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OrediggerPoke

AAF Suspending Operations

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Sounding like the gambling app angle may have legs.  Thing is said to be a game changer, just in time for the opening up of sports gambling in this country.  Spend 70 million on it then shut the league down?  for something potentially worth billions?  Hell, yeah.  The guys at the AAF may have been scammed.

In the beginning the Universe was created.
This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move.

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4 hours ago, RogueStout said:

I think the USFL did ok to good for a while until they tried moving to Fall games, which caused a pretty big rift among the owners. 

It would have been interesting to see what would have happened if they had stuck to the original plan. 

That was Donald Trump but USFL also won a lawsuit against the NFL as well during the period but didn't get that much of a payoff from it.

Thing was USFL had ESPN behind them with them and ABC carrying multiple games a week and they started their seasons in March and end right around 4th of July, not like just a few weeks after the Super Bowl. Also they had some pretty good talent in the USFL who chose the USFL instead of NFL. USFL was backed well and thought out where they wouldn't compete against the NFL directly. You had NFL during the fall and then USFL during the spring and summer. And there would be breaks between each others seasons as well. 

AAF seemed just to be almost thrown together and then launched.

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The USFL was a clown car.  The owners of Chicago and Arizona traded franchises.  The Breakers played in a different city each year.  Teams spent big money they didnt have.  A guy in Miami hired Howard Schellenberger to coach before he actually bought and moved the Washington franchise, then the deal fell thru.  Anybody with a checkbook got an expansion franchise - including in TULSA.  The Gumball Rally in San Antonio to cash paychecks.  And, yes, The Donald.  The only sane one of the bunch appeared to be John Bassett in Tampa - they were the model franchise, and was prepared to go toe-to-toe with Trump, but then he got brain cancer and Trump hijacked the whole thing.  And most of the other owners went along because they were desperate, when all Trump really wanted to do is get into the NFL cheap.

In the beginning the Universe was created.
This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move.

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I think the concept of a spring football league is sound---the key is it has to be a developmental league and the costs need to be kept in line with its status as a "niche" league.  If they can keep costs down, play in modern MLS Stadiums,  and draw numbers similar to the MLS---they would have a solid sustainable product.  Honestly---Im surprised the NLF and the NFL Network hasnt already done it as a low cost replacement for NFL Europe.  Maybe Vince McMann has learned from these prior mistakes and the  XFL will do a better job of understanding what will and will not work in the spring.  

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4 hours ago, CaffeinatedCoog said:

I think the concept of a spring football league is sound---the key is it has to be a developmental league and the costs need to be kept in line with its status as a "niche" league.  If they can keep costs down, play in modern MLS Stadiums,  and draw numbers similar to the MLS---they would have a solid sustainable product.  Honestly---Im surprised the NLF and the NFL Network hasnt already done it as a low cost replacement for NFL Europe.  Maybe Vince McMann has learned from these prior mistakes and the  XFL will do a better job of understanding what will and will not work in the spring.  

But the NFL doesn’t really need a developmental league though since the NCAA already does it for free. A developmental league would just be a money loser, so I don’t see what would motivate the NFL to create one. 

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51 minutes ago, SalinasSpartan said:

But the NFL doesn’t really need a developmental league though since the NCAA already does it for free. A developmental league would just be a money loser, so I don’t see what would motivate the NFL to create one. 

The AFL and NFL took a few years to be profitable as well.  The league needed more than one owner to allow the league to develop and fan bases to get entrenched.  Sadly, I think the XFL will meet a similar fate.  A shame really, it was a pretty good football product.

24570143_BSUBACKGROUNDBANNERANDY1AWELCOME.png.5fa1e131a0fec4c26c0be2f4d0a420eb.png

망치를 가진 남자에게는, 모든것이 못처럼 보인다.

원숭이도 나무에서 떨어진다.

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4 hours ago, SalinasSpartan said:

But the NFL doesn’t really need a developmental league though since the NCAA already does it for free. A developmental league would just be a money loser, so I don’t see what would motivate the NFL to create one. 

 

You have a good point, but each team in the league is already paying 8 practice players $100K a year for nothing.   If each NFL division sponsored one team, that would give you 8 teams each with a core of 32 practice squad players.  Add in 25-30 more FA's per team for $50K each and you have yourself a relatively low cost league where your practice players can get live reps, the league can tape on FA's,  and the NFL Network can create some excellent live content for its viewers.  Play it in modern intimate MLS stadiums---and you have yourself a nice low price product that helps the NFL build the talent base for the coming fall.     

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NFL lost 30 million a year on NFL Europe, but they ultimately cancelled it because coaches werent interested in sending their players over there.  They preferred keeping them in house for 'development'.

