USFL innovative first down measurements in action

[herns]

This is something I’ve never seen before
https://twitter.com/usfl/status/1512612 ... 49VFCmBVCA

Also there’ll be locker cams, https://twitter.com/usfl/status/1512611 ... 49VFCmBVCA

Also xfl broadcast style replays sky judge

https://twitter.com/usflchat/status/151 ... 49VFCmBVCA
In other clips it was clear they’re also going have with helmet cans

[Gopher123]

This is something I’ve never seen before
https://twitter.com/usfl/status/1512612 ... 49VFCmBVCA

Also there’ll be locker cams, https://twitter.com/usfl/status/1512611 ... 49VFCmBVCA

Also xfl broadcast style replays sky judge

https://twitter.com/usflchat/status/151 ... 49VFCmBVCA
In other clips it was clear they’re also going have with helmet cans

Reminds me of something XFL 2.0 did or probably would have done. Ahhhhh, the good old days. USFL is focusing on innovative ways for fans to watch actual games and not about rebranding. USFL is further gaining momentum. After the big XFL letdown this week I’m finding myself wishing the USFL was kicking off today.

[SamTheRam28]

This is something I’ve never seen before
https://twitter.com/usfl/status/1512612 ... 49VFCmBVCA

Also there’ll be locker cams, https://twitter.com/usfl/status/1512611 ... 49VFCmBVCA

Also xfl broadcast style replays sky judge

https://twitter.com/usflchat/status/151 ... 49VFCmBVCA
In other clips it was clear they’re also going have with helmet cans

Reminds me of something XFL 2.0 did or probably would have done. Ahhhhh, the good old days. USFL is focusing on innovative ways for fans to watch actual games and not about rebranding. USFL is further gaining momentum. After the big XFL letdown this week I’m finding myself wishing the USFL was kicking off today.

Feels so much more like the real successor to XFL 2.0 than XFL 3.0 does. I've thought so for months at this point, and it keeps becoming more and more apparent with the path each league seems to be going down. I can't wait for the USFL season to start, couldn't really care less about the XFL at this point.

[herns]

This is something I’ve never seen before
https://twitter.com/usfl/status/1512612 ... 49VFCmBVCA

Also there’ll be locker cams, https://twitter.com/usfl/status/1512611 ... 49VFCmBVCA

Also xfl broadcast style replays sky judge

https://twitter.com/usflchat/status/151 ... 49VFCmBVCA
In other clips it was clear they’re also going have with helmet cans

Reminds me of something XFL 2.0 did or probably would have done. Ahhhhh, the good old days. USFL is focusing on innovative ways for fans to watch actual games and not about rebranding. USFL is further gaining momentum. After the big XFL letdown this week I’m finding myself wishing the USFL was kicking off today.

Feels so much more like the real successor to XFL 2.0 than XFL 3.0 does. I've thought so for months at this point, and it keeps becoming more and more apparent with the path each league seems to be going down. I can't wait for the USFL season to start, couldn't really care less about the XFL at this point.

I hope it can capture some that xfl 2020 magic. I don’t think many expected innovation but we’re getting it

Also new broadcast angles coming from the sky, love it for the kickoff
https://twitter.com/USFL/status/1512807548293824514

[4th&long]

>> When it’s time to measure for a first down in the USFL, the officials will call for a high-tech solution in place of the decidedly low-tech 10-yard chains that have been used in football for a century.

The USFL played a preseason game on Friday night that included the debut of its new first down measuring system, which combines a chip in every football and the yellow first-down line that fans are accustomed to seeing on TV. Video of its use during the preseason game was accompanied by a claim from the USFL that the upstart league has “First down measurements that are more accurate than ever.” <<

https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2 ... ine-on-tv/

[johnnyangryfuzzball]

Feels so much more like the real successor to XFL 2.0 than XFL 3.0 does. I've thought so for months at this point, and it keeps becoming more and more apparent with the path each league seems to be going down. I can't wait for the USFL season to start, couldn't really care less about the XFL at this point.

