Maybe I'm jumping the gun here... but there's one thing that bothered me quite a bit about the past couple years and that's the sparse radio coverage the XFL and USFL have had. (Especially considering the AAF having pretty much all of its teams on radio.) In 2020, the XFL had two of its teams on radio, plus an online-only "betcast" with VSiN. By 2023, there was virtually nothing other than maybe a couple of Vegas games on an AM station there. The USFL, as far as I could find, only had Michigan, though I may have missed some.
That's something I think could definitely be improved. I do hear a lot of interviews on 101ESPN in St. Louis driving a lot of the news coverage; might they have the inventory to do it? If not, I know KTRS carries a lot of sports. Birmingham and Memphis's AAF teams had deals with iHeartMedia... and they have stations in every XFL market and a longstanding radio deal with Fox Sports. Is there still time to pull off a deal?
Radio
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GregParks
- UFLBoard Correspondent
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Re: Radio
This is the key, and my guess is "no." I just think there's going to be a lot of carry-over from how things were done in 2023 because of the short runway this year. They're just pushing to get on the field at this point. Maybe a full off-season in 2024 heading into 2025 will allow them to focus on some of the ancillary stuff (radio, fantasy, etc.) that will help grow the league.
@gregmparks
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4th&long
- MVP
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Re: Radio
Agree with GP here. Though things like weekly radio programs like Todd Haley had in Memphis should be attainable or at least a regular call in during a show.GregParks wrote: ↑Tue Jan 02, 2024 10:19 pmThis is the key, and my guess is "no." I just think there's going to be a lot of carry-over from how things were done in 2023 because of the short runway this year. They're just pushing to get on the field at this point. Maybe a full off-season in 2024 heading into 2025 will allow them to focus on some of the ancillary stuff (radio, fantasy, etc.) that will help grow the league.
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CFLfan_inPhilly
- Running Back
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Re: Radio
Memphis Showboats surprisingly had local radio broadcasts last year. I realized that about halfway through the season, and listened to a few games via the station's website.
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johnnyangryfuzzball
- MVP
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Re: Radio
So... I've been going through and trying to find potential broadcasters.
So far I've only found one: Memphis has renewed its deal with WKIM (FM 98.9).
Detroit: WJR, which had carried the Panthers in '23, has apparently dropped them in favor of wall-to-wall March Madness from Westwood One. WXYT apparently isn't carrying them either due to Detroit Tigers conflicts. (I'm noticing that is a pretty obvious trend with Audacy-owned stations, they're going hard for MLB.)
St. Louis: KMOX doesn't even acknowledge they exist. KTRS isn't carrying them. WXOS is going full wall-to-wall with March Madness too.
DC: WJFK and WTEM are both tied up with other sports. (WJFK had carried the Defenders in '20.)
Arlington: None of the stations in DFW I can seem to find give a hoot about the Renegades, even if they don't have any other conflicts.
Houston, San Antonio... a cursory search turns up nothing. I haven't looked in Birmingham.
This is maddening. And I don't mean John. Last year, the XFL was too late getting arrangements for local radio broadcast and got shut out most places. Yet here we are, a full year under our belts, and with four teams returning, arranging interviews with these stations, and absolutely no progress. In fact, from the USFL end, they've lost progress. It's absolutely ridiculous that they don't have what even a respectable high school football program can pull off. It wasn't that long ago that the Simulation Football League—a league consisting of calling the play-by-play from a video game!—had a radio affiliate, yet the UFL doesn't for seven out of its eight franchises. Do they seriously think slapping the audio feed from TV on pay-to-listen satellite audio counts as radio?
So far I've only found one: Memphis has renewed its deal with WKIM (FM 98.9).
Detroit: WJR, which had carried the Panthers in '23, has apparently dropped them in favor of wall-to-wall March Madness from Westwood One. WXYT apparently isn't carrying them either due to Detroit Tigers conflicts. (I'm noticing that is a pretty obvious trend with Audacy-owned stations, they're going hard for MLB.)
St. Louis: KMOX doesn't even acknowledge they exist. KTRS isn't carrying them. WXOS is going full wall-to-wall with March Madness too.
DC: WJFK and WTEM are both tied up with other sports. (WJFK had carried the Defenders in '20.)
Arlington: None of the stations in DFW I can seem to find give a hoot about the Renegades, even if they don't have any other conflicts.
Houston, San Antonio... a cursory search turns up nothing. I haven't looked in Birmingham.
This is maddening. And I don't mean John. Last year, the XFL was too late getting arrangements for local radio broadcast and got shut out most places. Yet here we are, a full year under our belts, and with four teams returning, arranging interviews with these stations, and absolutely no progress. In fact, from the USFL end, they've lost progress. It's absolutely ridiculous that they don't have what even a respectable high school football program can pull off. It wasn't that long ago that the Simulation Football League—a league consisting of calling the play-by-play from a video game!—had a radio affiliate, yet the UFL doesn't for seven out of its eight franchises. Do they seriously think slapping the audio feed from TV on pay-to-listen satellite audio counts as radio?
