The "Omaha Mammoths" - FXFL

iamjacobm · Post by **iamjacobm** » Fri May 23, 2014 8:45 am

http://espncleveland.com/common/more.ph ... t_id=33201

Woods, 40, is the founder and creator of the FXFL – the Fall Experimental Football League. So far, there is no affiliation with or cooperation from the NFL. But Woods predicts that will change when the NFL sees the FXFL operate this fall.

“There’s no mystery there needs to be a developmental league,” Woods said. “I think the challenging part is coming up with a business model and design it properly. I’ve spent a lot of time researching this. I’ve looked closely at the NBA Developmental League and at Minor League Baseball. We’ve come a long way in a very short period of time. We’re financially backed and ready to launch this fall.”

Based in New York, Woods said the FXFL will debut in September with teams in six markets – New York, Orlando, Omaha, Portland, Boston and Memphis or San Antonio.

Post by **nebugeater** » Fri May 23, 2014 8:47 am

IS this round 3, 4, 5, ????

It would be good for one of these to work and I think it will take NFL backing do do so. That being said, someone always keeps trying.

skinzfan23 · Post by **skinzfan23** » Fri May 23, 2014 8:51 am

Wow, I wonder how many more times investors are going to try this. There has already been XFL, NFL Europe, and of course the UFL. I loved that the city of Omaha backed the UFL and even got a few high profile names (Ahman Green, Jeff Garcia, Maurice Clarett), but unfortunately not much happened with that. The crowds were great at Rosenblatt, but the league couldn't sustain it. I would love to see this succeed, but I am not sure that will happen.

Linkin5 · Post by **Linkin5** » Fri May 23, 2014 2:33 pm

MadMartin8 · Post by **MadMartin8** » Fri May 23, 2014 4:35 pm

If this gets NFL backing, it will succeed. If it does not, it will fail miserably once again.

My bet is on the failure part.

HskrFanMike · Post by **HskrFanMike** » Wed May 28, 2014 2:35 pm

FWIW, it looks like the Sarpy County Storm Chasers are involved with this...

Post by **nebugeater** » Wed May 28, 2014 4:33 pm

HskrFanMike wrote:FWIW, it looks like the Sarpy County Storm Chasers are involved with this...

explain

jag42 · Post by **jag42** » Wed May 28, 2014 8:45 pm

This is exciting...I say bring back the Nighthawks...but one would hope an announcement is coming soon if they are starting up in the fall?

Post by **Coyote** » Wed May 28, 2014 8:56 pm

Schwartz: FXFL Hopes To Becomes NFL’s Official Developmental League

“Our ultimate goal is to become the official developmental league for the NFL,” said Woods. “We would like to get an official partnership with them at some point. We’re working toward that.”

Woods and his partners spent plenty of time taking a look at minor-league baseball as well as what the NBA is doing with the D-League. A lot of what they saw will be used in the FXFL, but they are not about to label this as “minor-league football.”

This league is all about developing players for the NFL, but it is not going to make the same mistakes as startup leagues of the past, including the XFL, UFL and even NFL Europe.

HskrFanMike · Post by **HskrFanMike** » Wed May 28, 2014 10:38 pm

nebugeater wrote:
HskrFanMike wrote:FWIW, it looks like the Sarpy County Storm Chasers are involved with this...
explain

The FXFL Twitter account now follows 32 people: https://twitter.com/GOFXFL/following" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Mostly NFL and ESPN media types...but three in the Omaha area.

Myself, after I blogged about it today at http://huskermike.blogspot.com/2014/05/ ... ental.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Thor Tripp, from KETV
The Storm Chasers

There are some other random follows as well, like a former Iowa volleyball player and a New York based PR person, who's probably involved in managing their account.

Put all the puzzle pieces together: They are planning to play in the vicinity of Omaha. They are targeting minor league baseball operations, who have experience selling tickets and marketing sports in their area. And they are looking to average 6,000 fans.

