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  1. #1
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    Return of the XFL?

    Rumours of the return of the XFL persist, like a zombie.

    Everyone in the CFL is aware of the rumours that Vince McMahon is contemplating bringing back the XFL. They’re not particularly concerned about the prospect, though. While a thriving spring league in the U.S. might provide competition for CFL teams looking to lock up their stars in the long term, we’re a long, long way off from that actually happening.
    And it’s not as if the people around the CFL haven’t heard this all before, anyways. “You go through this almost every other year, it seems, with a startup football league” Winnipeg Blue Bombers GM Kyle Walters said Wednesday. “You pay attention, but it doesn’t change your day-to-day operations, that’s for sure.

    “When you come into contact with agents who might want to bring that up, you can certainly talk about the recent history of start-up leagues versus the CFL, and where do you want to send your player?” While the rumours that McMahon is mulling over resurrecting his infamous football league this spring have set the internet on fire, it’s understandable if folks around the CFL aren’t exactly shaking in their boots.
    When the WWE boss first launched his eight-team league in 2001, it was met with serious hype and a whole lot of hoopla. It lasted exactly one season. If the XFL looked like competition for the CFL back then, it looks like a much less daunting challenge to the Canadian league now, which is thriving when compared to its situation in 2001.
    “We’re going to watch it, obviously,” CFL commissioner Randy Ambrosie said. “You never want to be blindsided by something because you haven’t paid attention to it. We’re going to watch to see if it unfolds, how it might unfold, what it might look like if it unfolded and we’re going to do the best we can to understand those things. I’m completely aware, as are my colleagues on the board, but today I can’t really say much because nothing has surfaced to give us any real insight.”
    Without more information about McMahon’s rumoured plans, there’s not much the CFL can do to prepare for the new competition should it burst onto the scene later this year.
    General managers around the league, though, say the rumours are having little impact on their ability to retain players. “Every time there’s talk of a new league that’s coming up, it’s a discussion we have, but until something is concrete I don’t put a lot of stock into it,” B.C. Lions GM Ed Hervey said. “We’re looking for players who want the opportunity right now, and (the CFL is) the opportunity right now. So, anyone who wants to play right now, we’re your choice. If you want to wait, obviously go ahead and wait, but waiting wastes time in my opinion.”
    Asking the GMs about the XFL at the media availability during their annual meeting with league brass in Banff, it became increasingly clear that they hadn’t wasted much of their time together discussing McMahon’s plans.
    “I’m that guy who doesn’t (pay attention),” Montreal Alouettes GM Kavis Reed said. “We have a very, very strong football league and a very, very good football league. We’ve done a very good job of putting a good product on the field.
    “I think sometimes you lose focus on that when you focus on what’s on the outside or could happen, when we should focus on what’s happening in our league and make sure we improve it, as we’ve been doing.”
    http://calgarysun.com/sports/footbal...-return-of-xfl

  2. #2
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    The XFL had a major TV partner in 2001 and still was a colossal failure. I just don't see what they would do, if resurrected, that would yield a different result.
    Chad Kelly + Dan Adeboboye + David Ungerer + Damonte Coxie + DaVaris Daniels + Dejon Brissett = Unstoppable Force

  3. #3
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    Which TV network would risk the wrath of the NFL by partnering with a rival league? The Big Four all have NFL deals now. NBC was shut out of the NFL at the time of the XFL; now it isn't.
    Year of the Rocket: John Candy, Wayne Gretzky, a Crooked Tycoon, and the Craziest Season in Football History (https://sutherlandhousebooks.com/pro...of-the-rocket/)

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  4. #4
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    XFL, ICOPRO, WBF, Linda McMahon Senate bids: just about every thing Vince McMahon is involved with outside of wrestling has been a failure. As was said, the last XFL had the perfect chance for success (aligned with NBC), and failed.

    I'm too lazy right now to list the number of leagues that people thought would be a threat to the CFL and then died. The USFL had a great shot at success, but somebody always comes along to get greedy and screw things up.

    Two docs cover these topics well
    ESPN 30 for 30: This Was the XFL
    ESPN 30 for 30: Small Potatoes: Who killed the USFL?

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    Quote Originally Posted by ArgoRavi View Post
    The XFL had a major TV partner in 2001 and still was a colossal failure. I just don't see what they would do, if resurrected, that would yield a different result.
    That's why I called the return of the XFL a zombie in the initial post.

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    Quote Originally Posted by rdavies View Post
    The USFL had a great shot at success, but somebody always comes along to get greedy and screw things up.

    Two docs cover these topics well
    ESPN 30 for 30: This Was the XFL
    ESPN 30 for 30: Small Potatoes: Who killed the USFL?
    Donald Trump played a major role in the demise of the USFL. As he showed in the election, he is a very good marketer, but he has failed at managing every type of business he has personally run, including his Atlantic City cash machine casino. Any success in terms of management has only come when he has franchised his name and left others to manage the organization.
    Trump has gone bankrupt six times further showing what kind of manager he is. (https://www.washingtonpost.com/polit...=.cc996d8abf0a)