See, for me, I feel exactly the opposite. This USFL feels like an impostor. They take a bunch of ideas from the past and repackage them like they're brand new. Like today, they announced they're using the helmet cam as if no one has ever done the helmet cam before (which is nonsense; the World League did it 30 years ago, but it was nauseating, added very little to the context and the tech admittedly at the time was more cumbersome—only one of those things is no longer true). You have seven teams out of eight that have no connections to the cities they claim to represent. You have a collection of players of which very few people are recognizable, and the league had to scramble to bring in a starting quarterback with some spring football experience in Perez.

And perhaps most importantly, we have no idea who is backing this league financially. We know Fox has a stake, but the financial secrecy—and the huge likelihood that most of the USFL games are going to draw next to nothing for attendance—is raising huge red flags for me. This reminds me much more of the AAF than it does XFL 2.0.

I really don't see why Fox has hitched itself to this horse. I get that we're frustrated with the XFL constantly kicking the can down the road, but the graveyard of pro football leagues is large and littered with the corpses of leagues that overpromised and underdelivered. Yes, Johnson and Garcia may well join them if they don't get their act together much more quickly... but there's exactly one thing that will impress me, and that is MONEY. Show me the hundreds of millions of dollars needed to run this league for a full season, and where it's coming from, and then we'll talk.

[herns]

Feels so much more like the real successor to XFL 2.0 than XFL 3.0 does. I've thought so for months at this point, and it keeps becoming more and more apparent with the path each league seems to be going down. I can't wait for the USFL season to start, couldn't really care less about the XFL at this point.

See, for me, I feel exactly the opposite. This USFL feels like an impostor. They take a bunch of ideas from the past and repackage them like they're brand new. Like today, they announced they're using the helmet cam as if no one has ever done the helmet cam before (which is nonsense; the World League did it 30 years ago, but it was nauseating, added very little to the context and the tech admittedly at the time was more cumbersome—only one of those things is no longer true). You have seven teams out of eight that have no connections to the cities they claim to represent. You have a collection of players of which very few people are recognizable, and the league had to scramble to bring in a starting quarterback with some spring football experience in Perez.

And perhaps most importantly, we have no idea who is backing this league financially. We know Fox has a stake, but the financial secrecy—and the huge likelihood that most of the USFL games are going to draw next to nothing for attendance—is raising huge red flags for me.

Fox has said their the sole owner and have invested $150 million. NBC is paying for broadcasting rights. Luis Perez came from their list of guys to bring in due to injury. Stop complaining about stuff that aren’t actually issues because the logo isn’t your preference and root for one of these to work regardless of the logo. It’s fine to criticize but let’s not ignore stuff to fit arguments

[johnnyangryfuzzball]

Fox has said their the sole owner and have invested $150 million. NBC is paying for broadcasting rights. Luis Perez came from their list of guys to bring in due to injury. Stop complaining about stuff that aren’t actually issues because the logo isn’t your preference and root for one of these to work regardless of the logo. It’s fine to criticize but let’s not ignore stuff to fit arguments

Didn't the USFL mention something a couple of months back about them having "13 secret backers" or something like that? The fact is that this wasn't originally a Fox solo effort. This was Brian Woods's league and Brian ran out of money (again).

The logo has nothing to do with it. The business model has everything to do with it. Fox Corporation is a publicly traded company and the shareholders are not going to let the company throw away dozens of millions of dollars for TSL-level ratings.

We have seen enough alternative football leagues over the past 25 years to know what works, and what doesn't.

