2020 XFL Season

[The Frog 429]

 

 

The league is off to a great start. 

[hfiles 80]

I watched at least a portion of all four games this weekend.

• Pat McAfee needs to be part of more NFL broadcasts. It sounds like ESPN is including them very similarly to how they incorporated Booger McFarland into the broadcast during the 2018 season. Even though he's on the sideline he can still chime in any time. It works much better, in my opinion, because Pat is more entertaining and has more insightful things to say.
• I personally enjoyed the ESPN presentation better. The FOX broadcast did feel like a regular NFL broadcast. That's not a bad thing, but that's also not a good thing.
• I'm not a fan of Curt Menefee in the booth, but it could be worse.
• The new rules are awesome. Even though New York was up 20 pts on Tampa Bay it didn't feel like Tampa was completely out of it because of the 3 pt conversion rule.

[Georgie56 3304]

You have to remember, AAF got off to a great start, and look what happened to it. You have to hope the XFL lasts.

 

5 minutes ago, hfiles said:

I watched at least a portion of all four games this weekend.

• Pat McAfee needs to be part of more NFL broadcasts. It sounds like ESPN is including them very similarly to how they incorporated Booger McFarland into the broadcast during the 2018 season. Even though he's on the sideline he can still chime in any time. It works much better, in my opinion, because Pat is more entertaining and has more insightful things to say.
• I personally enjoyed the ESPN presentation better. The FOX broadcast did feel like a regular NFL broadcast. That's not a bad thing, but that's also not a good thing.
• I'm not a fan of Curt Menefee in the booth, but it could be worse.
• The new rules are awesome. Even though New York was up 20 pts on Tampa Bay it didn't feel like Tampa was completely out of it because of the 3 pt conversion rule.

 

Menefee was in the booth for Fox NFL broadcasts back in the day before he became a studio host, and he's the voice of Seahawks' preseason broadcasts.

 

Greg Olsen, however, was shining in the booth. He has a future on XFL and NFL broadcasts. 

[Spring Rubber 703]

7 hours ago, Georgie56 said:

 

AAF used CBS' graphics on all networks.

They used CBS graphics, but the production was handled by AAF.

3 hours ago, LoadStar said:

So far, FOX broadcasts wildly outclass ESPN (including ABC) broadcasts. FOX broadcasts feel like everything you expect of a professional football broadcast. By comparison, it almost seems like ESPN has forgotten everything about how to do this. (Either that, or they've decided that "meh, this is XFL, we don't give a..." and they just decided to wing it.)

Hmmm, sounds similar to ESPN's NFL broadcasts. They've seemed entirely lost for the past couple of years at how to broadcast a sport rather than all of the distractions going on tangential to the sport.

[nickp 337]

3 hours ago, hfiles said:

I watched at least a portion of all four games this weekend.

• Pat McAfee needs to be part of more NFL broadcasts. It sounds like ESPN is including them very similarly to how they incorporated Booger McFarland into the broadcast during the 2018 season. Even though he's on the sideline he can still chime in any time. It works much better, in my opinion, because Pat is more entertaining and has more insightful things to say.
• I personally enjoyed the ESPN presentation better. The FOX broadcast did feel like a regular NFL broadcast. That's not a bad thing, but that's also not a good thing.
• I'm not a fan of Curt Menefee in the booth, but it could be worse.
• The new rules are awesome. Even though New York was up 20 pts on Tampa Bay it didn't feel like Tampa was completely out of it because of the 3 pt conversion rule.

Pat McAfee is right up there with Mauro Ranallo, Gus Johnson, and Mike Joy for favorite announcers

[Viper550 291]

13 hours ago, Spring Rubber said:

They've seemed entirely lost for the past couple of years at how to broadcast a sport rather than all of the distractions going on tangential to the sport.

And those weird CGI sequences.

 

[DoubleDare 3]

On 2/9/2020 at 8:52 PM, hfiles said:

I watched at least a portion of all four games this weekend.

• Pat McAfee needs to be part of more NFL broadcasts. It sounds like ESPN is including them very similarly to how they incorporated Booger McFarland into the broadcast during the 2018 season. Even though he's on the sideline he can still chime in any time. It works much better, in my opinion, because Pat is more entertaining and has more insightful things to say.
• I personally enjoyed the ESPN presentation better. The FOX broadcast did feel like a regular NFL broadcast. That's not a bad thing, but that's also not a good thing.
• I'm not a fan of Curt Menefee in the booth, but it could be worse.
• The new rules are awesome. Even though New York was up 20 pts on Tampa Bay it didn't feel like Tampa was completely out of it because of the 3 pt conversion rule.

 

I liked ESPN's coverage overall more too, like when they were going for the extra point conversion it showed you where all 3 conversion lines were, also ESPN seemed to do the mic'd players and coaches more.

Overall I really liked the XFL, its better than the 1st time around since that had too much other nonsense, and even better than AAF which felt like a watered down nfl. The differences the xfl has I am liking.

[Megatron81 258]

I have enjoyed the XFL so far I believe it will be on for years and will be a minor league for the NFL just my opinion.

[The Frog 429]

XFL is following suit in being Corona'd. That's a tough break for a start-up league.

