TSL 2> USFL

[4th&long]

Now with the TSL season in the books...

https://xflnewshub.com/xfl-news/the-spr ... um=twitter

>> The low-cost/low-risk television property did well enough for FOX and The Spring League to move forward and up the ante with the United States Football League as its highlighted and main property. With FOX as a business and TV partner and TSL CEO Brian Woods and his team of investors, the question is will they increase their marketing plans in the coming months to produce better viewership numbers? One could argue that they will have to if they plan to survive in the long run.
The USFL’s Potential Ratings On FOX In 2022

The USFL brand has equity, and some goodwill built up and if it’s presented and promoted properly. The league could generate more interest than it did with The Spring League. Simply having teams in cities and individual markets will aid the league’s overall reach and viewership numbers.

TSL was a league in name only, but with the transition to the USFL, there is a great potential for a spring football league to try and capitalize on what the AAF and XFL accomplished in gaining a respectable following.

The name value and nostalgia aspect of the United States Football League will help get some attention but operating as a genuine pro football league that pays its players will enhance the product on the field. And ultimately help give this sports property credibility moving forward.

The Spring League did well enough by default in 2021 to open the door for the USFL in 2022 on FOX. <<

same article posted in TSL forum... but focused on USFL vs TSL parts...

[MGB01]

For historical purposes, opening weekend would be on the anniversary (March 5-6). Realistically/logistically, that's about eight months from next week, might be too short of a window to get anything up and running. I'd do it Final Four weekend, since it's (FF) on cable (worst TV deal ever) and probably grab some eyes that way, even though that's only another month. Just for 2023 when CBS has it again either move the season back a week or have a 12:00/1:00 start.

I'm afraid that just having the same season structure as TSL did will just invite charges of merely rebranding it.

[johnnyangryfuzzball]

I'm afraid that just having the same season structure as TSL did will just invite charges of merely rebranding it.

But that TSL structure/rebranding may be the best chance at survival.

I mean, Brian Woods has put a football league on the field seven of the past eight years, which is more than the past three professional leagues combined (¾ of a year for the AAF, ½ for the XFL,3-ish for the UFL—not to mention the countless other leagues that never got off the ground). Clearly Fox saw enough out of TSL ratings-wise that it was willing to go forward with more. More or less, it's working.

So let it invite those charges—because it works. What should concern Woods is how he made it work—the charges of pay-to-play and not compensating the players.

[Sounder]

I just hope the expectation of what we'll see here is kept realistic. This is not the 80s USFL/David Dixon model. That was designed with major league aspirations. They were supposed to adhere to a structured financial model but that strategy fell very quickly and
ownerships were bailing out after season one. If anything....it played right into the orange ones hands for his attempt to gain cheap entry into the NFL.
The ratings showed America was interested....a 14 2 opening weekend which was helped by.Herschel Walkers presence. By the final weekend....it was 3.7. prompting ABC to take a hard line when the league sought fair market conditions in their deal. ABC had a sweetheart arrangement with limited production, exclusivity, and high ad rates leading to profitability they didn't share with the owners.
By the time the on field product improved through drafting and fans started actually caring....the damage done was insurmountable....and we knew it.

[Tank55]

Right, 1980s USFL is totally unrealistic in 2022 (and, as it turned out, the 1980s). On the other end of the spectrum is TSL. Hopefully they land somewhere in the middle.

Personally, as long as they a) base the teams in home markets and b) pay the players, they'll have my interest. If they put at team in Austin, they'll also have my financial support.

[MGB01]

I just hope the expectation of what we'll see here is kept realistic. This is not the 80s USFL/David Dixon model. That was designed with major league aspirations. They were supposed to adhere to a structured financial model but that strategy fell very quickly and
ownerships were bailing out after season one. If anything....it played right into the orange ones hands for his attempt to gain cheap entry into the NFL.
The ratings showed America was interested....a 14 2 opening weekend which was helped by.Herschel Walkers presence. By the final weekend....it was 3.7. prompting ABC to take a hard line when the league sought fair market conditions in their deal. ABC had a sweetheart arrangement with limited production, exclusivity, and high ad rates leading to profitability they didn't share with the owners.
By the time the on field product improved through drafting and fans started actually caring....the damage done was insurmountable....and we knew it.

You know if the NFL for some stupid reason hadn't done the tired "What if Trump hadn't killed the USFL?" bit like everyone else (even FOX) during 2016 and instead done something out of the box like "What if Trump had been granted an expansion franchise in Baltimore for 1988 (presumably as part of the settlement)?" literally everything would be different. Of course they got rid of the blue law after the Colts left so we'd have been deprived of the first NFL owner in decades to hold weekly rallies on the subject (well for about three minutes before he trailed off into something else anyway).

Then again who knows how long that would have lasted? It would have been funnier than hell to have Trump, Al Davis, Jerry Jones and Victor Kiam all with teams though.

Speaking of, I'd almost put a team there just for a sort of crossover (as a reference point anyway). On one of the Gordon Ramsay shows last year one of the restaurants in the area was bulldozed by floods and all the workers who helped bring it back were going to get tickets to the Ravens opener (and then........).

Of course the bigger the plans makes it appear FOX is financing the league (which isn't the plan). So unless Woods has an army of owners/financiers lined up, and he's got about six weeks, I really don't see what the gameplan is here.