laxtreme56 wrote: ↑Tue Apr 26, 2022 11:40 am
I don't believe Fox will pull the plug this year, regardless of how low ratings drop. I'm honestly not sure what they were expecting year 1 to be. Little training camp, no app or large social media presence like the XFL had, and all games in one market makes it hard for the "cities" involved to really get behind their team. I do hope Fox commits to at least the full 3 seasons. Spring football is not going to be an overnight success. If they can make it to year 2 skeptical folks may start coming around to it, and hopefully even more by year 3. I just hope Fox and Co. have the patience to weather the storm and play the long game here.
Here's the other problem: this is not overnight. This is the third year out of four that there's been a winter or spring football league. (Fourth straight if you count FCF, which doesn't have as good of a TV deal but does seem to have the ability to generate buzz that the USFL is losing rapidly.)
Furthermore, it's not as if Fox has its only options as "commit to a sinking ship USFL" or "bust." The XFL comes back next year and if they make the decision to recommit to it the way I suspect ESPN has, then they can look at this like it was a stopgap and go back to the way it was in pre-pandemic 2020. That might even be better for continuity.
They could most certainly go XFL but then they are putting their eggs in XFL basket, out of their control in a time of year they didn't hand pick. And with much smaller HH market footprint their TV ratings are likely going to be noticably lower even if VM was there.
He's also right when you look at week 1 XFL the competition did much less viewership in Feb vs April start. It was FOX's choice (with input from NBC possibly) to do so to fill a programming window they wanted. But there's no doubt for multiple reasons (competition and winter weather) Feb is better for rating.
laxtreme56 wrote: ↑Tue Apr 26, 2022 11:40 am
I don't believe Fox will pull the plug this year, regardless of how low ratings drop. I'm honestly not sure what they were expecting year 1 to be. Little training camp, no app or large social media presence like the XFL had, and all games in one market makes it hard for the "cities" involved to really get behind their team. I do hope Fox commits to at least the full 3 seasons. Spring football is not going to be an overnight success. If they can make it to year 2 skeptical folks may start coming around to it, and hopefully even more by year 3. I just hope Fox and Co. have the patience to weather the storm and play the long game here.
Here's the other problem: this is not overnight. This is the third year out of four that there's been a winter or spring football league. (Fourth straight if you count FCF, which doesn't have as good of a TV deal but does seem to have the ability to generate buzz that the USFL is losing rapidly.)
Furthermore, it's not as if Fox has its only options as "commit to a sinking ship USFL" or "bust." The XFL comes back next year and if they make the decision to recommit to it the way I suspect ESPN has, then they can look at this like it was a stopgap and go back to the way it was in pre-pandemic 2020. That might even be better for continuity.
They could most certainly go XFL but then they are putting their eggs in XFL basket, out of their control in a time of year they didn't hand pick. And with much smaller HH market footprint their TV ratings are likely going to be noticably lower even if VM was there.
My guess is FOX rides with the USFL for at least 2 or 3 years, and if they are getting dominated by the XFL, they fold the league and get in on the XFL's next TV contract. I can't imagine the XFL's first TV deal will be longer than 2 or 3 years anyway.
Obviously they'd just keep and expand the USFL if all goes well for them.
He's also right when you look at week 1 XFL the competition did much less viewership in Feb vs April start. It was FOX's choice (with input from NBC possibly) to do so to fill a programming window they wanted. But there's no doubt for multiple reasons (competition and winter weather) Feb is better for rating.
He's also right when you look at week 1 XFL the competition did much less viewership in Feb vs April start. It was FOX's choice (with input from NBC possibly) to do so to fill a programming window they wanted. But there's no doubt for multiple reasons (competition and winter weather) Feb is better for rating.
He's also right when you look at week 1 XFL the competition did much less viewership in Feb vs April start. It was FOX's choice (with input from NBC possibly) to do so to fill a programming window they wanted. But there's no doubt for multiple reasons (competition and winter weather) Feb is better for rating.
League possibly got a slight bump with Hornets being eliminated, that said I don't think NO/BHM ratings overall will be driven by localities (as either Utah/Dallas G7 or Dallas/Phoenix G1 will be on TNT) and it'll be more general football/USFL vs. basketball/NBA Playoffs.
Sixers advancing helped too, so no overlap (eliminating possible G7 tripleheader)