Post by **nebugeater** » Thu May 29, 2014 7:03 am

HskrFanMike wrote:
nebugeater wrote:
HskrFanMike wrote:FWIW, it looks like the Sarpy County Storm Chasers are involved with this...
explain
The FXFL Twitter account now follows 32 people: https://twitter.com/GOFXFL/following

Mostly NFL and ESPN media types...but three in the Omaha area.

Myself, after I blogged about it today at http://huskermike.blogspot.com/2014/05/ ... ental.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Thor Tripp, from KETV
The Storm Chasers
There are some other random follows as well, like a former Iowa volleyball player and a New York based PR person, who's probably involved in managing their account.

Put all the puzzle pieces together: They are planning to play in the vicinity of Omaha. They are targeting minor league baseball operations, who have experience selling tickets and marketing sports in their area. And they are looking to average 6,000 fans.

GOt it. Thanks

Greg S · Post by **Greg S** » Thu May 29, 2014 9:01 am

It will be interesting to see if this thing sees the light of day. I just don't see minor league/developmental football going over well here or anywhere.

No way the NFL gets involved in anything like this. They've got so many medical issues, led by concussions, that there is no way they are going to get involved with anything that does not generate big revenue to offset the tremendous potential medical liabilities down the road.

Greg

HskrFanMike · Post by **HskrFanMike** » Thu Jun 05, 2014 7:00 am

Greg S wrote:No way the NFL gets involved in anything like this. They've got so many medical issues, led by concussions, that there is no way they are going to get involved with anything that does not generate big revenue to offset the tremendous potential medical liabilities down the road.

Maybe not.

http://m.espn.go.com/nfl/story?storyId= ... rc=desktop" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

But the buzz gained some formidable weight recently from NFL executive vice president Troy Vincent, who was hired into the league's top football operations job this spring. During an interview with newspaper editors last month, Vincent mentioned the possibility of both a developmental league and an academy. "For all this football talent around," he said, "we have to create another platform for developing it."

Greg S · Post by **Greg S** » Thu Jun 05, 2014 7:58 am

My money is still strongly on the side of this thing not seeing the light of day.

I also just can't see Omaha turning out in numbers for a developmental football league. Football is not like baseball and hockey where a very large number of the early draft picks spend time in the minors.

Greg

HskrFanMike · Post by **HskrFanMike** » Thu Jun 05, 2014 12:53 pm

Greg S wrote:My money is still strongly on the side of this thing not seeing the light of day.

I also just can't see Omaha turning out in numbers for a developmental football league. Football is not like baseball and hockey where a very large number of the early draft picks spend time in the minors.

Greg

If they do it in Sarpy County, and thus only expect to draw about 7,000 fans for 3-4 games, they'll easily do that. Even in the second year of the NIghthawks, they were drawing well over 10k downtown, even with doubts as to the viability of the league. More importantly, Martie Cordaro and his team know how to promote, so I have no doubt in my mind that they can make this work in Omaha.

Really, the only question in my mind is how much backlash will exist from the UFL's failure. The Nighthawks clearly proved it can work in Omaha.

Greg S · Post by **Greg S** » Thu Jun 05, 2014 1:58 pm

This would not be anything like the Nighthawks. The Nighthawks brought in big name players, spending big time money that was not even close to what they were charging for tickets and it went over well. Their business model made the Omaha Ak-Sar-Ben Knights look like a spectacular success.

This looks like more of a development league, not one you are going to see Jeff Garcia and Co in.

Greg

Post by **Coyote** » Thu Jun 05, 2014 2:13 pm

Martie has been very quiet about this... I asked him about it a while back and....

HskrFanMike · Post by **HskrFanMike** » Thu Jun 05, 2014 5:02 pm

Not necessarily. Some NFL types want this to be a place to pick up free agents, so there may be a few name free agents who use this as a spot to stay in shape in case an NFL team suffers a rash of injuries.

Post by **Coyote** » Thu Jun 05, 2014 5:05 pm

I would assume that the salaries would be on a different level than the Nighthawks were.

Garrett · Post by **Garrett** » Thu Jun 05, 2014 5:10 pm

Coyote wrote:I would assume that the salaries would be on a different level than the Nighthawks were.

