From Meltzer
Sports Business Journal ran a story about the AAF, which starts play in February, and its rival, the XFL.
The gist is, as we noted, the XFL is in larger markets and playing at a number of NFL stadiums while the AAF is playing in secondary markets and smaller stadiums.
The feeling is the XFL has more money to spend, although the AAF claimed that they have $850 million in funding and will spend that over the next five years to get the venture up and running.
Vince McMahon, who is funding the XFL on his own, has only said he will fund it for far more than the $100 million that he cashed out stock on to get the ball rolling.
Oliver Luck, who will be actually running the XFL, at least as much as anyone can run a company owned by Vince McMahon, said that the NFL did a study on what markets have the most interest in football, and they got the results and placed teams in those cities.
The XFL is expected to announce a television deal for 2020 within weeks. Vince McMahon was very confident in that. With sports channels needing live programming, getting a deal shouldn’t be hard, but getting ratings will be far more difficult than it was in 2001.
What type of revenue they can get between television and streaming platforms will spell the success or failure of the league not things like ticket sales.
They also expect to start naming head coaches for its teams in Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, New York, Seattle, St. Louis, Tampa and Washington, DC.
The plan is also to sign eight star quarterbacks at around $250,000 to $300,000 per year, announce the signings early next year and spent a year marketing the star quarterback in the local market before starting play.
Luck said the league plans to start signing players throughout 2019 to give teams time to prepare for the season.
While not specifically addressed, it appears that the XFL will be making players sign exclusive contracts.
The AAF is giving players contracts that allow them to leave teams at the end of the season if they get an NFL offer, which essentially means if the league is taken seriously as strong football, most stars will get NFL offers and leave.
Luck said that the XFL will not become an NFL developmental league. That means that player who still believe they can get to the NFL, which would be the better players, would be more likely to sign with the AAF, although most athletes are going to go to who offers the most money. . .