{"id":24057,"date":"2023-07-13T17:37:53","date_gmt":"2023-07-13T21:37:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/?p=24057"},"modified":"2023-07-13T17:37:58","modified_gmt":"2023-07-13T21:37:58","slug":"cfl-usfl-xfl-fixing-spring-summer-football","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/xfl\/cfl-usfl-xfl-fixing-spring-summer-football\/","title":{"rendered":"CFL, USFL & XFL: FIXING SPRING & SUMMER FOOTBALL"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

BY ADAM GREENE<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have a spring and summer football problem and it\u2019s one that doesn\u2019t appear as if it will be fixed on its own anytime soon. There are people, history and egos involved and, as usually happens when issues like that arise, everybody suffers. In this case, the USFL and XFL are on thin ice and, while officially both leagues are slated to return in 2024, I\u2019m not sure they will. Or even can.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

USFL president of football operations Daryl Johnston, a former Dallas Cowboy and Super Bowl Champion himself, was asked why the USFL, in its second season, seemed to struggle to separate itself, television ratings wise, from its direct competitor \u2014 the Dwayne Johnson-owned XFL.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat was one of the more surprising things for me,\u201d Johnson told the Sports Business Journal<\/em><\/a>. \u201cYou put our game on television up against our competition, there is no competition. We are far superior in production value, far superior in on-air talent. Recognizable names, recognizable voices. We\u2019re pushing the envelope with all the technology we have\u2026 To me, to be on par with our competition from a ratings standpoint in Year Two, I\u2019m still trying to figure out; How did that happen? Because, our product, in my opinion, when I watch it, they\u2019re not even close.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Johnston, in that quote, proves one thing \u2014 he didn\u2019t watch the XFL at all. Because, in a lot of ways, it was far superior to the USFL. Well, maybe not a lot, but certainly in two ways \u2014 quarterbacks AJ McCarron and Ben DiNucci. Both those guys, in their 10\/11-game XFL stints, looked far superior to any quarterback the USFL has put on the field. The QB play overall was better, with McCarron, DiNucci, Quinten Dormady, Luis Perez (who played in the USFL last season) and Jordan Ta\u2019amu all completing 62.4 percent of their passes or better. Only four USFL QBs, Alex McGough (who was the best quarterback in the USFL this season), McLeod Bethel-Thompson (who came down from the CFL after leading the Toronto Argonauts to a Grey Cup title), Troy Williams and Case Cookus met or surpassed that mark. And if you watched Cookus play at all, then you know that completing 62.8 percent of his passes didn\u2019t make him \u201cgood.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

