More info coming out. Apparently they reached out to the XFL before the season even started and wanted to merge with them because $$ was being drained out.
I think another league in this time of year can work, but it will take deep pockets like any huge enterprise.
I believe the NFL would jump in after it gets established. Right off the bat, the salaries for the players was too much. If it is going to be a minor league system, the pay structure needs to be much lower.
Many were mocking the XFL when it appeared they got scooped by the AAF but they may have the last laugh by doing their diligence to make sure they are set up to be sustainable.
AAF apparently had $28 million in promised contributions from one investor go dry in December. Employees for the teams said a noticeable lack of paid advertising in league cities right at the time you should be ramping up was a warning sign. They didn't have that $28 million that probably would've gone a lot toward promotion. Lack of promotion leads to lack of fans.
They also over-priced themselves. They were asking for NFL-game prices for a lot of seats. Prime sideline seats were going for over $100 a piece for some markets, and you could see in Arizona and Atlanta that the endzones, the cheap seats, were much more full than elsewhere. Before the inevitable BOGOs, discounts, etc,
And then, Durdon's investment of 'up to $250 million' which turns out to be about $70 million when he pulled the plug (he owned the majority of the league rather than investing it, so rather than just pulling his money out, he ended it). True, he wanted the app tech (and it's funny the NHL announced new plans for puck tracking the day after he ended the AAF. Looks a tad too suspicious.
Anyways, not counting current outlays, the XFL apparently has $750 million that Vince McMahon has pulled from WWE either for himself or straight into Alpha.
That's a huge war chest that the AAF lacked. That money can get a lot of attention. And instead of a pay-to-play scheme to get on CBS and NFL Network, where the AAF was paying for production and placement and collecting the revenues split two ways, XFL is looking for a more traditional rights fee. And with that kind of money I don't think networks are expecting low attendance like the AAF suffered (despite having moderately good ratings for what they did promote).
Secondly, original XFL 1.0 had $100 million invested between NBC and WWE. Each put up $50 million, and total loss between the two in year 1 was $70 million ($30 million of revenue). A lot of that was the XFL's use of those giant state-of-the-art video boards in each stadium and things like the X-Cam that were cutting edge and not cheap at all. And a ton of money in marketing, which did lead to better ticket sales in a lot of markets (LV, NY, Orlando, SF especially).
The AAF might have actually helped the XFL in one other regard, and that is to avoid Memphis and Birmingham like the plague. With teams already there, they weren't moving in. Every new league wants to go there due to their status of size vs. lack of NFL teams. You can throw Orlando and San Antonio in there as the Four Horsemen of the Defunct League Apocalypse.
They've gone a bit different. Hit two major media markets (LA and NY), two football hotbeds (Dallas and Houston), two bustling, growing, high-money markets (Seattle and DC), TB (for Florida that's basically a shoe-in for one of these leagues), and St. Louis, who should reap some of the anti-NFL resentment for moving the Rams.
XFL is also really relying on the whole "football doesn't end in February" manra much more literally than the AAF. Who only had Arizona and Atlanta as true 'markets where football doesn't end'. The rest were either always-the-bridesmaids-never-the-brides (the four horsemen), or ex-spouses who hate NFL (San Diego). The only real shock was Salt Lake City.
XFL has better markets, major markets, and is looking to go the 'we're not the NFL, and our fans are going to be fans who like football, that are just fed up with the holier-than-thou NFL.
The big question is media availability, ticket prices (some big and little stadiums, who knows how crowds will be), and VM's willingness to lose money and sit on the sidelines if things aren't peachy through the first money-eating season.