[TSSZNews 1051]

34 minutes ago, The Frog said:

XFL is following suit in being Corona'd. That's a tough break for a start-up league.

I don't see an official announcement of a suspension anywhere...

 

If anything, maybe they need to be on with no audience--with no other televised sports they could actually get a lot of extra exposure!

[TheRolyPoly 2415]

1 hour ago, TSSZNews said:

I don't see an official announcement of a suspension anywhere...

 

If anything, maybe they need to be on with no audience--with no other televised sports they could actually get a lot of extra exposure!

@XFL just posted it. It's official now.

 

https://twitter.com/xfl2020/status/1238242448075304961/photo/1

[DoubleDare 3]

Yea, they had to suspend it once all the other did, have to play things safe. Hope they can continue next year.

[AaronQ 282]

Sad news to report, because of pandemic, the 2020 XFL season has been canceled.

 

[TheRolyPoly 2415]

37 minutes ago, AaronQ said:

Sad news to report, because of pandemic, the 2020 XFL season has been canceled.

 

 

Well... time to lock this thread.

[Spring Rubber 703]

I think the XFL had a lot more potential than the AAF. Here's hoping the XFL doesn't go bust after all this.

[TSSZNews 1051]

Truth be told, I don't think it's coming back.

[Georgie56 3304]

It was first reported that Vince had enough money for the league to last at least two seasons. COVID-19 just abruptly ended the inaugural season. 

[AdamTheJ 90]

2 hours ago, TSSZNews said:

Truth be told, I don't think it's coming back.

I believe not. Even Before the virus became serious, the XFL was on the up and up, so to not see a 2021 season wouldn’t make sense at all. It is my opinion that a Virus, like COVID 19, shouldn’t have to cause the XFL to fold. Here’s to XFL 2021.

[ScottJ 134]

9 hours ago, nbc4ne said:

I believe not. Even Before the virus became serious, the XFL was on the up and up, so to not see a 2021 season wouldn’t make sense at all. It is my opinion that a Virus, like COVID 19, shouldn’t have to cause the XFL to fold. Here’s to XFL 2021.

I enjoyed what I watched of XFL 2.0 (though I never saw a full game), but the ratings had been dropping every week. The two Sunday games in what ended up being the final week of the season each dropped below 1 million viewers. That's the only thing that concerns me about getting another season. But I think I read the league signed three-year deals with the networks, so hopefully it'll be back in 2021.

[caliwxdude 254]

Depending on whether the NHL or NBA try to spin up an abbreviated season for 2021, the XFL might have a shot at being one of the first US "pro" sports leagues to return to play next year. Restrictions on gatherings of 50 or more people will likely persist until a COVID-19 vaccine is readily available/administered at scale across the country, making the prospect for any sports league play in 2020 pretty grim.

[TSSZNews 1051]

5 minutes ago, caliwxdude said:

Depending on whether the NHL or NBA try to spin up an abbreviated season for 2021, the XFL might have a shot at being one of the first US "pro" sports leagues to return to play next year. Restrictions on gatherings of 50 or more people will likely persist until a COVID-19 vaccine is readily available/administered at scale across the country, making the prospect for any sports league play in 2020 pretty grim.

 

The NFL won't be denied. They'll play in empty stadiums if they have to. And if we're going that long with all the restrictions, nothing's ever coming back the same anyway.

[scrabbleship 429]

7 minutes ago, caliwxdude said:

Depending on whether the NHL or NBA try to spin up an abbreviated season for 2021, the XFL might have a shot at being one of the first US "pro" sports leagues to return to play next year. Restrictions on gatherings of 50 or more people will likely persist until a COVID-19 vaccine is readily available/administered at scale across the country, making the prospect for any sports league play in 2020 pretty grim.

 

At that point herd immunity will come before a vaccine. And can our nation's mental, economical, and political health survive a wait of that long?

Some day someone's going to have to say "screw it, if I die, I die."

[ChocoMingo 44]

26 minutes ago, caliwxdude said:

Depending on whether the NHL or NBA try to spin up an abbreviated season for 2021, the XFL might have a shot at being one of the first US "pro" sports leagues to return to play next year. Restrictions on gatherings of 50 or more people will likely persist until a COVID-19 vaccine is readily available/administered at scale across the country, making the prospect for any sports league play in 2020 pretty grim.

Not sure if I would count on that. It's highly likely there will be treatment in a few weeks, if not a month. The restrictions on gatherings will likely last for a month or so, and by then, herd immunity will likely take place. As of now, there are still a lot of unknowns about the virus. However, I am remaining optimistic in all of this, that when treatment arrives, the infection rate may not change, but the death rate for COVID-19 will likely be drastically reduced enough to where events can be held again.

 

Hopefully, sports getting back to normalcy will be a slow process with the sports leagues resuming without fans in stadiums as the number of active virus cases decline then in a few weeks or so, having fans filling up the seats again.

[caliwxdude 254]

2 hours ago, TSSZNews said:

 

The NFL won't be denied. They'll play in empty stadiums if they have to. And if we're going that long with all the restrictions, nothing's ever coming back the same anyway.

 

Well, there was a reason I searched for "sports during the Great Depression" earlier today...

[Georgie56 3304]

Just like the AAF, XFL is one-and-done.