McCarron now should expect to end up on an NFL roster again if he so chooses. DiNucci is currently with the Denver Broncos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But this is the problem when you have three spring and summer football leagues. The product gets far too diluted and people like Johnston get deluded. The NFL currently has 32 franchises and every one of those teams has a 53-man roster and a 16-player practice squad. That\u2019s 2,208 players on NFL teams every week. All of those jobs are preferable to taking a single snap in one of the spring and summer leagues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The maximum a USFL player can make in a season is $74,000<\/a>, but that\u2019s just for players on the championship team. The average salary is $32,200 for an active roster player and $25,000 for practice squad guys.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The XFL pays less, around $60,000 a season including bonuses. To put that into perspective, a player on an NFL practice squad earns at minimum $12,000 a week. Now, I\u2019m not mathematician, but Siri tells me that comes out to $204,000 per regular season. The average NFL practice squad player actually makes<\/a> $207,000 a season with some guys collecting up to $20,600 a week based on their experience. That means a guy who never suits up on a gameday, who never wears a helmet outside of the practice field, will never have a football card produced, could make $350,200 on an NFL practice squad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Canadian Football League can be a little better<\/a>, with most players making between $60,000 and $100,000 a season. There are some exceptions with the quarterbacks, who obviously deserve it since the CFL is significantly more watchable than the USFL and XFL for that very reason. Zach Callaros of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers is apparently the league\u2019s highest paid player at $600,000 a season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To contrast that, the lowest paid quarterback in the NFL, Shane Buechle, No. 3 QB of the Kansas City Chiefs, made $660,000 last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So most of those 2,208 guys currently employed by the NFL have no reason to step over and suit up in one of these spring leagues other than simply their desire to actually play and not set new Fruit Ninja high scores on their Microsoft Surface tablets. The St. Louis Battlehawks\u2019 AJ McCarron made that call, forgoing a chance to cash some giant<\/a> NFL backup QB checks to starting, and being the best QB, in the XFL. It\u2019s admirable from a competitive standpoint, but McCarron made $1.2 million in 2021 as a backup for the Atlanta Falcons. Going from that to $60 grand is a tough sell for most human beings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The CFL has nine teams, each with 45 players. The USFL has eight franchises each with 52 players and the XFL eight squads with 51 players. That\u2019s 1,229 players outside of the NFL\u2019s 2,208. Guys that, for the most part, wouldn\u2019t be good enough to make that 2,208 cut. Having three different spring and summer leagues, all picking from that 1,200 non NFL player pool, is just too much. There\u2019s no way to put the best product on the field, and on our televisions, with that scenario.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, here\u2019s what I suggest \u2014 a merger not with any of these teams and the NFL, as Donald Trump attempted to do back in the 1980s and completely destroyed that version of the USFL in the process, but with each other. All these non-NFL leagues \u2014 the CFL, XFL and USFL should join together to form a North American Football League<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And the NFL could be involved too. They had their own spring league for years, first calling it the World League of American Football and then restricting it to NFL Europe and, because of that, consistently put a better NFL product on the field in the regular season. Three quarterbacks who started in NFLE (and probably wouldn\u2019t have made the NFL otherwise), started Super Bowls \u2014 Kurt Warner, Brad Johnson and Jake Delhomme. Two of those guys won the big game and one of them, Warner, is a Pro Football Hall of Famer. Former Amsterdam Admirals kicker Adam Vinatieri will probably join him at some point. You had guys like James Harrison, David Akers, John Kitna, Dante Hall and plenty of others all cut their teeth in the NFL\u2019s minor league before making one of the real franchise\u2019s rosters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Back then, the NFL allotted players from each of its franchises to NFL Europe. In my cross-league agreement here, only the NFL practice squad players would be exposed, and even then, only guys with three years of pro football experience or less (since the NFL changed the practice squad rules in 2020 so that vets could be on it). That move alone would add potentially 512 new players to the North American Football League Player pool.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How would you divide up the leagues?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well, you\u2019d have to respect that the CFL has been around, in some form, since the 1880s. But, just because they\u2019re the only seriously successful non-NFL football league currently operating doesn\u2019t mean they don\u2019t need the help. Since 1994, the CFL has had nine teams completely fold. If you go back to 1981, that number goes up to 11. Now, a few of them have returned, namely the Alouettes and the Roughriders, but considering the NFL has not seen a franchise fold since 1952 (the Dallas Texans), it\u2019s a problem. NFL teams are now worth hundreds of billions of dollars and it\u2019s the most lucrative sport on the planet, it\u2019s hard to see any NFL franchise ever closing up shop again. So, while the CFL might be OK, there\u2019s definitely room for improvement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I propose creating a single 20-team league, the aforementioned North American Football League, and splitting the teams up between two conferences \u2014 The Canadian Football Conference and the United States Football Conference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That keeps the CFL alive and combines the USFL and XFL into one single unit. And while I would argue that the XFL put a better product on the field this past season, the USFL is a much better name to build the conference from.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s how the conferences and the divisions would stack up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

CANADIAN FOOTBALL CONFERENCE<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

EAST DIVISION<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Toronto Argonauts<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Montreal Alouettes<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ottawa Redblacks<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hamilton Tiger-Cats<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Michigan Panthers<\/p>\n\n\n\n

WEST DIVISION<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Winnipeg Blue Bombers<\/p>\n\n\n\n

BC Lions<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Saskatchewan Roughriders<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Calgary Stampeders<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Edmonton Elks<\/p>\n\n\n\n

UNITED STATES FOOTBALL CONFERENCE<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

EAST DIVISION<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Birmingham Stallions<\/p>\n\n\n\n

New Orleans Breakers<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Memphis Showboats<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tampa Bay Bandits<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Philadelphia Stars<\/p>\n\n\n\n

WEST DIVISION<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Houston Gamblers<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Arlington Renegades<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Seattle Sea Dragons<\/p>\n\n\n\n