The XFL showed that WWE-style sports entertainment doesn't work in football, but that playing in the post-Super Bowl season can be a great starting point.
Arena football proved that being too gimmicky can hurt you.
The UFL showed that a smaller league can lead to a much greater concentration of name-brand talent, but that it's foolishness to buy airtime from second-tier cable channels, you can't bank on your competition having a labor dispute, that there's virtually no room for another league in the fall.
The Alliance proved that knockoff leagues rushed to play without due diligence are doomed to fail, but it reiterated the market for winter/early spring football.
XFL 2.0 proved that you can get everything right—strong talent, right season, good media coverage and robust financial backing—and still have an X-factor (coronavirus) ruin everything.

So what does the USFL have?
It has media backing. Good. Fox owns a stake. NBC, we don't know the arrangement with them. I doubt Fox is buying airtime from a competitor, or vice versa, but that's that.
Its talent level is below the UFL and XFL, maybe on par with the AAF. Not good.
It's playing from April to June. That's a huge unknown, since we haven't had a league like that since the 1980s. The college sports fan may be their target audience, but compare Saturday Night Football ratings on ABC to Monday Night Football on ESPN, and you're taking a step back.
It is playing in a single, small market with a history of attendance that rapidly declines as a season progresses. HUGE red flag.
Where's the money coming from? We don't know. HUGE red flag, for reasons I stated above.

[Gopher123]

Feels so much more like the real successor to XFL 2.0 than XFL 3.0 does. I've thought so for months at this point, and it keeps becoming more and more apparent with the path each league seems to be going down. I can't wait for the USFL season to start, couldn't really care less about the XFL at this point.

See, for me, I feel exactly the opposite. This USFL feels like an impostor. They take a bunch of ideas from the past and repackage them like they're brand new. Like today, they announced they're using the helmet cam as if no one has ever done the helmet cam before (which is nonsense; the World League did it 30 years ago, but it was nauseating, added very little to the context and the tech admittedly at the time was more cumbersome—only one of those things is no longer true). You have seven teams out of eight that have no connections to the cities they claim to represent. You have a collection of players of which very few people are recognizable, and the league had to scramble to bring in a starting quarterback with some spring football experience in Perez.

And perhaps most importantly, we have no idea who is backing this league financially. We know Fox has a stake, but the financial secrecy—and the huge likelihood that most of the USFL games are going to draw next to nothing for attendance—is raising huge red flags for me. This reminds me much more of the AAF than it does XFL 2.0.

I really don't see why Fox has hitched itself to this horse. I get that we're frustrated with the XFL constantly kicking the can down the road, but the graveyard of pro football leagues is large and littered with the corpses of leagues that overpromised and underdelivered. Yes, Johnson and Garcia may well join them if they don't get their act together much more quickly... but there's exactly one thing that will impress me, and that is MONEY. Show me the hundreds of millions of dollars needed to run this league for a full season, and where it's coming from, and then we'll talk.

I had similar feelings before Fox got involved. No way was I buying in if Woods was completely in charge. There’s no money there. I thought the chances were high it was going to be the TSL basically hiding behind the USFL name. As time has passed and Fox has announced their intentions and money I’m more comfortable that they are trying to do this right. They don’t have to put in the effort with new ideas like putting the chip in the ball but by doing so shows me they are trying to improve and in ways carry on what was working in XFL 2.0, by adopting some of their rules.

When the XFL returns we don’t know what players they are going to target. Maybe they are more unrecognizable names yet? The biggest concern for me is the rules. With them announcing rules as something they are going to try out for the NFL, who knows what experiments we are going to have? The rules before were fun and exciting but what are the chances this new group keeps them similar? The feel of the games could be completely different, for better or worse.

I am just happy the USFL is giving us a season in 2022. They have shown me a level of commitment to get on the field this year that the XFL passed up. I’m going to support what spring league is playing now because anyone playing in 2023 is not guaranteed.

[Tank55]

There's definitely a lot of XFL II flavor, but to me, this feels a lot more like TSL on steroids rather than a poor man's XFL II. The bubble just completely changes the scale of the operation.

Totally agree to try to enjoy each league for what it is while we have it.