Confirmed: XFL leaving Cashman Stadium; Vegas too?

[sdem]

Portland is a lot more interesting to me than Nashville or Tempe. Ultimately, doesn't matter to me where they go as long as they can sustain themselves there.

Portland is interesting because the Portland Timbers won't allow football to be played at a regular basis at Providence Park, which seats 25,000. I think it would be a great option, but the Timbers are a stumbling block. They don't own the stadium, but they have a significant say. They kicked Portland State out of there and into Hillsboro.

That was also over a decade ago, and Portland State likely paid significantly less than what the XFL would be paying.

[GDAWG]

Portland is a lot more interesting to me than Nashville or Tempe. Ultimately, doesn't matter to me where they go as long as they can sustain themselves there.

Portland is interesting because the Portland Timbers won't allow football to be played at a regular basis at Providence Park, which seats 25,000. I think it would be a great option, but the Timbers are a stumbling block. They don't own the stadium, but they have a significant say. They kicked Portland State out of there and into Hillsboro.

That was also over a decade ago, and Portland State likely paid significantly less than what the XFL would be paying.

If a deal can be worked out with Peregine Sports LLC (who own the Timbers and Thorns for now) then great. Portland is a great addition, even with this stumbling block. The problem is that the owner is a shady character and he's not the type that the XFL wants to talk to or do business with (he covered up a sexual assault scandal that happened on the Thorns and even downplayed it)

[johnnyangryfuzzball]

If they stay in Vegas can either get a way into UNLV, Allegiant or even Bishop Gorman.... They need a new identity and start fresh.

Nobody is allowed to play at Sam Boyd Stadium anymore.

I'm not sure how much it would even help at this point. It's not like Sam Boyd has this great track record. The '01 Outlaws (and to a lesser extent the '09 Locos, though they lost steam quickly, no pun intended) were the only teams that had any sort of respectable attendance in that venue, and many of the shortcomings Cashman has are also true of Sam Boyd. There's a reason the Raiders didn't even bother wanting to play there until Allegiant was finished.

Of course, Allegiant is too big and expensive, while Bishop Gorman lacks the parking and infrastructure (pro teams using high school locker rooms? Oof.). It's not a stretch to say that Cashman was their best option.

I don't see how the Vipers stay in Vegas after this.

[4th&long]

Even Fox's OutKick picked up on the story

https://www.outkick.com/xfl-vegas-vipers-reports/

[GDAWG]

Since I've already talked about Portland, I will discuss the other two options:

Nashville- Three stadium options with Nissan, Vanderbilt and Geodis. Vanderbilt is currently undergoing renovations at this point and Nissan only has a few years left and if the XFL plans on being around in 2027 they would need to play at the new Titans Stadium. Geodis may not want football played in their stadium (although MLS stadiums are perfect sizes for leagues like the XFL and USFL, not every MLS stadium will be as amenable to American football as DC United has been with Audi, Portland being an example of this).

Phoenix- The XFL can cut off any chance of a return of the Arizona Outlaws in the USFL if they ever leave the hubs and if they ever head West. The AAF had their issues with attendance there, but a lot has changed since 2019. Also the Cardinals are heading to a dark place to the point where attendance could be USFL levels by the last game of the season, if they head into their week 17 game against the Seahawks at 0-16.

[GDAWG]

Barring a surprise to play at Allegiant, the Vipers are as good as gone in Las Vegas. They should change the name of the team, but XFL management might feel that the Vipers name still has value and will continue to use it for the new city.

[Lone Star]

The XFL team names are mostly generic and resemble an pre-created expansion franchise in Madden. Hoping they relocate, and Portland would be awesome. I think they would pack the soccer stadium better than DC. But they should use this opportunity to generate sales leads and media attention by a name-the-team contest. Obviously you don't have to use the most commonly voted-on option if it sucks, but you'll get a few thousand emails/phone numbers to work off of.

