USFL Announces a relaunch for 2022

I think at this point just call them the Ohio Maulers. At least that’ll drum up some local support for the team, I’d say there’s a 10% chance they ever play in Pittsburgh. A neutral site for the playoffs I understand, for the whole season, well that’s a head scratcher.

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I would agree with you that I would not wager on them ever playing in Pittsburgh. If they get somewhat reasonable crowds as the Ohio Maulers then who cares. But when did geography ever matter in sports? Both NY football teams Play in New Jersey. Dallas Cowboys play 30 miles away in Arlington. Probably a couple more that are floating around out there.

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San Francisco

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But those examples are at least in the same metro. Canton is about 90 miles away from Pittsburgh.

I agree with others they should use Ohio as location moniker. I would take it a step further and drop Maulers too. Treat it like The Bandits and bring the name back should they end up in Pittsburgh for real.

I'm sure the rights for Ohio Glory is reasonably priced lol

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Yes, but once again same metro area. MetLife stadium is 8 miles from Manhattan. This is more akin to calling the Buffalo Bills the Ontario Bills. I’m just not a fan of putting "X city in the name if they have no real intention on playing there. At least the TSL and FCF football dropped the illusion of representing some random city.

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The USFL restarts play in April though no schedule has been announced, but of course they have four hubs now instead of merely one. They are halfway there to being a real league with stadiums for each team. And who knows which teams are rebranded next year in 2024 too if it is a go.

For sure by late April we will know the score for sake of attendance and television appeal.

Does the casual fan take interest too beyond gambling activity, who often are not watching or attending games just betting them?

If so like for any given sports league, they have something cooking for once and we sure don't have to hear the usual excuses and apologies made from the usual camp.

Otherwise if we are only hearing from mostly the Spring Football Echo Chamber, especially if they are making excuses for lack of attendance or suffering television ratings again or proclaiming success no matter those results or whatever exceptionalist excuses are not made for businesses beyond sports for not generating revenue and profit, then it will be evident that the USFL 2.0 would only continue as a Fox pet project for their ultimate puppet master in this matter if at all.

The USFL 2.0 does not have the advantage of the highest novelty effect for spring football 2023 as does the XFL 3.5, but it does have the advantage of learning from the failures and successes of the XFL 3.5 as it goes forward this season with more than one hub as was that awful Alabama Spring League of 2022.

Mercifully the 2022 Alabama Spring League is a forgettable remnant of the awful past and history for full-gridiron spring football like so much other crap in all of its past.

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I'll share this take on Memphis that does not get into the particular news but no doubt ANY business in Memphis is and will be affected by the recent adverse news there.

I have a friend who was born there and has lived there much of his life. He is now retired back there after a career that took him over much of the world. He's seen pro sports come and go, and he knows the scene on the ground not like a business traveler dropping by a fine BBQ joint on this trip or catching some local blues.

Memphis (formerly Memphis State) was once really big there for the sake of the college basketball scene.

Otherwise, the locals are usually fair-weather or lukewarm about the Grizzlies in the NBA and their aggregate and average seasonal attendance is amongst the lowest in the NBA.

The USFL caught a bad break with this recent news much as any major business in Memphis but for perhaps Fedex not to say literally on the ground they are not affected by the situation that has been at hand for some time and continues in Memphis.

If there is a new weak link and franchise in the league for sake of attendance and television ratings, it will be in the venue and franchise in Memphis.

If the Memphis Showboats make it to season two of the USFL 2.0, all credit to them but at this time given the climate there, I would hardly be surprised to see the Memphis team moved to yet another new hub if the league does not abandon this hub league status altogether.

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True that it wouldn’t be new but in modern context NFL teams have a stranglehold on venues that they never had back in those days. Even if owned by a public entity, most teams will ether operate the venue, or have clauses in their terribly one sided leases banning any other professional football league of taking the field in the NFL teams’ home stadium so what happened for the USFL in the 80’s would never happen today

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Excellent point!

So far other than Ford Field for a USFL hub, only Seattle has played ball to share the venue for sake in the XFL, and Lumen Field has been shared also with the MLS Sounders, which is often the side that draws the most fans in MLS.

The default answer via the NFL tenant, just as you explain in detail, is “NO.”

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The Guardians played at MetLife in 2020 and the old Giants stadium has hosted nearly every alternative league possible; UFL, XFL 1 and 2, WLAF, USFL. They didn’t come this time around, but I’m thinking that has more to do with the cavernous stadium with limited public access and a fickle market, as opposed to the Jets/Giants blacklisting them.

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Agreement - Jets and Giants are old guard in an old market - If you want to rent that Stadium - put your money down if not have a nice day.

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And if you know that area as do I, if they don’t want to pay that money after asking about availability, somebody also reads you a very short letter signed by “F. U. Anyway”, whose name is known to all in that area.

