SBJ Football: The USFL steps up for its turn in the spring spotlight

[4th&long]

This article has alot more hard info then we've seen before, it's worth the read. I hope the link works.

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/S ... 04/14.aspx

>> If the USFL is to become the first 11-on-11 spring league to have a sophomore year in nearly four decades, it must do two things:

Deliver a product that clears a credibility threshold with football fans.

Spend far, far less money than previous leagues have. <<

I do think his targeted viewer number is based on XFL 2.0 and not necessarily what FOX expects.

[GDAWG]

This is a vast media empire that needs content for weekends in the spring.

They do. It's called Major League Baseball.

[4th&long]

https://www.sanluisobispo.com/entertain ... 23342.html

>> NBC Sports president Jon Miller knows the perils of starting a spring football league. He was with NBC when the network teamed with Vince McMahon and World Wrestling Entertainment during the XFL’s first launch in 2001 and has seen other leagues crash and burn. Miller is optimistic that a new version of the USFL could have some staying power. “Hopefully, the fifth time is a charm. I think the timing is right, the partnership is right, and the model is bred for success,” Miller said. “We’re optimistic, hopeful, and excited at the same time.”

Fox Sports executive vice president Michael Mulvihill thinks the XFL would have made it if it wasn’t for the coronavirus pandemic.
“I think the viewership figures for spring football are good enough to give us a high level of confidence that the interest among fans is there,” Mulvihill said. “It just becomes a matter of can we develop a business model that’s more effective than the leagues that have tried and haven’t succeeded. Because we’re structured the way we are, we have a pretty good chance of doing just that.” There are two significant differences with the USFL before it kicks off. It has waited until April to begin the season. The XFL and AAF immediately started their seasons after the Super Bowl and eventually had to go against the NCAA basketball tournament and the Masters.<<

Read more at: https://www.sanluisobispo.com/entertain ... rylink=cpy

There is buy in on the USFL cost model from Fox and NBC clearly. The great experiment starts in 2 days.

[MGB01]

This is a vast media empire that needs content for weekends in the spring.

They do. It's called Major League Baseball.

MLB isn't what it was even ten years ago when FOX had Saturday Game of the Week. Red Sox/Yankees drew 610,000 viewers on FS1, which was tripled by the NASCAR race that followed it, ESPN and Turner have scaled their coverage way back, and they've jumped on streaming with Apple and Peacock (which explains why no NBC for USFL on 5/1, they get the first simulcast). So you could actually thank the last two MLB TV deals for opening the door here.

[MGB01]

Fox Sports executive vice president Michael Mulvihill thinks the XFL would have made it if it wasn’t for the coronavirus pandemic.
“I think the viewership figures for spring football are good enough to give us a high level of confidence that the interest among fans is there,” Mulvihill said. “It just becomes a matter of can we develop a business model that’s more effective than the leagues that have tried and haven’t succeeded. Because we’re structured the way we are, we have a pretty good chance of doing just that.” There are two significant differences with the USFL before it kicks off. It has waited until April to begin the season. The XFL and AAF immediately started their seasons after the Super Bowl and eventually had to go against the NCAA basketball tournament and the Masters.

I kinda wondered two years ago about how that Week 10 Sunday afternoon game would have gone against the Masters with Tiger as the defending champ. Convid wiped everything out so that was never answered.

Good god, Tiger had the highest ratings blocks despite being a total disaster on Saturday and Sunday. They'll wheel him out in ten years when he's 56 and can't walk!