 

ESPN.com's Len Pasquarelli wrote after the league's disbandment in 2007, "Recently, the European league became far less a laboratory for player development and more an exercise in amassing exemptions for NFL summer training camps. [...] there weren't many [NFL] team officials who adhered to the original intent anymore."[3]

Pasquarelli also named J. T. O'Sullivan as the best 2007 NFL Europa player, at a time when O'Sullivan was no better than third-choice quarterback at the Chicago Bears.[3]According to Pasquarelli, NFL Europe and NFL Europa "simply stopped producing players with even scant name recognition", and most coaches would prefer to develop their players themselves.[

In the beginning the Universe was created.
This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move.

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2 hours ago, RSF said:

NFL lost 30 million a year on NFL Europe, but they ultimately cancelled it because coaches werent interested in sending their players over there.  They preferred keeping them in house for 'development'.

 

ESPN.com's Len Pasquarelli wrote after the league's disbandment in 2007, "Recently, the European league became far less a laboratory for player development and more an exercise in amassing exemptions for NFL summer training camps. [...] there weren't many [NFL] team officials who adhered to the original intent anymore."[3]

Pasquarelli also named J. T. O'Sullivan as the best 2007 NFL Europa player, at a time when O'Sullivan was no better than third-choice quarterback at the Chicago Bears.[3]According to Pasquarelli, NFL Europe and NFL Europa "simply stopped producing players with even scant name recognition", and most coaches would prefer to develop their players themselves.[

To be fair, Europe isnt exactly a place with an installed base of American Football fans.  If you used the practice players and---lets say---threw in a sweetener for NFL coaches (for instance, expand the practice player roster from 8 to 12), the spring develomental league might be a solid niche league for fans while giving fringe players live off-season reps they cant get anywhere else (including "in house").

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22 hours ago, RSF said:

The USFL was a clown car.  The owners of Chicago and Arizona traded franchises.  The Breakers played in a different city each year.  Teams spent big money they didnt have.  A guy in Miami hired Howard Schellenberger to coach before he actually bought and moved the Washington franchise, then the deal fell thru.  Anybody with a checkbook got an expansion franchise - including in TULSA.  The Gumball Rally in San Antonio to cash paychecks.  And, yes, The Donald.  The only sane one of the bunch appeared to be John Bassett in Tampa - they were the model franchise, and was prepared to go toe-to-toe with Trump, but then he got brain cancer and Trump hijacked the whole thing.  And most of the other owners went along because they were desperate, when all Trump really wanted to do is get into the NFL cheap.

the Memphis Showboats had Reggie White and regularly brought over 40,000 to games.

LibertyBowl.jpg

reggie-white-as-a-showboat2-2.jpg

mem skyline sig.jpeg

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7 hours ago, wolfpack1 said:

Some USFL did bring in fans especially for big games. 

Check out the 30 for 30 film Small Potatoes: Who Killed The USFL? Donald Trump bought the New Jersey Generals and went on to kill the USFL because of his arrogance. He insisted that they take on the NFL and play in the Fall. He was able to sway enough USFL team owners to go along with him. And then league folded before the 1986 Fall even season started. Trump later tried to buy the Buffalo Bills, but they were wise and rejected him.

 

As far as the lawsuit you mentioned above, they (Trump and those foolish owners who believed him) won a whopping three dollars. They show the check in the 30 for 30 film.

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On 4/3/2019 at 11:18 AM, RSF said:

The USFL was a clown car.  The owners of Chicago and Arizona traded franchises.  The Breakers played in a different city each year.  Teams spent big money they didnt have.  A guy in Miami hired Howard Schellenberger to coach before he actually bought and moved the Washington franchise, then the deal fell thru.  Anybody with a checkbook got an expansion franchise - including in TULSA.  The Gumball Rally in San Antonio to cash paychecks.  And, yes, The Donald.  The only sane one of the bunch appeared to be John Bassett in Tampa - they were the model franchise, and was prepared to go toe-to-toe with Trump, but then he got brain cancer and Trump hijacked the whole thing.  And most of the other owners went along because they were desperate, when all Trump really wanted to do is get into the NFL cheap.

You're absolutely right. I saw the ESPN 30 for 30 film about the USFL and it backs all that up. 

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The only way I’m watching a professional league besides the nfl is if they somehow have better players. So unless they can recruit the monstars or do some Jurassic park dna cloning shit, I think I’ll just wait until September thanks.

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11 hours ago, SJSUMFA2013 said:

The only way I’m watching a professional league besides the nfl is if they somehow have better players. So unless they can recruit the monstars or do some Jurassic park dna cloning shit, I think I’ll just wait until September thanks.

Eh, I’d watch some games from an actual developmental league if it existed. I’m guessing you would too. 

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