The new USFL has seemingly doomed itself before playing a single game. At least it will if the league follows through on plans to hold all games in Birmingham, Alabama. No television contracts or former NFL coaches can save it from that massive mistake.
Here’s the thing, I want spring/summer football to succeed in the worst possible way. I still can’t bring myself to delete the Alliance of American Football app from my phone. The AAF isn’t coming back and the app doesn’t do anything, but I refuse to remove it.
That’s not all. I scourer YouTube during June and July to watch the like 90 arena football leagues playing games across America. You haven’t lived life until watching the Salina Liberty take on a Marvin Jones-led Omaha Beef.
Additionally, I understand the logic behind playing all games in the so-called Birmingham bubble. Not only are you significantly reducing costs, but the city is even chipping in US$500,000 to cover services. But this is a terrible idea and the new USFL will be doomed because of it.
Games will take place at Protective Stadium, the new home of the UAB Blazers, and Legion Field, which has hosted every short-lived professional football team the city has ever known including the World League’s Fire, the CFL’s Barracudas, the XFL’s Bolts and the AAF’s Birmingham Iron. Seriously, if you want your alternative football league to fail, just put a team in Birmingham.
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Anyway, the USFL is doomed to fail by playing all its games in one city. It will look super depressing to watch on TV. Especially once the novelty of that first week wears off and non-Birmingham teams play.
AAF and XFL attendance wasn’t great, but it was passable. The people of Alabama aren’t turning out in droves to watch three or four games, most of which feature teams they have no connection to, weekly for two months. Hell, Nick Saban can barely get them to show up when the Crimson Tide play unranked teams.
I don’t want the new USFL to be doomed, but it is hard to see any other outcome. This is a movie we have watched several times before. The first week will be fine and things will be okay until about week three or four. Eventually attendance and TV ratings will crater. It will become nothing more than an afterthought.
And then a business decision will need to be made. Do you carry on and finish out that season or do you pack it in and call it a day? Maybe the cost savings allows it to survive. History tells us don’t bother downloading the app, the USFL won’t make it past year one.
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