St Louis Battlehawks<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Los Angeles Xtreme<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alright, the first thing you\u2019ll notice is that the Michigan Panthers are playing in \u201cCanada\u201d in spite of being located in the USA. The second thing you\u2019ll notice is that the Tampa Bay Bandits didn\u2019t exist this past season and were converted to the Memphis Showboats and the third thing you\u2019ll pinpoint is the very existence of the Los Angeles Xtreme as a franchise, since they were not part of the XFL\u2019s return in 2020 or in 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To me, this merger is not only a merger of teams and leagues, but of history. The LA Xtreme, regardless of their absolutely ridiculous name, must be a part of it because they were the 2001 XFL Champions, the first and only XFL Champion until the Arlington Renegades claimed it in this past season. That 2020 year was cancelled due to COVID-19 and no team was crowned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To me, that says that both of those franchises, the Xtreme and the Renegades, must be present in this new league.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The USFL has three \u201cuntouchable\u201d teams, the Panthers being one, as they won the inaugural USFL Championship back in 1983. The Stars, based in Philadelphia and then Baltimore, won it in 1984 and 1985 before the league shut down due to Donald Trump, the New Jersey Generals owner at the time, and his attempt to force a merger<\/a> with the NFL by suing the league for anti-trust violations. The USFL \u201cwon\u201d the judgement and was awarded exactly three dollars<\/a>. Trump did not get his merger and the league folded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Stallions, of course, have won back-to-back USFL titles in the 2.0 iteration and, again, must be included. I picked the others based on their geography and history. All the franchises I didn\u2019t use, including a proposed CFL expansion Atlantic Schooners, could be added if and when the NAFL expands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Bandits would be built out of the Pittsburgh Maulers current roster, and the Xtreme from the DC Defenders. After that, the rest of the players from the defunct teams, plus the NFL practice squad players, all get dumped into a common draft pool. Every team\u2019s roster now expands to an NFL level 53 players plus a 16-player practice squad. The Panthers, at least until another Canadian team is added in expansion, play in the CFC simply because of geography.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The CFC could keep the CFL\u2019s current personnel rules, aka, The Game Rule Ratio<\/a> in its exact or a similar form. To make the USFC fair, you\u2019d have to implement something similar, maybe based on the state each team is located in and the NCAA college football programs located in that state or in border states. Frankly, that would just be a fan draw as former college stars who have struggled to make it in the NFL could be the defining presences on their local NAFL squad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you look at a team like the Memphis Showboats, they could bring in players from the University of Tennessee, Vanderbilt, Chattanooga, East Tennessee State, Middle Tennessee State, Tennessee State, Tennessee Tech, UT-Martin, Austin Peay, Carson-Newman and Tusculum. Teams like Tampa Bay and Los Angeles would have no trouble at all in adding talent from their particular states. A franchise like the Sea Dragons would probably have to be allowed to add from surrounding territories, but still, that adds Oregon, Idaho and Montana. There\u2019s plenty of professional talent that went to schools in those areas. Birmingham could probably just field an all former Alabama Crimson Tide and Auburn unit with a few UAB players tossed in and make it to the championship game again. I can already see Cam Newton in the Stallions uniform.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both the XFL and USFL played a 10-game season. The CFL plays a ridiculous 18-game season. We\u2019re splitting the difference to an old school NFL 14-game campaign, where every team plays their division opponents twice, plays three from their conference\u2019s other division once (based on the previous season\u2019s record) and three teams from the opposite conference (again, based on the previous year\u2019s final standings).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For instance, the Toronto Argonauts would play all the CFC East teams twice, then face off with the Blue Bombers, Lions and Roughriders once from the CFC West and the Stallions, Renegades and Breakers from the USFC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead of starting a week after the Super Bowl like the XFL did or in June as the CFL did, this league would kick off in mid March and be wrapped a few weeks before NFL training camp opens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The postseason would last four weeks, with six teams in each conference making it into the bracket. The four division winners in each conference would earn a first round bye. We\u2019d have a classic NFL style Wild Card weekend, based solely on the records, with the non division winners. Out of that, the lowest remaining seed plays at the higher in the division and championship rounds. The CFC Champion claims the Grey Cup. The USFC Champion gets the Chet Simmons Cup, named for the USFL\u2019s first commissioner from 1982. The title game, I\u2019m calling it the Adam Greene Trophy since I\u2019ve come up with the idea now, would be held at an alternating stadium in Canada and the USA every other year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What would the NFL get out of this deal and exposing its practice squad players to the wear and tear of a potential 18-game campaign? Well, they\u2019d get good players, better players and guys that have played professional football. It obviously mattered in the past or the NFL Europe wouldn\u2019t have been so successful in developing talent, especially at the QB position. In exchange, every NAFL contract would be voidable if a player joins an NFL team (but his right and NAFL contract would be reinstated if he gets cut). Meaning the NFL can use this entire new league and all 1,380 of its players as a free agent pool and training ground.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In all, it would be a much better product for both the fans that attend the games and the viewers at home and it will help build up a new and improved talent pool and path to the NFL. This is the perfect plan. You are all welcome.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Follow Adam Greene on Twitter <\/em>@TheFirstMan<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Connect with us our socials on <\/em>Twitter<\/em><\/a> and <\/em>Instagram<\/em><\/a> for the latest sports news, viral moments, betting odds and the occasional memes.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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