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When any one of these three things happen, and the first of them I do not see happening at all but I put it out there, I would change my view on what is the true entirety of the relationship between merely "Fox" and the USFL along with NBC in there for no good business reason.

We'll see what other media tag along all the more to even devote internet attention or highlights.

  1. USFL games are all moved to Tubi with some simulcasts on FS1 or USA. They are not going to Peacock any more than already I do not believe, but who knows there were some games on Peacock only last season. I see the plug pulled, though it need not be so, before any move to streaming as the lead happens due to all the players truly involved now not merely Fox.

  2. The USFL is a smashing success such that Fox decides to expand to regular venues, and perhaps add teams as well in 2024, instead continuing as a crap hub league. Fox also would add much broadcast coverage instead of cable channels.

  3. The NFL, or any affiliate of the NFL, takes any known ownership stake via another company in the venture. Note that the NFL would not have to have majority ownership to have de facto majority control, which is a point already lost by some on the current situation via media partner Fox. This key point is also not unique to this discussion or the NFL. Even some smaller business people know how to use the legal system so as to implement such a strategy, and big business uses the strategy for various affiliates and subsidiaries day-in day-out.

Short of any of the above, it's hub league and what's really going on behind the scenes.

More bits and pieces will come out as we get to the season itself after the XFL.

I won't be watching a hub league, but I will watch the numbers for the gate and the ratings no doubt as mentioned many times.

Cross-posting this great post here.

As mentioned in the XFL thread, we don’t know on this front of the venues themselves and the evidence is even less than as argued otherwise, so indeed we are simply wondering out loud.

Now for sake of Las Vegas as I have posted before, given the players there in town who have zero interest in the success of the XFL and do not have a positive view of Disney as a partial yet heavy competitor, I am not so sure the NFL would have had to say anything at all in Las Vegas.

Would it surprise me otherwise though? No.

And then yes, given that timing to secure other stadiums now, I would not put it past the NFL to put its rear-end on the scale and make it happen so as to destabilize the playing field in favour of the USFL.

No way is the NFL neutral or indifferent on the matter as some would allege.

The exact position of the NFL on the USFL is certainly up for heavy debate; however, the NFL’s interest lies somewhere between zero, as some allege, and 100% all-in as is clearly not the case given the separation and distance via Fox.

The position of the NFL on the XFL though? I see very little other than perhaps token appearances they have to keep as professionals and to keep track in case the NFL wants to pick up the pieces from afar later in case it fails.

Sharks are going to be sharks folks.

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Just a local article from Canton talking about how big of a boost the USFL is for Canton. I don’t know how well they will draw but it will be interesting to see.

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Tubi: The Play and Gamechanger by Fox For Live Sports on Streaming Also For The USFL?

This post goes beyond the matter of the USFL for Fox, for Fox is the only of the major four broadcast networks in the US without a defined streaming presence for live sports. Note that Fox does have an established online presence otherwise in LIVE news, so it’s not like the technology needs to be developed and implented from zero for live programming.

And of course Fox owns Tubi, and Fox is investing more heavily in more content and promotion for Tubi.

Mind you Tubi is FREE and already loaded onto many streaming platforms. You just click to launch, select your show, and watch.

Fox’s tardiness to streaming for live sports, especially amidst flailing FS1 and FS2 on cable for several years now with FS1 also with some USFL games, is baffling.

And why Fox would even want Peacock involved via NBC for a few USFL games any more is confounding from a business standpoint.

If Fox decides to leverage Tubi for live sports, that could be a gamechanger and part of the growth upon any success of the USFL 2.0 in 2024 if not also on a trial basis this season. I would not be surprised to see a trial attempted via Tubi this spring, but we shall see.

Cross-posted here via the streaming thread is a bit more about this anomaly of the four major broadcast networks with major live sports at Fox via Tubi.

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As you know Paolo I am far from an expert on streaming and the networks and the like that you seem to know a lot about. I do have Tubi as part of my package although it isn’t nearly as user friendly as cable and is often jittery.

My question for you is how do free streaming services such as Tubi and this Pluto I have been hearing about ever make money if all content offered is free?

I don’t want to throw this USFL thread off the rails but your post reminded me of this question I have had for some time. As you have noted several times there is considerable crossover among several threads so if you can answer my question feel free to do it in the streaming thread or wherever most appropriate to your answer.

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Pluto TV is all content that has been bought and paid for 20 times over. Paramount Streaming has tons of old content - they don’t pay for new content - they just run old content like Family Ties with Michael J Fox, Three’s company, Robo Cop and just about anything else they can dig out of the vault that is a movie or TV show. Zero dollars for old content and they have advertisements.

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Done and cross-posted here for those interested in this topic of the expansion of live streaming, including especially for sports that are not going to be on broadcast as much as otherwise the cable channels continue to have fewer subscribers