoff ratings down to their lowest levels in five years.

Until Football figures out a solution to the CTE crisis, this is absolutely the WORST time to try this. McMahon must be hoping for a niche audience that can give him a profit with a tiny fraction of the revenue that the NFL makes.

I disagree. He can have them sign waivers and deal with intentional head to head tackles fiercely.

Every physical sport has to deal with this, check out the issues with hockey, and they are skating and hitting each other all game at sometimes 100 MPH.

Sports is dangerous, that's one of the reasons they are so well paid. If you consider CTE with football, how is boxing still a sport?

No one skates even vaguely close to 100 MPH. You're talking about how fast the puck can travel.

Hockey has far, far less direct collision than football does. The game and rules don't allow it. CTE and head injuries are still an issue, but not in the same way as football.

I'm actually a bit surprised sometimes that boxing and mma continue as sports with the ever-growing knowledge of how repeated head injuries affect people. Neither is anywhere near the NFL in terms of revenue as far as I know.

The XFL could ignore the dangers inherent in football and go back to a more old-school version of the rules, but would the league be able to entice high level talent that way? That question is especially pertinent if the XFL will be paying its players a lot less than the NFL does.

Well, it was rumored Bobby Hull could skated 100 MPH

As for the the hits, there are more concussions of hockey players, including their biggest stars, than you see in the NFL. Some have had multiple concussions, Crosby, Eric Lindros, and many others. There is little solid science on repeated concussions, and we are talking about guys hitting with speed, guys flat out cold on the ice, guys who have gone a long time with memory problems, in their PRIME. Crosby had this scare just a couple of years ago, and there were rumours he might retire, in his prime as the best player in the league.

The gear hockey players wear now is like concrete, very hard plastic. They hit a guy in the middle of the ice when he isn't expecting it, maybe head down, or, they check a guy hard in the corner and the boards don't bend as they should. Elbows to the unguarded chin. This takes a toll, immeasurable and many irreparable.

Many "fighters", now a thing primarily of the past (thankfully), have committed suicide or are living on the streets. Some of them donated their brains to science and there is evidence of great damage to their brains. This is what makes hockey unique, very few big stars in the NFL deal with these issues, but in hockey, it's some of the biggest stars. Paul Kariya is another. If you can imagine a 6'4, beast of a man that Lindros is get knocked out cold and unable to move in the middle of the ice, well, you know this isn't a game of tennis.

The NFL did this to themselves. Horrible leaders and decision makers. They should have nipped it in the bud early, they have cost themselves revenue, and they will face low level competition. I don't see the NFL leaving anytime soon, or even the XFL competing, but they will find their market. Just as college sports find fans. They have upset so man fans that it's the right time to do so.

You could imagine all sorts of scenarios, such as Tebow joining the league if baseball falls through. Or players cut from the NFL. It won't be about having the best players, but entertaining and maybe doing some things that are off the charts. How about a team prayer with the fans before the game rather than a knell (can you imagine any better way to piss off the media)? How about military charities allowed in the areas at no charge? Give me a shot working with the XFL and I could think of 1000 great ideas. Whether thy succeed or not, who knows, but the country is in the mood for something different.

There was a recent study done which showed that concussions actually have little to do with CTE. It's about repeated impact to the head, whether that results in concussion or not. Repeated Hits to the Head — Not Concussion — May Cause CTE

It's possible that professional hockey has more concussion issues than football, but I can't find any evidence one way or the other. If you look at total reported concussions, football has them at the highest rate, with hockey second, based on this information: Stats on Concussions </br> & Sports - Head Case - Complete Concussion Managements

If you don't think NFL stars have had to deal with mental issues after playing, you aren't paying attention. And concussions happen all too frequently in games; Rob Gronkowski was just knocked out of the game with a concussion last week, and he's certainly an NFL star. Junior Seau was an NFL star, and he committed suicide after retirement, then his brain was donated and he was determined to have had CTE. A study was done of former football players, and in 110 of 111 former NFL players, CTE was found. CTE found in 99% of studied brains from deceased NFL players - CNN

Bobby Hull is supposed to have had a best ever skating speed of just under 30 MPH, which may be the fastest any hockey player has ever been clocked at.

 

[Slash]

People have to remember a few things here. Linda McMahon, Vince's wife was appointed by Trump as the Small Business Administrator.

Johnny Manziel wants to play in the NFL, but if McMahon holds his stance, he can't because Manziel has a police record.

Lastly, the USFL started to fail because they moved their games from the spring to the fall to compete against the NFL head-to-head.

The USFL never played a game against the NFL schedule. They were going to attempt to as a last ditch effort, but went bankrupt before a single game that year was played. An entire division disappeared in the offseason before that happened (3 teams shut down, one expelled from league).

There have been dozens of leagues that have failed since the XFL last flopped and dozens before the XFL. The USFL was arguably the most successful in the past 50 years (arguably because it lost a LOT of money, but made it 3 years).

And 2001 was a different time as people have pointed out. While NFL ratings are down a tick this year, they are WAY up from 2001. NFL has a LOT more fans today than it did 16 years ago. Also other TV ratings are well down from where they were then. Take WWE Raw, which has lost about 70% of it's audience since 2001.

So when we hear "ratings down" that's not including the millions of fans streaming that didn't exist, and it is down from all time highs.



There's two ways to try and run a football league that have had success.

1. semi-pro. Do it with player salaries in the 3-4 figures a game range where it's a part time job.

2. Challenge the NFL (worked for AFL, AAFC). This one hasn't been tried in 50 years for a few reasons. NFL has most major markets covered now. Also NFL is a monster financially now. McMahon is pulling a 100mil investment. That would pay about half a season for 1 teams coaches/players in the NFL. NFL has $14bil in revenue and $64bil in value.

In the end I still see this as a "gimmick" league with bad football, same as last time. It will still have to be built around making studs out of the players that couldn't make the Cleveland Browns practice squad. That's not good football.

Now last time around off a 100mil investment, the XFL was able to pay players around $56k a year. About the same as the CFL top pay, and it pulled a little CFL talent. CFL now pays $500k a year for top talent. XFL still going with that $100 mil investment.

Throw in that the CFL has a retirement package. How many think that in 30 years the XFL will still be solvent to pay out theirs?



The "patriotic" gimmick is pretty blatant in it's own right. So no arrest records or DUI's because we want to be a league of patriots?

That means guys like Hulk Hogan, and US Olympic Gold medal winner Kurt Angle, two patriotic faces of Vince McMahon's wrestling enterprise are banned from anything to do with the XFL. George W Bush, banned from anything to do with the XFL. Congressional Medal of Honor recipient Kyle Carpenter, banned for not being patriotic enough. That's a gimmick folks.

WWE has it's divas and ring girls, but the XFL not getting cheerleaders because it wants to be "family friendly". I doubt Vince is going to call his WWE non-family entertainment and tell us only adults should watch it.

And what do we see with gimmicky leagues that don't have good football? Everyone excited on day 1. Only ones still excited 10 weeks later are the bankruptcy lawyers.

Taking on a MUCH stronger NFL in a MUCH weaker tv market, with Gimmicks after seeing dozens of other leagues try and fail the past 20 years. All the hype in the world isn't saving that.