[GregParks]

Barring a surprise to play at Allegiant, the Vipers are as good as gone in Las Vegas. They should change the name of the team, but XFL management might feel that the Vipers name still has value and will continue to use it for the new city.

They shouldn't - this would be the third stop of the Vipers name in the past three XFL seasons. How can you ask fans of a city to embrace a club in which the team name is a hand-me-down of a hand-me-down? While "Guardians" is pretty generic and could fit with any city, I don't think the same applies to "Vipers."

That being said, part of the reason one hopes the XFL acts quickly is we've seen it's not a fast process to create a whole other franchise brand. There's coming up with team nicknames, filing for trademarks, soliciting logos, trademarking logos, creating uniforms, etc., etc. In 2020, I believe the XFL trademarked many "alternate" team names that were left on the cutting room floor; perhaps they could expedite part of the process by using one of them (if those TMs are still active).

[johnnyangryfuzzball]

Barring a surprise to play at Allegiant, the Vipers are as good as gone in Las Vegas. They should change the name of the team, but XFL management might feel that the Vipers name still has value and will continue to use it for the new city.

They shouldn't - this would be the third stop of the Vipers name in the past three XFL seasons. How can you ask fans of a city to embrace a club in which the team name is a hand-me-down of a hand-me-down? While "Guardians" is pretty generic and could fit with any city, I don't think the same applies to "Vipers."

That being said, part of the reason one hopes the XFL acts quickly is we've seen it's not a fast process to create a whole other franchise brand. There's coming up with team nicknames, filing for trademarks, soliciting logos, trademarking logos, creating uniforms, etc., etc. In 2020, I believe the XFL trademarked many "alternate" team names that were left on the cutting room floor; perhaps they could expedite part of the process by using one of them (if those TMs are still active).

Furthermore, I'd argue that slapping the Guardians name on Orlando's team—especially after two years of making it look like they were getting the Vipers instead—hurt the team's sales efforts. I mean, if we're talking about continuity, they probably would've been better off resurrecting the Orlando Rage, which had some popularity in the city and that logo they chose would've worked just fine. Guardians was custom-fit for New York, designed to be stoic and reminiscent of the gargoyles. In Florida, it just looked generic.

I don't remember any alternate team names showing up in the trademark databases.I remember when UrFL and the United Football League showed up as alternate names for the league itself, but not any teams. The only dead team name I recall the league still maintaining is the LA Wildcats. Though that one has some 1920s history, Wildcats would seem to work better with Portland, Oregon or Nashville, Tennessee. (Think the Lovin' Spoonful's "Nashville Cats" tune that the Arena league played with for a few years.) Obviously that wouldn't work with Tempe because of the University of Arizona using that mascot.

[GregParks]

Barring a surprise to play at Allegiant, the Vipers are as good as gone in Las Vegas. They should change the name of the team, but XFL management might feel that the Vipers name still has value and will continue to use it for the new city.

They shouldn't - this would be the third stop of the Vipers name in the past three XFL seasons. How can you ask fans of a city to embrace a club in which the team name is a hand-me-down of a hand-me-down? While "Guardians" is pretty generic and could fit with any city, I don't think the same applies to "Vipers."

That being said, part of the reason one hopes the XFL acts quickly is we've seen it's not a fast process to create a whole other franchise brand. There's coming up with team nicknames, filing for trademarks, soliciting logos, trademarking logos, creating uniforms, etc., etc. In 2020, I believe the XFL trademarked many "alternate" team names that were left on the cutting room floor; perhaps they could expedite part of the process by using one of them (if those TMs are still active).

I don't remember any alternate team names showing up in the trademark databases.

In 2020 they did:

https://xflboard.com/news/new-york-goth ... onsidered/

I'm not sure if the nicknames can be separated from the city for trademark purposes, or if they're even still active. If they are, they would've been transferred to the new ownership group in the sale.