Such as existing?

Greg S · Post by **Greg S** » Fri Jun 06, 2014 8:38 am

HskrFanMike wrote:Not necessarily. Some NFL types want this to be a place to pick up free agents, so there may be a few name free agents who use this as a spot to stay in shape in case an NFL team suffers a rash of injuries.

I assume they would be few and far between. They would not be on the 53 man or practice squad. Not sure how much they can pay since you are talking about crowds of 6-7k.

I don't think this thing sees the light of day. If it does, it won't last. There have been so many attempts with football and the only league that survived other than the NFL was the AFL.

The UFL had name players, really cheap tickets for the gate, pricey halftime entertainment. It had the event feel that goes over well here, and a very short schedule. It paid to have it's product on TV. This league does not resemble that in what it's trying to do. I just don't see an appetite for it here.

Greg

Turtle9160 · Post by **Turtle9160** » Sun Jun 08, 2014 10:14 pm

This sounds like a great idea if they can get it going, would love to see football similar to the Nighthawks idea back in Omaha. I for one would support it, and if they get NFL backing then they have a very good chance. I see it mentioned Werner Park as a possible site, dose anyone know if Werner's field is big enough for a football field?

Greg S · Post by **Greg S** » Mon Jun 09, 2014 8:56 am

They are scheduled to start play this fall, so I would imagine we would need to start seeing some official announcements soon.

Greg

Post by **Coyote** » Wed Jun 11, 2014 12:37 am

MECA talking with new pro league FXFL about team in Omaha

Rich Kaipust: World-Herald staff writer wrote:Roger Dixon confirmed to The World-Herald on Tuesday that the Metropolitan Entertainment and Convention Authority has "exchanged documents" with officials from the FXFL about potentially bringing a team back to TD Ameritrade Park. He said ownership of any Omaha franchise, local or otherwise, has not been part of discussions.

Turtle9160 · Post by **Turtle9160** » Wed Jun 11, 2014 12:39 pm

That sounds like a good step that MECA said there talking to this new league about using Ameritrade to play at. From what I have read on the FXFL Omaha is a for sure city, they have five picked already and are trying to decide on the sixth being either in San Antonio or Memphis. Here's hoping this happens

Bosco55David · Post by **Bosco55David** » Wed Jun 11, 2014 7:16 pm

skinzfan23 wrote:Wow, I wonder how many more times investors are going to try this. There has already been XFL, NFL Europe, and of course the UFL. I loved that the city of Omaha backed the UFL and even got a few high profile names (Ahman Green, Jeff Garcia, Maurice Clarett), but unfortunately not much happened with that. The crowds were great at Rosenblatt, but the league couldn't sustain it. I would love to see this succeed, but I am not sure that will happen.

This is...potentially...going to be a vastly different setup though.

- World League/NFL Europe had a good 16 year run on an entirely different continent that hadn't exactly embraced football, mainly because it had NFL backing as a sort of quasi-developmental league. As it moved away from that original intent is when things went south for the league.

- The XFL was a complete and total gimmick that was run by the owners of another complete and total gimmick (professional wrestling). It had no chance, and by the time they wised up and dropped the gimmicks it was too late to recapture the audience. Still, it rekindled or ignited the careers of people like Tommy Maddox and Kelly Herndon.

- The UFL was basically full of washed up NFL veterans and scrubs who never made it. It also had some profoundly stupid rules, including the ones that eliminated the en vogue 3-4 defense and nickel/sub packages, plus the rule that basically eliminated blitzing. The UFL sold out to get more offensive scoring and in the process turned off the sort of dedicated, purist type fans who are going to be critical to this type of league. It also ended up having to pay for airtime (as opposed to being the payee) that was a huge financial drain.

If this new league adopts standard NFL rules, gets some sort of league backing as a developmental league and doesn't try to reinvent the wheel, they will probably be ok. It would also be a HUGE help if they can get the games broadcast on channels that are available on basic cable at best, augmented by an online streaming/DVR service along the lines of what the MLB and NBA offer. My only real concern with this setup is that I think they would do better as a spring league to cater to the football starved time of the year.

