N/S Your take on the XFL

[hitta]

Originally Posted by TheOak

I’m talking about exactly what you are just maybe not getting the point across it seems.

Instead of a page reply, I’ll take two lines and comment on them which should make you understand that you are looking at a snap shot and not the whole picture.

1. “ If the NFL had to go through the same process as other football leagues that try to blossom, then it wouldn't be near as powerful as it is now.”

It did, how do you think it started and got to where it is now. Actually the NFL had it harder and paved the way for knock off leagues, making their birth and progress easier. The NFL is proof of concept which is what investors want to see before funding new ventures, without investors zero professional leagues exist. The NFL’s power comes from its revenues not vice versa.

2. “ Also when you say that "team owners negotiate" you are kidding yourself. There have been many times where the NFL has already started negotiating with the local and state governments before they even had an owner for the team they were looking to move.”

Who exactly do you think decides which State Governments are talked to? Goodell doesn’t move a team brother, the owner of the team does. Benson didn’t need Goodell to bless his move to San Antonio, he needed the other 31 owners. Goodell and the people beneath him do why they are told by the Owners.

A new city, new team, new owner are not approved by Goodell, they are decided and approved by a vote from the owners.

Again.... believe as you wish but assuming I’m clueless or ‘kidding myself’ doesn’t further any understanding.

If you built a lemonade franchise from a single stand over a 50 year period, should it be rather delusional for me to say that you are only a successful franchise because of power? Ignoring 50 years of hard work and product development....

And fuc8, a page reply lol

Once again you are making arguments against things I'm not even saying. I don't care if it is Goodell or the owners doing it. I'm saying that the NFL gets in bed with the local and state governments, gets special deals, and builds their stadiums. I don't care if they send Roger Goodell, the Cookie Monster, or some team of owners to get the job done. They get special tax breaks from the federal government as well to go along with this.

To the other point, if you look back through the history of the league, the NFL(not the merged NFL-AFL) absorbed the AAFCs which was a decent rival league. The AFL emerged to challenge the NFL. The AFL was a strong challenger to the NFL Then the NFL and AFL merged. The idea that the NFL(in its current form) has had it hard is ridiculous. The current NFL is just the result of a bunch of mergers. The whole NFL as is has had its path handed to it on a silver platter. Throughout history, there have been several entities that have done a fairly decent job at challenging the NFL, but they all end up merging because it is easier and they have fewer roadblocks mainly because of how society is legislated. The NFL and AFL both had their hands in the government cookie jar, and the moment they came together they had a wide open door to do what they wanted at both the local, state, and even federal(such as using their non-profit status to get out of paying several million dollars in taxes) levels. At the current moment, it is almost impossible to challenge the NFL because of all the advantages they have had and will continue to have. They only way they have had it harder is that it has required a progression over time to build and also for society to build up and advance the infrastructure. As far as the tax code and the government are concerned, not too many companies have had it easier than the NFL.


There are so many different things I can point out. Sports broadcasting act of 1961 and how CBS also have unfair advantages when it comes to broadcasting through special means. I mean do you think it's fair that most of these networks like CBS have public help, then they go and make broadcasting deals with entities like the NFL to broadcast all their games? And if other leagues can't get these broadcasting deals with CBS or FOX, but end up on some other less watched station. The XFL is very fortunate to end up on ESPN/ABC and Fox. Their deals probably aren't nearly as good though revenue wise, but at least they get some visibility. Still, the whole thing is one big machine, and most people just ignore it. You try to pretend like everything that has occurred has been due to the free market playing out, but it hasn't.