Woods, Fox launching USFL in 2022

[Gopher123]

So who is this current owner of the USFL? That’s what I want to know. Show me the money because it’s going to take a lot of it. As some others have touched on earlier in this thread and I completely agree with - unless I know there’s good financial backing in this - I’m classifying this as another AAF until it’s proved otherwise. Say what you want about VM but he had the $$$$ to make it work and that’s why I had such high hopes the XFL would make it.

I’m as frustrated as everyone else with the lack of information coming out of the XFL but I do believe they are doing something. It’s just not happening as fast as we all would like. At least they have Redbird’s backing and I am comfortable with their $$$$ even though they haven’t spent a dollar yet.


I think Fox Sports interest isn’t so much anything to do with TSL ratings as it was the XFL ratings from last year. They proved if done right, spring football can draw an audience. They had good viewership numbers. IMO the betting angle and the money to be made from that is making it more appealing to some people as well.
If the USFL is properly funded and does it right then good for them, I will support it too. If not they are AAF 2.0 and XFL’s slow and steady approach was correct. Regardless I just want a professional spring football league to last.

[4th&long]

So who is this current owner of the USFL? That’s what I want to know. Show me the money because it’s going to take a lot of it. As some others have touched on earlier in this thread and I completely agree with - unless I know there’s good financial backing in this - I’m classifying this as another AAF until it’s proved otherwise. Say what you want about VM but he had the $$$$ to make it work and that’s why I had such high hopes the XFL would make it.

I’m as frustrated as everyone else with the lack of information coming out of the XFL but I do believe they are doing something. It’s just not happening as fast as we all would like. At least they have Redbird’s backing and I am comfortable with their $$$$ even though they haven’t spent a dollar yet.


I think Fox Sports interest isn’t so much anything to do with TSL ratings as it was the XFL ratings from last year. They proved if done right, spring football can draw an audience. They had good viewership numbers. IMO the betting angle and the money to be made from that is making it more appealing to some people as well.
If the USFL is properly funded and does it right then good for them, I will support it too. If not they are AAF 2.0 and XFL’s slow and steady approach was correct. Regardless I just want a professional spring football league to last.

>> “I’m extremely passionate about football and the opportunity to work with FOX Sports and to bring back the USFL in 2022 was an endeavor worth pursuing,” said Brian Woods, co-founder of the new USFL and founder and CEO of The Spring League (TSL). “We look forward to providing players a new opportunity to compete in a professional football league and giving fans everywhere the best football viewing product possible during what is typically a period devoid of professional football.”

FOX Sports will serve as the official broadcast partner for the USFL. FOX Sports also owns a minority equity stake in the company that owns the USFL.<<

https://www.foxsports.com/presspass/lat ... turns-2022

[Gopher123]

So who is this current owner of the USFL? That’s what I want to know. Show me the money because it’s going to take a lot of it. As some others have touched on earlier in this thread and I completely agree with - unless I know there’s good financial backing in this - I’m classifying this as another AAF until it’s proved otherwise. Say what you want about VM but he had the $$$$ to make it work and that’s why I had such high hopes the XFL would make it.

I’m as frustrated as everyone else with the lack of information coming out of the XFL but I do believe they are doing something. It’s just not happening as fast as we all would like. At least they have Redbird’s backing and I am comfortable with their $$$$ even though they haven’t spent a dollar yet.


I think Fox Sports interest isn’t so much anything to do with TSL ratings as it was the XFL ratings from last year. They proved if done right, spring football can draw an audience. They had good viewership numbers. IMO the betting angle and the money to be made from that is making it more appealing to some people as well.
If the USFL is properly funded and does it right then good for them, I will support it too. If not they are AAF 2.0 and XFL’s slow and steady approach was correct. Regardless I just want a professional spring football league to last.

>> “I’m extremely passionate about football and the opportunity to work with FOX Sports and to bring back the USFL in 2022 was an endeavor worth pursuing,” said Brian Woods, co-founder of the new USFL and founder and CEO of The Spring League (TSL). “We look forward to providing players a new opportunity to compete in a professional football league and giving fans everywhere the best football viewing product possible during what is typically a period devoid of professional football.”

FOX Sports will serve as the official broadcast partner for the USFL. FOX Sports also owns a minority equity stake in the company that owns the USFL.<<

https://www.foxsports.com/presspass/lat ... turns-2022

Ok.I did see that Brian Woods was a co-founder and Fox Sports has minority equity stake in the company but I guess I was asking more about who else is involved? Where’s the majority of the money coming from? I don’t think Brian Woods has it. I haven’t seen where Fox Sports is fronting it, so it has to come from others involved. That’s more of what I’m questioning.

[MGB01]

So who is this current owner of the USFL? That’s what I want to know. Show me the money because it’s going to take a lot of it. As some others have touched on earlier in this thread and I completely agree with - unless I know there’s good financial backing in this - I’m classifying this as another AAF until it’s proved otherwise. Say what you want about VM but he had the $$$$ to make it work and that’s why I had such high hopes the XFL would make it.

That is the million dollar question. Are there a secret cadre of owners/investors we don't know about? Did Redbird secretly turn their focus as the CFL is still chained to Ottawa (and not the Redblacks)? Woods and FOX by themselves aren't near a percent of enough--if it's a pledge drive or something like MLFB or Freedom, it's laughable enough not to say anything other than 20? your own 20 maybe.

As I said today, it was done in ten months before, and while Herschel Walker and all the initial big-time feel looked great, the groundwork left plenty to be desired, putting it nicely. That's why they were almost 100 mil in the hole before Trump even showed up.