Post by **Brad** » Thu Jun 19, 2014 10:57 pm

Sounds like a done deal! Will NOT be the Nighthawks.

Pro football franchise coming to Omaha

http://www.omaha.com/sports/pro-footbal ... 272ab.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Rich Kaipust / World-Herald staff writer wrote:Both the FXFL and Metropolitan Entertainment and Convention Authority confirmed Thursday that an agreement has been signed to bring a team to TD Ameritrade Park. The FXFL on Friday is expected to announce Omaha and Austin, Texas, as the first two franchises in what will be a six- or eight-team league.

Linkin5 · Post by **Linkin5** » Fri Jun 20, 2014 12:30 am

Left out of the article is Roger Dixon quoted as saying that not all the details are ironed out, except that the league will suck.

Greg S · Post by **Greg S** » Fri Jun 20, 2014 9:54 am

Linkin5 wrote:Left out of the article is Roger Dixon quoted as saying that not all the details are ironed out, except that the league will suck.

That's funny. Going to be interesting to see what the roster looks like if this thing sees the light of day.

Greg

Post by **nebugeater** » Fri Jun 20, 2014 10:55 am

Linkin5 wrote:Left out of the article is Roger Dixon quoted as saying that not all the details are ironed out, except that the league will suck.

That and all payment for services and facilities are COD !!!

Post by **nebugeater** » Fri Jun 20, 2014 11:01 am

Per Tweet by Gary Sharp here is some info on locations I had not seen before.

Gary Sharp
@GarySharp1620
FXFL locations beside Omaha: New York, Boston areas,Portland, Austin and a city in Florida TBA. 6 games from Oct-Nov.

Greg S · Post by **Greg S** » Fri Jun 20, 2014 11:07 am

Sounds like they were not able to find a local owner so Omaha's will be a league owned franchise.

Greg

jag42 · Post by **jag42** » Fri Jun 20, 2014 7:04 pm

Bring it! Kinda sad they won't be the Nighthawks, but I can see why the new league would want to distance itself from anything associated with the UFL. Also, I hope tix aren't 30 bucks...yikes.

Greg S · Post by **Greg S** » Sat Jun 21, 2014 11:59 am

I have heard the $30 number for tickets. The Nighthawks prices were so far below what they needed to be that they make $30 seem high.

Greg

Turtle9160 · Post by **Turtle9160** » Sat Jun 21, 2014 5:55 pm

Surprised that they didnt find owners here, if it takes off or gets NFL partnership I bet they have someone come forward and want to own it. I am hoping this takes off

Post by **nebugeater** » Mon Jun 23, 2014 7:09 am

Wasn't it stated from the begining that some of the teams would be league owned? maybe they never looked for a local owner group.

Greg S · Post by **Greg S** » Mon Jun 23, 2014 9:40 am

Yes they did state that a couple of the franchises would be league owned. They did try locally and were unable to find anyone, hence that is why the Omaha franchise is going to be league owned.

Greg

Turtle9160 · Post by **Turtle9160** » Mon Jun 23, 2014 10:11 am

I do recall them saying there would be two league owned teams, I would have guessed they were going to be New York and Boston though. I saw the World Hearld article said they would have a schedule out on July 1st too, wonder if they already have names for the teams or if they will do like the UFL did and have a contest to pick it.

Greg S · Post by **Greg S** » Mon Jun 23, 2014 10:23 am

They seem to have some idea of a business plan. $30 tickets and the players make $1k per week. This is not your father's Nighthawks. Will be interesting to see how Omaha takes to this.

Greg

HskrFanMike · Post by **HskrFanMike** » Mon Jun 23, 2014 12:35 pm

Greg S wrote:They seem to have some idea of a business plan. $30 tickets and the players make $1k per week. This is not your father's Nighthawks. Will be interesting to see how Omaha takes to this.

Greg

I suspect tickets will average $30. Nighthawks started at $10 for the left field bleachers, and moved up to $15, $25 and much more along the sidelines.