WORLD FOOTBALL LEAGUE 2000

I was most intrigued by your section dealing with “A New WFL”. I think it would be a great idea for the networks (NBC and Turner) to form their own league. For the amount of money that was paid for TV rights (by CBS, Fox and ABC/ESPN), and considering what the expansion fee was for the Cleveland Browns, it is almost cheaper to “buy” (create) a league.

If the entire league was under single (or joint-venture) ownership, it might even work better than the NFL or Major-League baseball. There, the league is more or less a loose association of 30 or so ego-driven bastards who are not only trying to win on the field, but also on the bottom line, almost to the point of screwing over the rest of the owners (i.e. Jerry Jones, Al Davis, George Steinbrenner, Irsay, Modell, et als).

Some may ask, though: If the league is entirely owned by the networks, who runs the individual teams? What engenders competition? I assume that the league can hire general managers and assign them to the twelve teams, and they will in turn hire coaches and such. Performance-based financial incentives would be the basis for each team (from the GMs down to the players) building a winning football team. As I understand it, this procedure is more or less in place for NFL Europe, with the NFL owning and running the franchises.

Another problem area is that in all previous “rival” leagues, the biggest problem for owners (and biggest boon for players) were “bidding wars” for star players. Usually, it would help to bankrupt the owners, but it may not be such a problem if the network(s) own this league. In fact, the “bidding wars” might present almost a self-balancing cyclical formula: the more stars they sign, the better the league’s ratings should be, so the more the network can charge advertisers, and thus the more money they (the league/network) can shell out to pay for stars.

Finally, your suggestions for member cities mentioned “No current NFL locations”. That makes sense in terms of fan loyalty and to some degree gate receipts, but it may be a tough situation for a league created by and for TV interests. Unfortunately, the NFL has locked up most of the larger TV markets.

The general thinking in putting a team in a large TV market is that with all NFL games televised, that TV market is sure to get at least half of its home team’s games (the away games), which ostensibly is a bigger draw. As an example, I live in New Orleans, and when the Saints are away, I would rather watch them play than say, San Diego vs. Detroit. I am also more likely to watch them play than do some other activity (such as taking a Sunday drive). Someone in a non-NFL city like San Antonio, however, has to watch either a “marquee” matchup (San Francisco, Denver, etc.) or the closest team (the Cowboys). Not as attractive—but then again, it was shown that NFL viewership has actually gone up in the L.A. area since their teams moved away, so maybe the traditional thinking is all wrong.

But I’m sure I’m telling you stuff you already know, so back to the point. I liked most of your suggestions for locations, but some I think were off the mark and needed replacing, for various reasons which I will elaborate on. Your suggestions (and my comments) are placed west to east:

Okay, so we’ll toss out Tulsa, Shreveport, Memphis and Birmingham. Let’s say we keep Honolulu as a token Green Bay or Jacksonville-type and as a fun road game for players (Plus, I like the Honolulu Hawaiians name and logo). Here are my suggestions for replacement sites:

I like the idea of using the old WFL designs and colors where possible—the world seems to be on a retro-seventies kick these days, and someone has to break the chain of teal, black and silver.

The name/location changes seem to fit well, too. Sacramento is on the river of the same name and still has steamboats as “historical” attractions (they delivered gold to (and prospectors from) San Francisco!). “Express” and the train logo ties into Promontory Point, Utah, where they finished the transcontinental railroad. Las Vegas, in fact, already had an arena league team called the “Sting”, which fits well into gambling parlance. “Americans”, of course, fits into Boston history (and is a bit of a Patriots rip-off, but why not?). As for Virginia Flames, hey, the “V” on the logo fits for Virginia and the flame has something to do with liberty or freedom or something colonial like that. And the bear logo from the Memphis Southmen/Grizzlies was left over, so I gave it to Columbus. If the franchise went to Raleigh-Durham, the original colors could be used along with “Southmen” or “Black Bears”. If the franchise is in the NY suburbs, then use the old Stars logo (maybe a different color scheme).

I was also giving thought on how to best market such a league what kind of “angle” or gimmick might be used? I eliminated spring football and wacky rule changes. The regional draft idea of the USFL was pretty interesting, but if I remember correctly, it really didn’t work as planned other than sending Reggie White to the Showboats. Finally, I came upon a marketing ploy that might work.

What is one of the biggest complaints/problems with the NFL today? It is what some pundits called “the stadium game”. The new, suite-oriented stadiums produce a large source of revenue which owners do not share with the league, and are the single largest reason for the franchise shifts (and threatened franchise shifts) over the last twenty years. TV markets do not matter to the individual owner, as TV revenues are shared equally-- Green Bay gets the same share as each NY team. Meanwhile, as the owners work on improving their stadium bottom line, the average fan is being increasingly priced out of the game by suites, personal seat licenses, club seats, etc. It is almost getting to be a game that only the rich can see in person.

Get where I am heading?

As WFL 2000 is created for and by TV, it will be run by TV. It will make the majority of its money through TV. Stadiums and ticket sales will be needed mainly to show people in the stands. Thus, WFL 2000 can forego the stadium game featured by the NFL. In fact, it will attack the “suite/money” mentality in its advertising and marketing. The league will market itself to the average Joe, the disgruntled fan who wants to sit in the stands (preferably in open air, cold, wet, whatever) and cheer on not only his team, but also an entertaining football game. Here are some marketing ideas:

Anyway, those are my thoughts. I hope you find them at least entertaining. Now that I’ve written them down and sent them off, I can stop “obsessing” (as my friend John calls it) and get some work done.