XFL: Not gonna watch but like some of the rules differences with NFL

[nickagneta]

https://www.espn.com/espn/story/_/id/28635263/inside-xfl-rules-schedule-rosters-salaries-more-2020-season

The NFL has been trying to speed up the game for years. How will the XFL do it?

It has emphasized a reduction of time between plays. There will be an eighth official on the field whose only job is to spot the ball. Once spotted, a 25-second play clock will begin. The XFL estimates there will be an average of 32 seconds between plays. The game clock will run after incompletions and plays in which the ball went out of bounds -- until less than two minutes remain in each half. The league has also experimented with inserting speakers into every helmet so plays can be called while players approach the line of scrimmage.

Coaches will also have two timeouts per half, rather than three, and halftime has been cut to 10 minutes. Finally, there will be no coin tosses. The home team will choose whether to kick off or defer at the start of the game, and the visitors will have the choice in overtime.

How does overtime work?

It'll be different from the NFL, for sure. If teams are tied at the end of regulation -- and for reasons we'll soon discuss, that's unlikely -- there will be an overtime period that the XFL estimates will take no longer than seven minutes. Each team will get five one-play possessions to score from the 5-yard line and will continue playing until someone is mathematically eliminated.

Why is overtime unlikely?

The XFL has instituted three post-touchdown options that would give teams more opportunities to win in regulation. There are no extra point kicks. Instead, teams will have the option to go for one point from the 2-yard line, two points from the 5-yard line or three points from the 10-yard line. "Having a nine-point touchdown option in the fourth quarter can be significant," Luck said.

What will teams likely do with those points-after options?
"We don't know," said Sam Schwartzstein, the XFL's director of football operations and point person on the rulebook. The league has supplied coaches with data that projected conversion rates of 50% from the 2-yard line, 30% from the 5 and 20% from the 10.

"If all situations are equal, the most efficient option over time is to go for two points," Schwartzstein said.

One coach, Schwartzman said, planned to go for three points after defensive touchdowns to capitalize on perceived momentum.

So has the XFL eliminated kicking?

No. There are still punts and kickoffs, with disparate views of each. The XFL wants kickoff returns but has disincentivized punts in hope that more teams will go for it on fourth down.

Kickoffs have been reimagined to move most players down the field so that they aren't hitting each other at full speed. The kicker will kick off from the 30-yard line, 5 yards further back from the NFL, in an effort to limit touchbacks. And most players will line up across from each other between the other 30- and 35-yard line and can't move until the returner catches the ball.

Meanwhile, the XFL hopes to discourage teams from attempting to pin opponents deep with a punt. Balls that go into the end zone or out of bounds will be marked at the 35-yard line, as opposed to the 20 in the NFL. And if a team does punt, it will be more difficult to cover. No one on the punt team can run downfield until the ball is kicked. The XFL estimates that will give returners at least 4 additional yards of space to work with.

Will there will be replay review?

Yes, but it will be modeled off the college system. Only the replay official can stop the game. Coaches can't challenge, but if they call a timeout that leads to a review and a reversal, they will get the timeout back. The standard for review, according to XFL officiating chief Dean Blandino, is a play that has "significant competitive impact in the outcome of the game."

Video officials will also have the authority to get involved in matters of player safety, such as a missed roughing the passer foul. Finally, in the final five minutes of the fourth quarter, the replay official can act as a sky judge and either throw a flag or reverse a penalty call in significant situations that fall outside the normal list of reviewable plays.

[Donoghus]

Sky Judge is something the NFL needs to do. I know the defunct AAF was using this concept last year.

All the other items mentioned seem a bit too gimmicky to me. 

[RPGenerate]

I think the best way for this new XFL to succeed is to market it as a sort of feeder league which gives college prospects an alternative to the corrupt NCAA. Straight out of high school, you can get paid an actual contract and the money you make from endorsements. After three years, you can get drafted to an NFL team.

[nickagneta]

Sky Judge is something the NFL needs to do. I know the defunct AAF was using this concept last year.

All the other items mentioned seem a bit too gimmicky to me.

I also liked:

- The extra official, who's only job is to spot the ball, and cutting down the play clock to 25 seconds

- Making every player have headsets to make calling plays happen faster

- Only stopping the clock for out of bounds plays in the final two minutes of a half

- Only needing one foot down for a completion

Don't think these are gimmicky and would improve the length of game and amount of downtime problem between plays.

I do want to see how not being able to run downfield until the kicker kicks it on punts and kickoffs plays out.

Hate the OT and points after TD rules. They are awful

[gift]

I like pretty much all of these ideas. I also liked the old XFL rule where I believe two guys raced toward the ball in order to determine the first possession. Are they doing something like that instead of a coin toss?

