Another spring football milestone

When the United States Football League ended its 2022 campaign, it became the first professional outdoor spring league to complete a full season since the 2001 XFL. Its return in 2023 means not since the 1991-92 World League of American Football has a springtime play-for-pay circuit featuring North American franchises made it to year two.

Both of those achievements are significant – historically and businesswise.

And now, the third version of the XFL gets to do a bit of bragging, too.

Its 2023 regular season is in the books, and the circuit is two playoff contests and a championship game away from matching its prototype in longevity.

And if it comes back in 2024 – and there’s no reason at the moment to think it won’t – perhaps it’s time we start believing that spring football might actually have a future.

After feeling last year like I was aging out of alternative football, I find myself happily drawn back in. And I think part of it is because the people behind the USFL and XFL stand behind their products.

To make a bridge league (or leagues) between college football and the NFL successful, you have to have money, vision and patience. Both FOX Sports (USFL) and Dany Garcia, Dwayne Johnson and RedBird Capital Partners (XFL) appear to have all three.

Paying bills is a really solid business practice, and their ability to do it gives them more credibility than many leagues that have come before. Teams aren’t folding in the middle of the week, and players don’t worry about their checks bouncing.

And speaking of players, these guys are good. There are those who put some sort of imaginary cap on how much talent is available to stock pro football teams in any given year, but there’s plenty.

“If you’re telling me we don’t have guys who can play (in the NFL), you’re crazy,” St. Louis Battlehawks coach Anthony Becht said following his team’s final game of the season last weekend. “Some of these guys deserve to get another shot. I’ll continue to grind and continue to build this thing, and I hope I lose a lot of players to the next level to be quite frank, because they deserve it.”

Daryl Johnston, president of the USFL, seconds that emotion.

“We had (2022 USFL MVP) KaVontae Turpin sign a three-year deal with the Dallas Cowboys, and multiple players got on 53-man NFL rosters last season,” he said. “And some got to stay on those rosters. That’s what we’re trying to accomplish for these young men, is to change the trajectory of their life by giving them the opportunity to be on one of those 53-man NFL rosters.”

Giving more players and more coaches opportunities to ply their trade is a win-win situation for all involved. You can pick any XFL or USFL contest and see real enthusiasm among the competitors.

In many ways, it’s like watching a college game (and most of these guys aren’t that far removed from college).

Ultimately, though, it comes downs to entertainment.

Do these leagues give fans reasons to watch – and keep watching?

I think they do.

There will always be people who feel compelled to compare non-NFL leagues with the NFL, but to me, that’s a waste of time (and kinda misses the point).

For example, just a few years ago a typical weekend for me involved covering a South Carolina High School League game on Friday, Georgia, Clemson or South Carolina game on Saturday, and Carolina Panthers game on Sunday.

Obviously, you had three vastly different tiers. So, from a talent standpoint, Sunday games topped Saturday games, and Saturday games bested Friday games.

But there were many times the most fun game to watch came on a Friday night in a tiny stadium with rickety bleachers.

Point being, the sustained entertainment value of these leagues is what will ultimately keep them in business or push them out. A big enough audience to get networks the ratings they desire and advertisers the most bang for their buck is key, along with the continuing desire of people to bet on games.

St. Louis is a unicorn in that it drew an average of 35,104 fans to its building this season; attendance for the rest of the teams in both leagues tops out in the teens. I’m guessing that’s the new normal.

But all XFL and USFL games are on television – every single one. And while fans aren’t packing stadiums, they’re becoming quite comfortable plopping on their couches and tuning in. And it’s good that they do, because football is an expensive game to produce. TV viewers have to be convinced the spring version of their favorite sport is more than a novelty because novelties wear off.

(The 2001 XFL averaged more than 23,000 fans per game, but TV ratings on NBC slipped to record lows as the 10-week regular season wound down. Thus, the network decided to bail once the contract was up, so the league folded).

Look, if you have a favorite team in the USFL, you probably think that league is better than the XFL, and vice versa. And there’s nothing wrong with a little trash talk.

Still, more leagues and more teams mean more jobs – not just for the people on the field but those working concessions, maintenance, security, etc.

You can hope your league succeeds without wishing the other fails (which is the equivalent of hoping people lose their jobs). Instead, enjoy all the choices you have.

Do that, and who knows? Maybe – just maybe – professional spring football can become a true success story.