Russ Brandon, XFL President, League and Football Operations. (Credit: XFL)
The cards are being dealt for XFL 2023. Eight teams are ready to go. The combine has been completed and coaching staff for the franchises put in place. Training camps will begin January with the season commencing on February 18th. New league President Russ Brandon‘s claims of the XFL ‘ramping up’ earlier this year look to be coming to fruition. Brandon, of course, replaced Jeffery Pollack, whose efforts – staying on to smooth the RedBird purchasing group’s getting a handle on their new charge until they were ready to appoint their own man – were sterling.
Pollack had something of an unorthodox background for a football executive. While he served as a special advisor to the San Diego Chargers, he’s most famous for being the founder of the Epic Poker League. Launching an entirely new league in a long-established game may have been why he appealed to Vince McMahon, outside of his undoubted business acumen. The EPL was ambitious – its stated aim was to lure the top professionals out of the World Series Of Poker (which Pollack had come from). And while it folded, McMahon obviously liked Pollack’s grand plans. Now, we know that the XFL is an established product, hence Brandon being brought in for football expertise. We also know that it’s not likely to challenge the NFL’s billions and market share at this point. What can the XFL learn from poker to be a success in the seasons going forward?
Audience
Six of the eight XFL franchises are in cities where there’s also an NFL team. This is a good thing for two reasons. Firstly, you’ll have some fans who can’t get enough football, and will be quite happy to have a team to follow in the NFL offseason. Secondly, it may attract new fans, who could be put off by the huge costs associated with going to NFL games. In Europe it’s very common to have a host of lower division soccer clubs in big cities with big clubs – for Manchester United and City, there’s also Rochdale, Salford City and FC United. These clubs rely on community spirit over corporate anonymity. Compare that to the World Series of Poker against competitions like the Mid States Poker Tour. The MSPT started out solely in Minnesota before branching out (the acronym has rather handily, been able to remain unchanged). It’s grown quickly, spreading across the Midwest to California and now has a Vegas event. It’s not so much a question of trying to bring the game to places where it’s unknown – more preaching to the converted – which offers better odds of success.
Competition
In US poker, there’s the MSPT, the World Poker Tour and the World Series of Poker. These exist separately, but equally. In team sports, where players can be traded, being in the same league often causes friction. Golden State wouldn’t trade Kevin Durant to any other Western Conference team, for example; they grudgingly let him go to Brooklyn safe in the knowledge they’d only have to play against him in the case of both teams making the finals. Likewise, in football, there’s no reason that the XFL shouldn’t be in open dialogs with the NFL, CFL and USFL. Now, while the others may have to accept the NFL as the senior partner in the relationship, there’s no reason why the XFL couldn’t formally supply players to the NFL as well as vice versa.
We’re familiar with NFL stars going to Canada (the most established of the other leagues) at the end of their careers like Chad ‘Ochocinco’ Johnson, but CFL alumni have made their mark in the NFL – Cameron Wake and Sam Eguavoen spring to mind from recent years. Could we even see player loan deals – very common in European soccer – between the leagues? If there’s a man who’s got the contacts to do it, it’s Brandon, after 21 years at the helm of the Buffalo Bills.
So what can the XFL learn from the Mid States Poker Tour? That there’s potential. That ‘give the people what they want’ is a cliché, but clichés are, at their essence, truisms. Be part of an ecosystem. It’s a big country. There’s plenty of room.
