Come'on Man, How in the heck do you ask for 20M and you know they can't pay that. Why just not tell them no?


Colin Kaepernick reportedly wanted $20 million to play in upstart AAF
By CHUCK SCHILKEN
FEB 15, 2019 | 8:10 AM


https://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-colin-kaepernick-aaf-20190215-story.html

Colin Kaepernick is said to have a net worth of $20 million. He reportedly wanted to double that by playing in the Alliance of American Football.

The former NFL quarterback discussed playing for the upstart professional football league during its development stage but wanted at least $20 million to do so, according to the Associated Press.

Lindsay Jones of the Athletic also reported that Kaepernick talked with CEO Charlie Ebersol about possibly joining the league and that the AAF did not initiate the conversation.

Those talks apparently didn’t amount to anything, as the league made its debut last weekend without Kaepernick’s participation.

AAF players make $225,000 over three years. Kaepernick made nearly $40 million in his final three years with the San Francisco 49ers. He opted out of his contract following the 2016 season and hasn’t landed an NFL job since.

Sign up for our daily sports newsletter »
Kaepernick has filed a grievance against the NFL, saying the owners have colluded to keep him out of the league because of his protests against social injustice during the national anthem.

According to Jones, the AAF had similar discussions with other NFL veterans, including Tim Tebow, who currently is focusing on a baseball career.

...

They'd get waaaaaay more in sponsorship money if he played. He knows that. His agent knows that. And they know that. They just werent wiling to do it.

Twitter: http://twitter.com/djwadeo
Youtube: http://youtube.com/wadeoradio
Facebook: http://facebook.com/wadeoradio
The Gram: http://instagram.com/iamdjwadeo

My Free Podcast: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/wade-o-radio-weekly-podcast/id203426032?mt=

https://twitter.com/markgeragos/status/1096484109608722432

In a stunning move strongly signaling a financial settlement between Colin Kaepernick and the #NFL, Yahoo Sports has learned the QB has withdrawn his collusion complaint against the NFL. Sources previously said Kaepernick would only withdraw if a lucrative settlement was secured.

https://twitter.com/CharlesRobinson/status/1096484279310340097

https://twitter.com/McCannSportsLaw/status/1096487389659361280

Wouldn't be surprised if his legal team's strategy was just a picture of Osweiler throwing a ball three yards in front of him in the dirt with "WTF CMON" written in big letters.

holy shit lol
https://twitter.com/mikefreemanNFL/status/1096495453548564480

>holy shit lol
>https://twitter.com/mikefreemanNFL/status/1096495453548564480

Flawless Victory.

Of course he wanted to play again, but recognizing that he probably would not, this is a great ending for him.

Happy for dude.

The NFL settled because this way the deposition statements never get released. Meaning, there must have been some really damaging evidence against the NFL.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

..Context is crucial.

Kaep keeps on winning.


*skatin' the rings of saturn*


..and miles to go before i sleep...

.
.
“Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.” ~ Albert Einstein

"I cannot see how nature could have created itself. Only a supernatural force that is outside of space and time could have done that. ~ Francis Collins

..but you still think he was wrong to require $20 million from a league that wanted to use his name/likeness/story to help increase viewership and overall revenue. A league that just saw its new Chairperson invest an additional $250 million.

He never asked for a handout. He never said he couldn't feed his family. He simply wanted the right to continue his career in the NFL without prejudice.

Grow up, dude.


*skatin' the rings of saturn*


..and miles to go before i sleep...

Never heard of the AAF

Never cared about the AAF

...and here we are...

That's worth $$$.

Now that it's all over, allow me to say…I never liked Colin Kaepernick.

Protest was cool with me, all that is cool, whatever.

But I thought he got worse every year he was in the league.

And he seemed like an annoying douchebag.



But I will always owe him one for ruining the Green Bay Packers postseasons in Rodgers prime.

i was at the first game on MNF he started where he torched the Bears and knew Alex Smith would get benched the next day, was at the NFC championship game against Atlanta and the first game he knelt in the preseason. He was a heck of a lot better his last year in the league and definitely is better than a good portion of backups and some starters, but i was always team Alex. I was pissed he lost his job to Injury. What Kaep did with the protests though is incredibly admirable.

They played the Bears again his last year, in a truly awful NFL game. He was benched, deservedly, and the Bears won, somehow...as I said, both teams were awful.

iIsay that to say this, Kaep's stats from that last year were pretty good but if you watched the games, he was not someone you would want starting for your team. He just never seemed to be able to read defenses, and he threw the flattest, no-touch-having ball in the league. Still had a strong arm but that was about it.


I actually secretly fear that that is who Mitch Trubisky is going to end up as.

>I actually secretly fear that that is who Mitch Trubisky is
>going to end up as.

as long as Mitch Dogg ain't a total dumbass behind center he can at least Dilfer Out

>They played the Bears again his last year, in a truly awful
>NFL game. He was benched, deservedly, and the Bears won,
>somehow...as I said, both teams were awful.
>
>iIsay that to say this, Kaep's stats from that last year were
>pretty good but if you watched the games, he was not someone
>you would want starting for your team. He just never seemed to
>be able to read defenses, and he threw the flattest,
>no-touch-having ball in the league. Still had a strong arm but
>that was about it.
>
I was an ALEX RIGHT NOW guy, and Kaep later, a la Aaron Rodgers succeeding Favre. He was a great spark and helped them maintain, but Alex was playing THE best football of his career up to that point. He rushed Kaep and didn't allow him to develop like he should have. Kaep's initial success was from no one having film on him and his physical attributes. However, the team was not putting him in position to succeed as much as they were letting him Randall Cunningham out there.

