Don't think they ever got rid of it. It was done in their championship game.

-Pretty sure UFC wasn't around in the 70s and 80s when boxing was huge. In any case, its a niche market of its own. It certainly didn't steal enough market share to drop boxing from being the biggest sport in America to barely noticeable.

-Yea, that probably didn't help.

-Loss of elite athletes is a symptom of boxings decline. Its almost impossible for that to be the cause.

-Match fixing scandals didn't kill soccer or basketball or even appreciably wound them. Was it really that widespread in boxing?

The bolded is correct, the others are either wrong (#1) or to a lesser degree (3/4)

I think this thread highlights something about the NFL that a lot of fans either don't notice or choose to ignore: A lot of the rules make the game better. Stuff like pass interference and fair catches being part of the game are a big deal.

What it really boils down to is that penalties suck, and rules that give players an incentive to play with less intensity suck. When rules get put in place to make those things happen, people roll their eyes and talk about the NFL getting "wussified" or whatever.

Strict regulation is crucial for the league to remain viable long term. Without it, player injuries and safety issues just keep piling up and weighing the league down. As an extreme example of this take a look at the evolution of the UFC from its early wild west days to where it is now. Without it's massive increase in rules and regulations over time it probably wouldn't be here today, and even if it was it wouldn't be nearly as interesting.

The NFL needs to find a way to strike a balance between player safety and not penalizing players for making optimum plays. One of the rules that baffles me personally is running into the kicker. Yeah, we should protect the kickers and all that, but asking a guy to honestly give 100% intensity trying to block a punt or a field goal when he's going to draw a penalty if the kicker so much as feels a stiff breeze is pretty unrealistic.

Maybe the rule is necessary, but imo any rule that penalizes players for trying to make good/exciting plays should be looked at long and hard before it gets rolled out.

TBH it's a balance that a sport as rough as football is just never going to get 100% right.

Part of athleticism is controlled aggression. The pitcher doesn't throw a 4-seam fastball as hard as possibly can; he throws it as hard as he can accurately. The strike zone is a restraint on his raw aggression; his command of it is a testament to his skill and the source of our appreciation of it.

Good ideas don't need a "time". They make the current time their time.

I remember an episode of Full House where Stephanie made a cheese donut. She took 2 tasty delights and added them together to make, what you can only assume will be, a super tasty delight.

Nope. The sugar coating of the deapfried doughy NFL and the cheesy goo of the WWF did not work well together.

The XFL was a cheese donut.

According to the internet I'm wrong. This was the cheese donut:



I swear there was an episode where stephanie mixed 2 awesome things to make something gross though.

Can you guys move my posts to the SE Full House containment thread. Sorry for the derail.

Meh not always. In technology you see it alot. Like Apple has known that a hand held personal computing device was a great idea for decades. Remember the god awful Newton from like 1993?



It's basically the iPhone's ******ed great grandfather.

The idea was great, but the technology wasn't there yet, it took another 25 years before technology made the good idea feasible.

How this relates to the OP is that when the XFL launched, it's "harder edge" differences were pretty minor from regular NFL. But since then the NFL has and continues to go into the "soft" direction. In 20 years the NFL might resemble rough two hand touch. At that point a "hardcore" football league would be dramatically different and possible viable.

I'm mostly just pissed at how ridiculous football has gotten. Watching defenders get penalties for great plays or watching them be forced to play all hesitant and gun shy is just sickening.

Lol at you.

98% of hard hits still exist. Go jerk off to Unbelievable Bonecrushing Hits Vol. 4. About the most ******ed thing to reminisce about: Goddam I miss the days when more games had players getting carted off.

2018 ITT

So the NFL outlawed "dunking" the ball over the goalposts.

Save us XFL 2.0.

I think the lack of heavyweight winners from the US (+maybe the crazy pricing/PPV model...let alone the bazillion organizations/titles) led to the decline of boxing. Don't think the UFC rise was as bad for boxing as people think but it helps keeping it down now.

The XFL Is Reportedly Slated To Return In 2020

The NFL wasn't as popular as it is now when the XFL took them on in 2001.

Even if their ratings are going down, the league is still more profitable and more popular than it was 17 years ago.

Guess one can't blame Vince for taking another shot at it. The potential for profit has to be huge if his gamble pays off.

I mean, the XFL failed cuz the players were bad and the games were garbage. If they don’t get actual talent it’ll suck again and fail again

Counterpoint: cable networks are actually paying money to show Utah State vs. Fresno State at midnight. There is surely SOME market for this.

The market for this would want Kaep signed so he can cut heel promos during the national anthem while he takes a knee and puts on a black mask

Then manziel runs across the field to give him a stunner and drink beers while everyone in attendance chants U-S-A!

I think the bottom line is once the novelty wears off you aren't watching the best players in the world and that's all there is to it.

Would be surprised if this succeeds.

If the league is played during the summer, I can see the league surviving at least. If you can't win only competing against baseball, though...

I remember Vince showcasing the front page news of 25 million opening night viewers at wwe events for the remainder of the year, was pretty great.

Football as it's currently played has no future. To become safer would require cartoon-y pads and obstacles on he field. It would be cool if the XFL pursued this route.

I think it's one of those things like Ice Cube's 3ball or the XFL previously. It sounds fine on paper and you think it will work as a niche thing during the spring/dog days of summer, but then you see it and it's like ugh this sucks and 2 weeks later no one cares.

There's gonna be more scantily clad cheerleaders? Lol who cares, the internet has porn on demand.

There are going to be a few more monster hits over a 3 hour game? GL w/ that once someone gets paralyzed or 3 guys get carted off.

There is going to be more smashmouth OLD SCHOOL football? Lol @ anyone who thinks people don't love a passing league. Go watch a game from 20-30 years ago, it does not age well.

Seems ~0% to work given that as much as old men love yelling at clouds about how football is getting wussified, no one actually wants to watch low scoring games.

Yeh zero percent chance this succeeds the second time around. But whatever, I’ll gladly watch the dumpster burn

Is there any chance this is a bit of a grift? Get tons of money up front from owners to buy a team with no refunds when the league goes belly up in 3 years.