December 24, 2017
A Rival to the NFL?
Timothy Birdnow
WWE warbucks Vince McMahon has begun making moves that suggest he may reinvigorate his XFL football league.
According to breitbart:
"McMahon has established a new company, separate from the WWE, called Alpha Entertainment. On December 16th, Alpha Entertainment filed for five new trademarks related to the XFL, the title of McMahon’s football league that he founded in 2001.
According to ESPN’s Darren Rovell, "The filings seek to trademark the XFL as a professional football league and also cover merchandise related to the league. Previous XFL trademarks were abandoned over a period of time from 2002 to ’05.â€
Moreover, McMahon has backed this effort with significant amounts of cash. Rovell also reported that McMahon sold 3.34 million in WWE stock worth about $100 million. The money from those stock sales will go to fund Alpha Entertainment"
End excerpt.
People have tried over the years to create a rival to the NFL, only to fail. First there was the AFL, which merged with the NFL creating the Super Bowl, which was originally a contest between the two leagues. Then there was the USFL, which failed but is notable for a most significant team owner, a New York real estate developer named Donald J. Trump. Well...
The article continues:
"Any XFL reboot would also benefit significantly from the "bully pulpit†they would have in President Trump. The president has ripped the NFL over the anthem protests, and criticized the league as much as any chief executive has ever criticized a sports league. Meaning, that any rival football league would almost assuredly be backed by the full faith and credit of the most powerful Twitter account in the world.
A few tweets and public shows of support from Trump, would amount to tens of millions of free advertising for the new league."
End excerpt.
The time is right for a rival league, and I suspect some of the NFL franchise owners would like to move to the new league if they could. The NFL has become mired in political correctness of all stripes, and it began well before the Kapernick protests. I remember when the Rams were in St. Louis and their web site promoted all manner of "green" policies. They were pushing environmentalism and bragging about how they supported it well before the current outbreak of PC. And who can forget the players on a number of teams doing the "hands up don't shoot" nonsense during the Ferguson riots. And remember the war on the Washington team name "Redskins"?
How about Bob Costas railing against the Second Amendment during Monday Night Football with nary a complaint out of the League? How about the Michael Sam business, where the Leaqgue pushed to have the openly gay player drafted even though he was not NFL talent.
How about the spousal abuse of players? The NFL walked a tight line out of fear of charges of racism. Ditto animal abuse, where players were caught running dog fights.
Meanwhile, the NFL threatened North Carolina over the ban on transsexuals in public women's rooms. Ditto Georgia, where they strongarmed the state over the matter of gay weddings. They banned the Dallas Cowbows from honoring fallen police officers. The fired and banned Tim Tebow for PRAYING.
I could go on, but you get the point.
Now, having insulted America and the patriots who make up the fan base of the NFL, the league is losing viewership at an astonishing rate. Those fans are going to college football or just watching hockey. A competitor to the NFL, one that celebrates the country, is ready for prime time. It will do especially well if it is well funded, and it probably will be if enough people support it.
I don't know if McMahon is the man for the job; he's too much into the showmanship, sort of what Bill Veeck was to baseball (he was the owner of the St. Louis Browns and a former circus owner who major league baseball disliked for turning his franchise into a ridiculous spectacle). But if mcMahon can get some credible partners and tone it down, make it less X as in Xtreme, then the sports fans may well gravitate toward a new league. And there will be plenty of college players who may see the writing on the wall for the NFL and sign with the new league.
Who knows? Maybe after his presidency The Donald will buy a franchise as well.
I'm ready for a franchise here in The Lou. The St. Louis Bushwackers? The Mulers? I say, bring 'em on!
WWE warbucks Vince McMahon has begun making moves that suggest he may reinvigorate his XFL football league.
According to breitbart:
"McMahon has established a new company, separate from the WWE, called Alpha Entertainment. On December 16th, Alpha Entertainment filed for five new trademarks related to the XFL, the title of McMahon’s football league that he founded in 2001.
According to ESPN’s Darren Rovell, "The filings seek to trademark the XFL as a professional football league and also cover merchandise related to the league. Previous XFL trademarks were abandoned over a period of time from 2002 to ’05.â€
Moreover, McMahon has backed this effort with significant amounts of cash. Rovell also reported that McMahon sold 3.34 million in WWE stock worth about $100 million. The money from those stock sales will go to fund Alpha Entertainment"
End excerpt.
People have tried over the years to create a rival to the NFL, only to fail. First there was the AFL, which merged with the NFL creating the Super Bowl, which was originally a contest between the two leagues. Then there was the USFL, which failed but is notable for a most significant team owner, a New York real estate developer named Donald J. Trump. Well...
The article continues:
"Any XFL reboot would also benefit significantly from the "bully pulpit†they would have in President Trump. The president has ripped the NFL over the anthem protests, and criticized the league as much as any chief executive has ever criticized a sports league. Meaning, that any rival football league would almost assuredly be backed by the full faith and credit of the most powerful Twitter account in the world.
A few tweets and public shows of support from Trump, would amount to tens of millions of free advertising for the new league."
End excerpt.
The time is right for a rival league, and I suspect some of the NFL franchise owners would like to move to the new league if they could. The NFL has become mired in political correctness of all stripes, and it began well before the Kapernick protests. I remember when the Rams were in St. Louis and their web site promoted all manner of "green" policies. They were pushing environmentalism and bragging about how they supported it well before the current outbreak of PC. And who can forget the players on a number of teams doing the "hands up don't shoot" nonsense during the Ferguson riots. And remember the war on the Washington team name "Redskins"?
How about Bob Costas railing against the Second Amendment during Monday Night Football with nary a complaint out of the League? How about the Michael Sam business, where the Leaqgue pushed to have the openly gay player drafted even though he was not NFL talent.
How about the spousal abuse of players? The NFL walked a tight line out of fear of charges of racism. Ditto animal abuse, where players were caught running dog fights.
Meanwhile, the NFL threatened North Carolina over the ban on transsexuals in public women's rooms. Ditto Georgia, where they strongarmed the state over the matter of gay weddings. They banned the Dallas Cowbows from honoring fallen police officers. The fired and banned Tim Tebow for PRAYING.
I could go on, but you get the point.
Now, having insulted America and the patriots who make up the fan base of the NFL, the league is losing viewership at an astonishing rate. Those fans are going to college football or just watching hockey. A competitor to the NFL, one that celebrates the country, is ready for prime time. It will do especially well if it is well funded, and it probably will be if enough people support it.
I don't know if McMahon is the man for the job; he's too much into the showmanship, sort of what Bill Veeck was to baseball (he was the owner of the St. Louis Browns and a former circus owner who major league baseball disliked for turning his franchise into a ridiculous spectacle). But if mcMahon can get some credible partners and tone it down, make it less X as in Xtreme, then the sports fans may well gravitate toward a new league. And there will be plenty of college players who may see the writing on the wall for the NFL and sign with the new league.
Who knows? Maybe after his presidency The Donald will buy a franchise as well.
I'm ready for a franchise here in The Lou. The St. Louis Bushwackers? The Mulers? I say, bring 'em on!
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at
11:04 AM
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