I think Fox Sports interest isn’t so much anything to do with TSL ratings as it was the XFL ratings from last year. They proved if done right, spring football can draw an audience. They had good viewership numbers. IMO the betting angle and the money to be made from that is making it more appealing to some people as well

.

What I like is it's not some revenge/vacancy/replacement reason for doing so like just about every league that has been tried in the last 40 years. Even the USFL was to a degree since ABC's college football coverage decreased greatly with the CBS package (thus the legend Keith Jackson as the lead announcer and none of the MNF crew involved)--when the CFA formed from the Georgia/Oklahoma lawsuit and ABC got the package it's up for debate how much they would have been involved in a second contract or at all. FOX just wants more (although you could argue it as either an XFL replacement or Thursday night package, although that's kinda stretching), all throughout their years with MLB they've never really wanted anything other than the ASG and World Series, in fact they even had a Saturday run with NFL Europe that their baseball coverage got in the way of.

If the USFL is properly funded and does it right then good for them, I will support it too. If not they are AAF 2.0 and XFL’s slow and steady approach was correct. Regardless I just want a professional spring football league to last.

The good news is, AAF aside, it's getting closer with each attempt. Just gotta put all three variables together.

[GregParks]

The arrival of the USFL does make it harder for the XFL to return.

True

No more difficult than when the XFL's first season back (2020) was scheduled to go up against season two of the AAF though, right?

[nick1091]

The arrival of the USFL does make it harder for the XFL to return.

True

No more difficult than when the XFL's first season back (2020) was scheduled to go up against season two of the AAF though, right?

Potentially more difficult in that USFL has a built in broadcast partner with an equity stake, and that at least on a local level the markets AAF was going to be in had almost zero crossover to the XFL markets (Tampa Bay/Orlando probably the closest at about two hours' drive.) Obviously at this point we have no idea the teams' locations, but if they were to use some of the original USFL's there'd be at least a few cases of overlap, in some fairly big markets.

[4th&long]

True

No more difficult than when the XFL's first season back (2020) was scheduled to go up against season two of the AAF though, right?

Potentially more difficult in that USFL has a built in broadcast partner with an equity stake, and that at least on a local level the markets AAF was going to be in had almost zero crossover to the XFL markets (Tampa Bay/Orlando probably the closest at about two hours' drive.) Obviously at this point we have no idea the teams' locations, but if they were to use some of the original USFL's there'd be at least a few cases of overlap, in some fairly big markets.

We have no idea where the XFL is planning (if at all) to return to. Bringing back a team that played 5 games 3 years later may not be that big a driver. This is XFL 3.0 not 2.0.

You are correct in that USFL has a built in broadcast partner with an equity stake. What no one has mentioned yet is a USFL XFL alignment...

[GregParks]

True

No more difficult than when the XFL's first season back (2020) was scheduled to go up against season two of the AAF though, right?

Potentially more difficult in that USFL has a built in broadcast partner with an equity stake, and that at least on a local level the markets AAF was going to be in had almost zero crossover to the XFL markets (Tampa Bay/Orlando probably the closest at about two hours' drive.) Obviously at this point we have no idea the teams' locations, but if they were to use some of the original USFL's there'd be at least a few cases of overlap, in some fairly big markets.

I guess I'm thinking more from a competition point of view for players, coaches, staffs, etc. A lot can change in two years when the XFL is likely to kick off again, but it seems like, despite the pairing with Fox, the USFL doesn't have delusions of grandeur, i.e. they may start small and try to work their way up to something bigger. If things fall the XFL's way, they'd likely have the financial advantage and thus get the better players, coaches, etc. With the AAF, they would've been in direct competition for them (had the AAF's been able to keep up what they were paying).

Also, we don't know if the XFL and USFL will be playing in the same season. If they don't, that takes the "competition" part of it down several notches. We know the AAF and XFL would've been in direct competition in terms of their seasons overlapping.

[Firecop]

If the USFL is smart and I expect they will be; they will take the same modest building approach of the TSL. It worked once, it could work again; although it will certainly take more capital to make it a real alternate league. IMO, Woods thinks he's on to something - building a business model with humble beginnings and with aspirations to become something bigger and better. It will be interesting to follow the USFL and how it is developed. Will they play all their games in two hubs or will each team, if branded by a city, actually play in that city? Lots to think about. Some people have stated that the USFL has been in the planning stages for awhile, there must be a gran plan behind it.

[johnnyangryfuzzball]

If the USFL is smart and I expect they will be; they will take the same modest building approach of the TSL. It worked once, it could work again; although it will certainly take more capital to make it a real alternate league. IMO, Woods thinks he's on to something - building a business model with humble beginnings and with aspirations to become something bigger and better. It will be interesting to follow the USFL and how it is developed. Will they play all their games in two hubs or will each team, if branded by a city, actually play in that city? Lots to think about. Some people have stated that the USFL has been in the planning stages for awhile, there must be a gran plan behind it.

Woods has found something that works. That's why we're seeing more buzz about this attempt at the USFL than most of the other leagues that have been proposed over the past few years, other than the AAF and XFL. It has the best chances of launching of any league other than the XFL in the past 20.

We know that even though Woods isn't rich, he has put together something resembling a league. He has the TV connections. He has a pretty good reputation in being able to land talent cheap. If it never rises above being a rebranded TSL, so be it... but a rebranded TSL is still better and more sustainable than the AAFL, UNGL, the 2010 New USFL, Stars Football League, Exclusive Football League, or countless others that stumbled out of the gate or never even got that far.