[nickagneta]

I like pretty much all of these ideas. I also liked the old XFL rule where I believe two guys raced toward the ball in order to determine the first possession. Are they doing something like that instead of a coin toss?

Nope. Just home team selects to receive or defer to start the game. Kinda stupid. Coin tosses happen prior to games and don't take up TV time unless it's the playoffs or SB. Just keep the coin toss.

[Donoghus]

I like pretty much all of these ideas. I also liked the old XFL rule where I believe two guys raced toward the ball in order to determine the first possession. Are they doing something like that instead of a coin toss?

I'm guessing they nixed that due to player safety.  Didn't one of the guys get hurt on that play in the very first XFL game?

[gift]

I like pretty much all of these ideas. I also liked the old XFL rule where I believe two guys raced toward the ball in order to determine the first possession. Are they doing something like that instead of a coin toss?

I'm guessing they nixed that due to player safety.  Didn't one of the guys get hurt on that play in the very first XFL game?

Oh, I'm not sure. I never watched. I just liked the idea. I also liked the nicknames on the jerseys. That's about all I remember of the old XFL.

[greg683x]

i heard they were also doing some kind of two-forward pass per play rule as well.

i get theyre trying to be different and innovative but this idea is awful

[bdm860]

I know almost nothing about football other than the basics, but I know about Vince McMahon.  Does anybody think this will succeed?

IIRC, a lot of this sounds similar to the original XFL.  Going for 1-3 points after a touchdown was in the original XFL, shorter play clocks too.  The league owned all the teams back then too (something I think is a negative). 

Player salaries have barely increased from 20 years ago.  Back in 2001 XFL, QB's made $5,500 per week, kickers made $3,500, all others made $4,500.  So that was an average salary of $45,000 in 2001, up to only $55,000 now?  The major problem last time was talent.  Is the talent going to be there now if the inflation adjusted pay has gotten worse?

Also I've heard/read that Vince wanted/promised real (but more in your face) football the first time around, but got more gimmicky and dug into the pro wrestling carny bag of tricks as the season went on and the league was clearly struggling.  Will this same stuff happen the second time around if the league struggles again?  This is also why I think the league needs individual team owners, because Vince is notoriously stubborn, and really only knows wrestling (and many think has been completely out of touch even with wrestling the last 20 years), need other strong voices that he can't just bully.


The big miss here I think though is the XFL seems to be following the same format hurting all other sports league (including his sports entertainment league) and will slowly die out: broadcast/cable TV and commercials.  If you want an upstart league to succeed, find a way to stream it and cut out the majority of commercials (think about how quickly Olympic basketball games fly by without TV timeouts and all those commercial break and timeouts that actually last only a minute).  WWE already has success with their own streaming network: they should be looking to expand that and add football (and other sports), or reach an agreement with Netflix or Hulu or YouTube, etc. That's the future.  Broadcasting games on ESPN and FOX is not.

[Donoghus]

Sounds like RIP to the XFL....again.

https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2020/04/10/xfl-lays-off-all-employees-suspends-operations/

[Moranis]

Sounds like RIP to the XFL....again.

https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2020/04/10/xfl-lays-off-all-employees-suspends-operations/

Now maybe there is more than in that article, but that article has a lot of guessing and supposition that the XFL is done.  I don't think laying off employees says that one way or the other given the current pandemic.  Lots of businesses are laying off their employees and closing down.  Doesn't mean they won't re-open at some point in the future. 

[nickagneta]

Sounds like RIP to the XFL....again.

https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2020/04/10/xfl-lays-off-all-employees-suspends-operations/

Now maybe there is more than in that article, but that article has a lot of guessing and supposition that the XFL is done.  I don't think laying off employees says that one way or the other given the current pandemic.  Lots of businesses are laying off their employees and closing down.  Doesn't mean they won't re-open at some point in the future.

An ESPN article quoted an unnamed high ranking staffer saying that the league is essentially done.

https://www.espn.com/xfl/story/_/id/29021347/xfl-suspends-operations-lays-employees-no-plans-return-2021

[Donoghus]

Sounds like RIP to the XFL....again.

https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2020/04/10/xfl-lays-off-all-employees-suspends-operations/

Now maybe there is more than in that article, but that article has a lot of guessing and supposition that the XFL is done.  I don't think laying off employees says that one way or the other given the current pandemic.  Lots of businesses are laying off their employees and closing down.  Doesn't mean they won't re-open at some point in the future.

Sure.  You can ping us when it comes back. 

[Donoghus]

XFL files for bankruptcy.

https://twitter.com/darrenrovell/status/1249766388035616771