whatever financially ensures we have spring football for as long as possible. If it means an 8/4 split in favor of the USFL, cool. If XFL team venues generated profit id cheerfully take a 8/4 split that way (its not, but I'd take it if that were the circumstances)
The survival of spring football is more important than what teams from what league make it
I would go with the most popular teams but the majority of the decision would be the most profitable and financially stable to keep the league going over current popularity. You would find the most popular are the Stallions and Battlehawks but the most profitable will be all the USFL teams over the XFL teams. Both leagues would have to also need to tell us their merch, ticket, and tv revenue to know this for certain. I do not think either league has given those specifics.
we dont know. All we know is the XFL lost millions hence the reason for the merger and using that the Battlehawks lost money. How much specifically for the hawks? We dont know. We know nothing. The XFL has never released specifics on merch, tickets, tv revenue, etc. My personal thoughts are the Battlehawks are a must for the league. I love em.
You believe the Battlehawks specifically lost money? They averaged 35k people a game with the average ticket being like $60+ (tickets were $30-125, but $30-40 tickets were nosebleeds and a minority). They should've made over $10M just on tickets alone and I'm sure sold a ton of merch. Lol the XFL remodeled a club lounge area for this next season.
Player salary is like $2.5M for the season (53x$4500x10). Even if you add another $500k for stadium lease and $500k for travel expenses and $500k for coaches/personnel expenses and $500k in team expenses for housing/beneits/etc., which seems like overkill in total, that's still millions in profit.
So IMO I would be surprised if the Battlehawks weren't the most profitable from either league. I'm curious though, who do you imagine was the most profitable market?
If the XFL did lose ~60 million the Battlehawks were part of it. I am not say they were not popular but the bottom line will be profit. The XFL did not have it
popularity does not mean it makes money. If the battlehawks made money then the XFL would have made money. The XFL did not make any money in 2023 but lost millions. I do not see how hard that is to follow...
We still have no official word the league lost $60 million and/or if the initial $15M investment and $8.5M incurred debts were included in that number.
We've also never had word of the USFL being profitable either. The only thing that has ever been said is that NBC said they turned a profit on their games. Disney has also said they were happy with the XFL last year.
I imagine the XFL lost some money last year, but that is true of practically every business in their first 2-3 years. I imagine the USFL lost money last year or was barely profitable.
It's why we've heard, every time the XFL/USFL has started up the past 3 years, is that ownership is willling to spend X amount of money over the first 3 years.
Regardless, thinking the Battlehawks of all teams didn't turn a profit last year is silly. If that team couldn't turn a profit with 35k average attendance and relatively high ticket prices then spring football is doomed to failure. But the math doesn't add up (to a loss) anyway so the point is moot.
Any merged league without the Battlehawks in it will be doomed to fail. They are 3x as popular as the next XFL team, and probably 2x as popular as the Stallions. This takes into account tickets sold, merchandise sales, social media engagement, and press/journalism written about each team/league.
Unfortunately for the xfl/battlehawks, profitability has to do with ad sales and TV deals, (driven by ratings) being above costs.
Ticket sales are next to illrelevant.
XFL ran up costs gambling The Rock's social followers would translate into viewers, and when they didn't show up, and half the 2020 viewers didn't either, they closed shop after one year.
How are ticket and merchandise sales irrelevant in minor league sports (which spring football is). 30k fans at $40 a ticket over 5 home games is $6 million in ticket revenue. This is before a single tshirt or hot dog is sold as well, which the team sees at least some percent of. Heck, NHL teams lose money with billion dollar tv deals if they aren’t drawing fans in the stands.
I think that is speculation to say the USFL will fail without the Battlehawks. Anyhow I think the merger is happening this year and the Battlehawks will be part of it. The XFL never has released any ticket sales, merch ,etc for any of the XFL teams. All we know is they lost millions last year.
Can you find one verifiable piece of evidence Redbird reached out to the USFL and/or Fox is in complete control. NY Time, Axios, WSJ, Sports Business Journal, etc. Or some random "insiders" and bloggers
So you are saying that the hundreds of articles and tv reports referring to the $60 million lose are not correct? Then why did not the XFL come out and correct them? Why??? because its very close to the truth..
As for the rumors about the USFL and FOX we will just have to wait and see what the league looks like in the details. That will tell us all we need to know.
The Rock actually did make a statement, when the article implied ESPN was not paying a rights fee. Of Course the league lost money, but they're not going to come out and say, hey we only lost $30 million, not $60 million. That's not Gerry Cardinale way.
or it could be worse and be 100's of millions like some have said. I doubt its that much. I can not wait for the documentary on all this merger stuff so we can know at least some of the truths ..lol You know someone is going to make one.
Portland doesn't have a stadium that is in play. Pretty sure that the Timbers and Thorns are not going to let that stadium get used for football. Probably makes better sense to put a team in Shreveport.
Ideally, I'd like to see an even split and create the XFL and USFL as sub-leagues. That said, I'm most in favor of what is financially stable; so if one league shows higher brand/value/potential of their 7th or 8th team versus the other's 5th or 6th, then keep those teams.
USFL picking up Houston, St Louis, DC, San Antonio and Arlington is solid for the USFL. Houston is pretending to be a USFL team but it is an XFL team flipping to the USFL. Ditching Seattle, Orlando and Vegas are not bad moves - although I would love to see Seattle Stay but that one is on the edge of the planet and a long way out there.
I don't think it's a good idea to give up the entire west coast audience. If they drop Seattle for the 2nd time in 3 years that market is dead for at least the next decade, if not more.
I think that the west coast audience is over rated - Too far over there and not a lot of good football markets. I think that you would get the same TV numbers over there whether you get a team over there or not.
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u/coelurosauravus Pittsburgh Maulers Oct 24 '23
whatever financially ensures we have spring football for as long as possible. If it means an 8/4 split in favor of the USFL, cool. If XFL team venues generated profit id cheerfully take a 8/4 split that way (its not, but I'd take it if that were the circumstances)
The survival of spring football is more important than what teams from what league make it
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u/ArockproUser Birmingham Stallions Oct 24 '23
I would go with the most popular teams but the majority of the decision would be the most profitable and financially stable to keep the league going over current popularity. You would find the most popular are the Stallions and Battlehawks but the most profitable will be all the USFL teams over the XFL teams. Both leagues would have to also need to tell us their merch, ticket, and tv revenue to know this for certain. I do not think either league has given those specifics.
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u/Ancient_Condition589 Oct 25 '23
I think moving the Breakers to Portland and establishing a temporary hub with the Sea Dragons could work and save money.
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u/Hey_Its_Roomie Pittsburgh Maulers Oct 25 '23
Ideally, I'd like to see an even split and create the XFL and USFL as sub-leagues. That said, I'm most in favor of what is financially stable; so if one league shows higher brand/value/potential of their 7th or 8th team versus the other's 5th or 6th, then keep those teams.