PFT: United Football League and USFL, XFL Articles

[XFL4ever]

Rarely visit this site destroyed with its format chg last year but coverage is coverage

 

Same here. I miss the comment section, it was the best part of the PFT website. 

[4th&long]

https://www.nbcsports.com/nfl/profootba ... attlehawks

>> It’s USFL 2, XFL 0 to start the UFL season.The Michigan Panthers upended the St. Louis Battlehawks with a 64-yard field goal from kicker Jake Bates.Bates, who kicked collegiately for Texas State and Arkansas, spent time with the Texans last year. He might end up back in the NFL soon, after banging such a long kick with the game on the line. <<

[4th&long]

https://www.nbcsports.com/nfl/profootba ... ufl-season

>>  Two years ago, Matt Corral was one of the top quarterback prospects from the incoming NFL draft class. Today, he led the Birmingham Stallions to a road win in the first game of the UFL.The Stallions, who won the USFL championship in 2023, beat the XFL-champion Arlington Renegades, 27-14.

Corral, a third-round pick of the Carolina Panthers in 2022, completed 12 of 21 passes for 201 yards, one touchdown, and one interception in the victory.

He added 25 rushing yards on four carries.Arlington led, 11-3, until the end of the second quarter, when Corral found receiver Deon Cain for a 39-yard touchdown pass. The Stallions pulled away in the second half.Birmingham had 409 yards from scrimmage. Arlington had 262.  <

[4th&long]

https://www.nbcsports.com/nfl/profootba ... irst-downs

>>  While the NFL continues to use the century-old sticks-and-chain method to measure for first downs, the UFL is employing high-tech tools.

The new United Football League, which kicked off its inaugural season today, employs something called TrU Line Technology, an advanced optical tracking system that works by installing six calibrated 4K cameras around each stadium. The league says that the 4K cameras can measure whether a football reached the line to gain more quickly and more accurately than the longstanding method of the officials spotting the ball with the naked eye and the chain gang measuring whether the offense advanced 10 yards.

“This innovative technology promises to deliver ball-spotting with unprecedentedly low latency and high accuracy, setting a new standard in sports technology and fan engagement,” the UFL said in a statement. “This partnership marks a significant leap forward in the league’s commitment to leveraging technology for the betterment of the game and its fans.”  <<

[4th&long]

https://www.nbcsports.com/nfl/profootba ... o-so-start

>>  That’s been one of the challenges of spring football in recent years, from the AAF in 2019 to the XFL in 2020 to the USFL in 2022 and 2023 to the XFL in 2023. Although there have been some exceptions (such as St. Louis, which has embraced the Battlehawks in part as a middle finger to the NFL and the Rams), most of the games have noticeably sparse attendance. Many have large swaths of empty seats in the lower level of the venue.

Yesterday, the UFL’s debut had so-so attendance, to no surprise. Via Mike Mitchell of SI.com, the opening game between the Birmingham Stallions and the Arlington Renegade attracted 14,153 fans. The second game, featuring the Michigan Panthers hosting the St. Louis Battlehawks, drew 9,444 to Ford Field.  <<

Shout out to Mike Mitchell in PFT!!! Woo hoo!  Awesome

>>The other piece of the puzzle will be the ratings. Fox had two games yesterday. ESPN will have a doubleheader today. It’s not exactly an ideal weekend to make a dent in the Nielsen numbers, which is another piece of constructive criticism for spring football leagues that are already facing strong headwinds. Put more bluntly, why start this weekend, with the men’s and women’s NCAA basketball tournament in the process of forging its final four, and with baseball back in full bloom? <<

First there was no CBB overlap games (40 min overlap in game 2) on Saturday. 
Second the NBC early game on Easter Sunday in 2022 was the most watched single broadcast in 2022-2023 for both USFL and XFL at 2.25 million. 
Third there is NO CBB games going against the earlier EASTER Sunday noon game until 2:20pm.

At any rate 4 PFT articles on UFL yesterday is great for exposure.
 

[MGB01]

Well "exposure" is like his reaction to more FOX/ABC games, so what? Does it matter?