    So in 1983 he bought a football team, joining a confederacy of other rich rogues who had just completed their first season of the United States Football League. The business plan: compete with the NFL—sport's one true, grim superpower, whom USFL owners mocked as the No Fun League—but not directly against it. The twelve-team USFL played its games in the spring, encouraged excessive end zone celebrations (the NFL penalized them), and allowed both replay challenges and two-point conversions after touchdowns (the NFL still didn't permit either). Games were televised on ABC and an upstart cable channel called ESPN. ...
    Trump purchased the New Jersey Generals from J. Walter Duncan. ...
    The Generals' fortunes rose instantly, but the league's did not. The USFL collapsed after just three seasons. Yet its Trumpian storyline hews eerily close to today's. The Donald made a media-inhaling, savior-is-born entrance; surged beyond expectations; then went all in on his attempt to upend the entrenched NFL by pushing his fellow owners to move games to the fall in hopes of inciting a merger. The bet brought the league, already in failing health, crashing down. Critics blame Trump's hubris. Haters wait for a similar last act in the upcoming Republican primaries."You can cut and paste the USFL and the GOP and it's the same damn story," says Charley Steiner, radio voice of the Generals and now play-by-play man for the Los Angeles Dodgers. "It's all about him and the brand and moving on to the next thing if it doesn't work out."
    http://www.esquire.com/news-politics...ld-trump-usfl/

    Vince McMahon is another carnival barker cut from the same cloth, so if by some chance the XFL restarts we can expect the same result as occurred with Trump and the USFL and McMahon's previous incarnation of the XFL.

  7. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by ArgoRavi View Post
    The XFL had a major TV partner in 2001 and still was a colossal failure. I just don't see what they would do, if resurrected, that would yield a different result.
    I think the Memphis Maniax can turn it around if given another chance.

  8. #8
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    The CFL is not losing any sleep over this rumour.


  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by gilthethrill View Post
    I think the Memphis Maniax can turn it around if given another chance.
    lol

  10. #10
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    Will J.R do the PBP again?
    Wasn't Jesse Ventura a colour guy?
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  11. #11
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    Quote Originally Posted by Argofans.com View Post
    Will J.R do the PBP again? Wasn't Jesse Ventura a colour guy?
    And Ventura knew nothing about football, at least good ol`JR knows football. I had always thought he had done some previous football broadcasting (pre XFL) but I checked Wikipedia and it didn`t mention anything in a fairly extensive bio.

  12. #12
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    [QUOTE=Argofans.com;121652]Will J.R do the PBP again?
    Wasn't Jesse Ventura a colour guy?[/QUOTE

    I think Vince should go to the Canadian west coast and bring Ed Karl out of retirement. I am sure others on this forum with a pro wrestling background will agree.

  13. #13
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    Quote Originally Posted by gilthethrill View Post

    i think vince should go to the canadian west coast and bring ed karl out of retirement. I am sure others on this forum with a pro wrestling background will agree.
    lmfao!!
    It's us vs the rest of the country

  14. #14
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    Quote Originally Posted by gilthethrill View Post
    I think Vince should go to the Canadian west coast and bring Ed Karl out of retirement. I am sure others on this forum with a pro wrestling background will agree.
    I would say Milt Avruskin but he died back in 2011.
    Chad Kelly + Dan Adeboboye + David Ungerer + Damonte Coxie + DaVaris Daniels + Dejon Brissett = Unstoppable Force

  15. #15
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    Anyone remember that the background to the XFL was McMahon getting involved with a CFL club? What would have happened had McMahon been able to buy into the CFL. Apparently he boasted he could buy the entire league.

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    Quote Originally Posted by rdavies View Post
    Anyone remember that the background to the XFL was McMahon getting involved with a CFL club? What would have happened had McMahon been able to buy into the CFL. Apparently he boasted he could buy the entire league.
    As much as I like Perry Lefko, the former Toronto Sun CFL/Argos beat writer was one of those at the time who believed that the CFL should have gotten into bed with McMahon. Thankfully, they did not.
    Chad Kelly + Dan Adeboboye + David Ungerer + Damonte Coxie + DaVaris Daniels + Dejon Brissett = Unstoppable Force

  17. #17
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    Quote Originally Posted by ArgoRavi View Post
    As much as I like Perry Lefko, the former Toronto Sun CFL/Argos beat writer was one of those at the time who believed that the CFL should have gotten into bed with McMahon. Thankfully, they did not.
    Yeah, the CFL would be dead and buried now.

  18. #18
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    New reports say McMahon has put off the start of the league from 2019 to 2020 in order to have more time to build rosters and hire coaches.

    When the XFL was launched the first time, it was done within a year's time. It appears Vince McMahon's Alpha Entertainment wants to make sure all the bases are covered to make sure to make sure all the bases are covered this time around to prevent any disasters.
    http://www.ringsidenews.com/2018/01/...-anytime-soon/

  19. #19
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    As the following article points out, restarting the XFL is definitely not without risk.

    After one season and flagging ratings, NBC said that they would only continue to broadcast the XFL if it replaced the second hour of SmackDown, something that McMahon was not okay with.
    This led to the early demise of the XFL.

    It is estimated that both WWE and NBC Universal lost $35 million of their $100 million investment. ...
    It's a big risk for WWE and Vince to bring back the XFL after the disaster it was the first time. With the ratings of the NFL and television in general being on the downward trend thanks to new media, this is definitely a risky proposition for WWE.
    https://www.sportskeeda.com/wwe/wwe-...mahon-runs-wwe

  20. #20
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    Since it's now confirmed. This will be no big deal until we see some US based stars sign there. Then everyone will lose their sh*t

    Will be fun to watch.

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