By the time the XFL returns for its third launch, two years without major spring football will have passed. But the Dwayne Johnson-spearheaded league remains intent on restarting again in 2023.
XFL 3.0 made some notable hires recently. Former Bills CEO Russ Brandon is coming aboard as the league’s president, Kevin Seifert of ESPN.com notes. In addition to Brandon’s post, the XFL is hiring ex-Giants exec Marc Ross as executive VP and will bring back another ex-Bills GM in Doug Whaley to work with Ross.
This marks a return to a major post for Brandon, whose 20-plus-year Bills tenure ended in 2018. Brandon worked as Bills GM in the late 2000s but was with the franchise from 1997-2018. Brandon held an advisory role with RedBird Capital Partners, which joined Johnson in buying the XFL out of bankruptcy.
An 11-year Giants staffer, Ross interviewed for the team’s GM job that went to Dave Gettleman. After landing the gig, Gettleman fired Ross, who landed with the NFL Network. Ross, who also worked with Brandon in Buffalo, rose to the post of Giants college scouting director. He will oversee on-field operations, Seifert adds.
Whaley was with the XFL during its second launch, under Vince McMahon in 2020, and worked with Brandon in Buffalo during his four-season GM stay. The Bills parted ways with Whaley after the 2017 draft.
What is going to be different this time? I love football and tried watching this. Couldn’t get myself to care.
It was actually more entertaining than the No Fun League
Lol ok guy
Lol yes girl
hopefully it wolnt be disrupted by a global pandemic?
Different would probably be the whole Covid thing.
In my opinion, the absolute reason why any and all of the alternative football leagues fail has been and always will be the same. Fans are used to the very best playing the game, and these leagues are 99% comprised of guys not good enough to play in the NFL.
Yet minor league baseball flourishes. It’s a true shame that a minor league football system or renegade league doesn’t work, it’s make the cut in the NFL or go get a real job. Even the CFL isn’t really much of an option anymore for most fringe guys.
Football isn’t a long-term prospect. Baseball players can be effective for 15 years, many spending a third of that time learning the game in the minor leagues. Football is too physically punishing to allow that kind of development, especially for interior line players and running backs.
Baseball can go on because there is a massive surplus of players who continuously work year round in game shape, and the game itself is much cheaper to play. Rosters are smaller (though are more players in the entire sport due to the many leagues) injuries are mostly non-contact, and the stadiums are smaller. It’s a different sport entirely, one where the major league is supported by a large foundation of smaller leagues, unlike football.
The XFL was doing decently well before the pandemic. The thing is, they do need to realize that they are, by default, a smaller league with smaller ambitions. The NFL started with many teams folding and players working other jobs or grinding through serious injury to earn a tiny paycheck. Some of the NFL’s historical development will eliminate a few of those problems (like woefully insufficient medical knowledge, or sport recognition for professional football), but many of the stability problems will remain-payroll, building a dedicated fan base to purchase merchandise, clubs following league rules and penalties, etc.
If the XFL starts small to build a stable foundation before expanding its media, geographic, and personnel outreach, it’ll be fine. Teams are named, cities are picked, most of the actual gear is in hand. It already has most of the short term work done-it just needs to keep breathing long enough to establish a foundation.
Define “flourishes”.
Even paying the players almost literal slave wages isn’t enough to keep them from folding a bunch of teams.
I wouldn’t say minor league baseball is flourishing. Besides prospects, they don’t make very much money in Double A or single A. The minor league system works in baseball because you have extremely talented players constantly going through the system that will one day be a major leaguer. No draft picks are ready to plug and play at the big league level. Same for hockey. Basketball and football, players contribute day 1. You also have over twice as many players on an nfl roster versus baseball. Committing to another 53 player salaries for multiple minor league levels is a huge investment that most small markets would not be able to support unless you pay them significantly less which I doubt many players will sign up to play for 35-50k per year
The XFL’s one and only hope is to hook enough hard core gamblers to survive. It will have to cater almost exclusively to the betting market.
The kind of people who bet on KBO games last May because it was the only thing going.
That’s the demo.
I have a hunch the XFL will eventually have more iterations than the Apple I-Phone.
Again?
Repeat after me “No one gives an F’ about the XFL.” Next story.
I do. You don’t, that’s fine. But just move along if you don’t care to read a headline about it. It’s not like we’re being pelted with stories about it.
They’re raiding the wrong iteration of the Bills front office. They want the guys they have now…