Shouldn't quality (painfully not found here) matter at some point?

[johnnyangryfuzzball]

https://www.nbcsports.com/nfl/profootba ... o-so-start

>>  That’s been one of the challenges of spring football in recent years, from the AAF in 2019 to the XFL in 2020 to the USFL in 2022 and 2023 to the XFL in 2023. Although there have been some exceptions (such as St. Louis, which has embraced the Battlehawks in part as a middle finger to the NFL and the Rams), most of the games have noticeably sparse attendance. Many have large swaths of empty seats in the lower level of the venue.

Yesterday, the UFL’s debut had so-so attendance, to no surprise. Via Mike Mitchell of SI.com, the opening game between the Birmingham Stallions and the Arlington Renegade attracted 14,153 fans. The second game, featuring the Michigan Panthers hosting the St. Louis Battlehawks, drew 9,444 to Ford Field.  <<

Shout out to Mike Mitchell in PFT!!! Woo hoo!  Awesome

>>The other piece of the puzzle will be the ratings. Fox had two games yesterday. ESPN will have a doubleheader today. It’s not exactly an ideal weekend to make a dent in the Nielsen numbers, which is another piece of constructive criticism for spring football leagues that are already facing strong headwinds. Put more bluntly, why start this weekend, with the men’s and women’s NCAA basketball tournament in the process of forging its final four, and with baseball back in full bloom? <<

First there was no CBB overlap games (40 min overlap in game 2) on Saturday. 
Second the NBC early game on Easter Sunday in 2022 was the most watched single broadcast in 2022-2023 for both USFL and XFL at 2.25 million.  
Third there is NO CBB games going against the earlier EASTER Sunday noon game until 2:20pm.

At any rate 4 PFT articles on UFL yesterday is great for exposure.

Yeah, I was scratching my head at some of Florio's assertions myself.

For one, Arlington's attendance compared to last year went UP—17% year-over-year—and we all know both reasons why the Renegades are there, 1) because it's one of the largest metro areas, and 2) the sweetheart deal with Choctaw Stadium. They don't have to have St. Louis-like numbers to be viable. As for Detroit, Florio doesn't even mention the ticket sales delays, and the fact that the USFL embargoed those numbers (probably to prevent people like Florio from making hack takes like this)... but I'd venture to say those numbers are up, too. The two stands open to fans were reasonably full considering the circumstances.

The main competition as far as Easter is people getting out of church late west of the Mississippi.

And as I mentioned in another thread, 1) women's hoops draws a much different audience, and 2) the men's tournament only has one real compelling storyline now that the cinderellas are out and the Power conferences control all eight remaining seeds (that being UConn's perfect season bid still being alive). That, and even so... there's this thing called picture-in-picture now. Youtube TV supports multiple games on one screen. It's not 1995 anymore.

[johnnyangryfuzzball]

And let's put this in perspective: this is the fourth spring in five years where professional football has been played by one of the two component leagues in the UFL, and that doesn't even count The Spring League. It's been a weird organizational dance to be sure but it's not like each one of these has been an unrelated organization like the AAF coming and going every year.

[4th&long]

https://www.nbcsports.com/nfl/profootba ... ansparency

>> The UFL also has incorporated full and complete officiating transparency, along with the ability of coaches to challenge anything and everything. This has resulted in the UFL peeling the curtain back completely, allowing the viewer to understand what is happening as it happens. And so, when (as happened on Sunday) a referee wants to eject a player for spitting on an opponent and then the defense also challenges that the right tackle (the same person as the spitter) moved early and the decision is made that the blocker/spitter did move early, wiping a touchdown off the board, we were there to hear and see every step of it. <<

Not saying that I agree NFL should or should not do it but its something UFL does that even MF(er) agrees with...

 

[GDAWG]

So when Aaron Donald retired, Florio didn't believe it.  This led to Chris Simms calling him out on it and even mocked the fact that Florio doesn't believe Tom Brady is truly retired and that he'll be back to play for the 49ers or Dolphins.