XFL Discussion Thread

[Solid Snake]

Honestly if Vince were a genius he would market this as a safer league

He said it will be safer, so we will see.

 

[Rosie]

He said it will be safer, so we will see.

It's hard to make Football safer when it is a sport that the whole goal is to ram into each other and everyone has a large amount of equipment on. Not unless he changes it to flag football. Not to mention there is this culture of needing to have big hits in American Football. But admittedly, the CFL is a bit less dangerous.

In the CFL (which is an alternative with 9 teams, a championship with over 100 years of history) has a larger field, a rule that when someone catches a punt you need to keep at least 5 years of distance before you make contact (which that is where you get a lot of injuries in the NFL) a larger field, and 3 downs instead of 4. That alone changes some parts of what plays are being made. And since the players, while they make decent coin, is by no means enough to retire on and a fair amount of them do hold jobs in the off-season, they tend to tackle a bit more like Rugby players in their focus is to pull him to the ground, not kill them (although there are some bone-crunching hits). There are injuries, but there is less controversy over it here.

Also:



2:

 

[InSaNe]

The thing is it isn't just the NFL that is going to suffer its American football as a whole. The XFL and any other wannabe competing league will face the same issues and questions about long term health effects of playing football just like the NFL is having to for the past number of years.

Football's been fine. It's NFL that was suffering. Everyone's been talking about college football, and other alternatives these days. There will be long-term health effects of football, but "fans" still love the sport. Not just as a fan, but also as a professional player. Thing is, nobody has been able to solve the football injuries to this day. And the thing is, WWE is facing the same issues as NFL in some shape or form. In fact, WWE has been putting a lot of emphasis on "don't try this at home" and more emphasis on career endings through stars like Edge, Daniel Bryan, and others. NFL isn't the only league or organization that has the long-term issues. It's how you handle the situation, that matters more now. Eventually, someone's going to come up with a solution to these injuries, until then, football will suffer, but not by that much. There's a lot of money on the line. That's why these football players get paid for the exorbitant amount of cash that they earn. Anyway, the market is still there, it's just that NFL is suffering from the public image that it has now.

Honestly if Vince were a genius he would market this as a safer league and have them wear leather helmets and get rid of half the armor they wear. I was watching rugby highlights and those guys actually tackle with proper form instead of just leading with their heads down because low and behold guys don't lead with their heads when they don't have those types of helmets on.

Thing is, rugby players are smart. They aren't stupid. If you picked a player from anywhere in United States, you will find 1,000 people who will mis-use tackles. Now, this is not to say that current NFL teams or similar teams are stupid, I'm just saying that the method of tackling are vastly different. So, if rugby players are tackling each other head-on, rather than bowing their heads, headbutting, and whatnot. I always thought that the way football players tackle in the NFL were safe, because you're not tackling with your body, you're tackling with your shoulders out, and your head down. It's the accidents that injures these athletes - but, to be harsh, I'd have to say that these players need to be careful, be mindful of their bodies. [Like I said before; Rugby players aren't stupid.] There were times where players headbutt each other without realizing the dangers of it. When you press your head down, when tackling, you avoid the forehead accidents. That's why I always thought it wasn't dangerous. After seeing these dangers, I was wrong. I always thought the back of a player is more resilient than it seems.

Let me put it in perspective for you: The way Edge and Roman Reigns spears people - that's dangerous. You can break people's ribs that way. But Edge and Reigns made those moves so that it doesn't really hurt the other person. It takes practice to perfect those moves, otherwise WWE wouldn't sanction them.

But...I thought the WWE's ratings were at an all time low?

Like they haven't been this bad since the mid 90's?

They make a lot of money. Look at their quarterly reports. WrestleMania for example, makes so much fucking money for WWE, that it's fucking ridiculous. Put it this way: If WWE shut down the majority of the shows other than RAW and Smackdown, and many of their pay per views, WWE would be above water anyway.

Ridiculous.
--------------------------------------
I'm listening to the unveiling stream on YouTube:



And he answered to a person asking if the reason for relaunching XFL was because of NFL. C'mon, Vince! Play it up! I would have answered with a resounding: "Yes!" I would have just said that yes, XFL was relaunched because NFL's failures were the perfect opportunity to relaunch it. It would not spur any controversy, it would reassure people, and investors that XFL is a pure competitive franchise.

 

[Solid Snake]

a rule that when someone catches a punt you need to keep at least 5 years of distance before you make contact

Years? YEARS!? I KNEW YOU CANADIANS DID TIME TRAVEL! :angry:
I am assuming you meant yards but it was funny to read it like that.

 

[Grievous 3D]

Ratings don't really matter in 2018. People don't watch cable like they used to.

I don't believe that. If your show is popular...people will watch it.

They make a lot of money. Look at their quarterly reports. WrestleMania for example, makes so much fucking money for WWE, that it's fucking ridiculous. Put it this way: If WWE shut down the majority of the shows other than RAW and Smackdown, and many of their pay per views, WWE would be above water anyway.

Well...I never doubted they didn't make a metric fuck tonne of money...

 

[Gman003]

I for one am optimistic about this time around. I kind of was as a kid when we first learned about the XFL. I remember alot of commercials for it. Only got to see a bit of a game or 2. But I liked the idea.

As soon as I heard the news 8t instantly took me back to seeing the original commercials and shit. Everything 2000-2001.

I hope it can succeed. I don't watch football currently (except when im at my parents house on a Sunday) i might pick it up soon when the XFL launches. Hope there's a Canadian team.

 

[Jacob Fox]

I don't really expect it to last long. First, it's really difficult to start up any league to compete with a well established dominant league, something the WWE should be quite aware of. Couple that with the fact that the XFL name carries with it serious baggage, regardless of how he reinvents it, I think he is setting himself up for failure.

Even with the NFL losing popularity, they can still afford to pay players more than the XFL will be able to and the only talent he'll get are players who aren't being offered jobs in the NFL or other established leagues that can pay more. Players will be less likely also to want to play for a league that has such baggage associated with it and the rule book of player behavior Vince was talking about will also push away other talent. And yeah, the NFL is losing popularity now but it's naive to think that it will continue to do this and allow for the XFL to overtake it. American sports leagues wax and wane in popularity all the time. Most people thought baseball would never come back from the strike and then the steroid scandal but it has had now 14 consecutive years of growth. The NBA also suffered in the late 1990's and has recovered. The NFL will recover eventually.

Vince is also someone who tends to work in extremes. He seems like he is setting up this version of the XFL to go completely in the opposite direction of the last one. Instead of pushing the borders, be as safe as possible and as family friendly as possible. Not saying this is a bad thing at all, just that he doesn't seem to be able to find middle ground and I think that will be jarring for people.

Personally, I don't care either way. I most likely won't watch it.

 

[Grievous 3D]

I don't really expect it to last long. First, it's really difficult to start up any league to compete with a well established dominant league, something the WWE should be quite aware of. Couple that with the fact that the XFL name carries with it serious baggage, regardless of how he reinvents it, I think he is setting himself up for failure.

Yeah...what he said!

 

[Dolph'sZiggler]

I don't believe that. If your show is popular...people will watch it.


Well...I never doubted they didn't make a metric fuck tonne of money...

You can believe what you want it is a fact that many people are "cord cutting" and getting rid of cable and using alternative means. Youtube TV is a direct response to that.

 

[Solid Snake]

The way I look at it, it's something different.

 

[Brother Loathe]

The way I look at it, it's something different.

Vince creating an exaggerated parody of a sport that’s already gone way past it’s peak in an effort to create more money because something else isn’t working as well anymore.

Yeah, sounds different.

Maybe if he just worked on the shit he already owns creatively he wouldn’t have to cut pyro and run two pay-per-views a month.

 

[Rosie]

Also...

Complains about Football being 3+ hours.

Runs wrestling show three hours a week...Along with a PPV every 3 weeks which is at least 3 hours, a two-hour show followed by a 30-minute show and an hour show the day after the Monday show...Then an hour long show on Wednesday, Main Event or Superstars or whatever show they have on its day of the week.

Says Football is unsafe.

How many injuries happened as of late? Along with them working 300 days a year...very little rest for most the roster and loads of live events...(adding to the length complaint).

:dafuq: :wiz:
:but::waitwhat:

 

[Jacob Fox]

Also...

Complains about Football being 3+ hours.

Runs wrestling show three hours a week...Along with a PPV every 3 weeks which is at least 3 hours, a two-hour show followed by a 30-minute show and an hour show the day after the Monday show...Then an hour long show on Wednesday, Main Event or Superstars or whatever show they have on its day of the week.

Says Football is unsafe.

How many injuries happened as of late? Along with them working 300 days a year...very little rest for most the roster and loads of live events...(adding to the length complaint).

:dafuq: :wiz:
:but::waitwhat:

As an experiment, I went back to the 1985 Super Bowl and compared it to the WWF roster in 1985. I checked to see how many Super Bowl players on both teams were still alive and not seriously injured compared to Wrestlemania. Let's just say when I did this a couple years ago, only a couple Super Bowl players past away but the amount of wrestlers who have is just completely shocking.

Correlation doesn't equal causation. However, the disparity is pretty amazing. I don't think Vince at this point can claim and sort of moral high ground about providing a safer working environment than the NFL has. Has it gotten better? Yeah. Does that erase the past? No.

 

[Swift]

I want this to succeed.

 

[Solid Snake]

Tim Tebow Leaves Door Open to Joining the XFL