I believe that team makes it to the Super Bowl with Alex and probably has an easier time winning it because we never get into those holes that we got in EACH GAME. Down to Green Bay, down to Atlanta, down to Baltimore. Not blaming Kaep, but you know Alex ain't blowing a game with his decisions and our defense was still the gods honest TRUTH.

When YOU the offensive genius make this move when you did, force the issue early, and have your prized pick decline in numbers each year, I lay that at your feet.

However, even mediocre subpar Kaep was leaps and bounds ahead of much of the trash that has been kicking up grass in NFL stadiums nationwide the past two years.

>>They played the Bears again his last year, in a truly awful
>>NFL game. He was benched, deservedly, and the Bears won,
>>somehow...as I said, both teams were awful.
>>
>>iIsay that to say this, Kaep's stats from that last year
>were
>>pretty good but if you watched the games, he was not someone
>>you would want starting for your team. He just never seemed
>to
>>be able to read defenses, and he threw the flattest,
>>no-touch-having ball in the league. Still had a strong arm
>but
>>that was about it.
>>
>I was an ALEX RIGHT NOW guy, and Kaep later, a la Aaron
>Rodgers succeeding Favre. He was a great spark and helped
>them maintain, but Alex was playing THE best football of his
>career up to that point. He rushed Kaep and didn't allow him
>to develop like he should have. Kaep's initial success was
>from no one having film on him and his physical attributes.
>However, the team was not putting him in position to succeed
>as much as they were letting him Randall Cunningham out
>there.
>
>I believe that team makes it to the Super Bowl with Alex and
>probably has an easier time winning it because we never get
>into those holes that we got in EACH GAME. Down to Green Bay,
>down to Atlanta, down to Baltimore. Not blaming Kaep, but you
>know Alex ain't blowing a game with his decisions and our
>defense was still the gods honest TRUTH.
>
>When YOU the offensive genius make this move when you did,
>force the issue early, and have your prized pick decline in
>numbers each year, I lay that at your feet.
>
>However, even mediocre subpar Kaep was leaps and bounds ahead
>of much of the trash that has been kicking up grass in NFL
>stadiums nationwide the past two years.
>

Harbaugh is and was terrible. His offensive system is a very complicated route to a delay of game penalty.

Watching Kaep play football the last couple years was pretty painful if you like football.

with happy feet


and he took an honorable position that he should be forever saluted for

not only would he have been the face of the league, but the chance of getting injured in that league and messing up his (theoretical) signing in the NFL means it would take a nice contract to be worth the risk



buuuut now that the nfl case is over i doubt fans would care

and I have no idea why anyone who isn't a fucking shitbrick would have a problem with that.


www.engadgethd.com - the other stuff i'm looking at

especially some shit that will probably go belly up in a few years

americans only care about 2 football leagues (nfl and ncaa)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owcy1tnNSRk

Anti-gentrification, cheap alcohol & trying to look pretty in our twilight posting years (c) Big Reg
http://Tupreme.com

Anti-gentrification, cheap alcohol & trying to look pretty in our twilight posting years (c) Big Reg
http://Tupreme.com

https://twitter.com/SarahSpain/status/1096599625967063044

>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owcy1tnNSRk

they sought out THIS repeated offender and not kicked out of the league motherfucker for comment? Been church mouse quiet and NOW he says something???

he sounds like them concussions have taken effect. Kaep did NOT turn down a $20 million deal with the AAF. And why do motherfuckers keep saying he "sold out" when he got precisely what he was seeking in a LABOR DISPUTE??

motherfuckers sound as dumb as the butthurts who said he was disrespecting the flag.

TMZ is to blame for this. He's the same idiot, with our without a mic or a camera.

Peoples be dumb

>Peoples be dumb

People want you to be woke and broke I guess?If you have money, it somehow makes you ‘less woke’ in some circles? It’s embarrassing. And duh, this was a money and control/power issue the whole time. The anthem/flag and police brutality were accessories.

And sadly, we’re still not talking about police brutality enough for my taste. It’s so much easier to chase athletes around and wait for one of them to do or say something to tick off average Americans. Ick.

The NFL forking over money is a big deal, right? Where are all of the think pieces now? Talking head hot takes? Are we not getting it because of the off-season? Did the NFL isssue a STFU to media powerhouses on the matter?

>>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owcy1tnNSRk
>
>they sought out THIS repeated offender and not kicked out of
>the league motherfucker for comment? Been church mouse quiet
>and NOW he says something???
>
>he sounds like them concussions have taken effect. Kaep did
>NOT turn down a $20 million deal with the AAF. And why do
>motherfuckers keep saying he "sold out" when he got precisely
>what he was seeking in a LABOR DISPUTE??
>
>motherfuckers sound as dumb as the butthurts who said he was
>disrespecting the flag.
>
>TMZ is to blame for this. He's the same idiot, with our
>without a mic or a camera.
>

.
.
“Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.” ~ Albert Einstein

"I cannot see how nature could have created itself. Only a supernatural force that is outside of space and time could have done that. ~ Francis Collins

Why not get in when it doesn't cost you billions?


The Pros and Cons of Sports Investing
https://www.investopedia.com/articles/fundamental-analysis/12/pros-cons-investing-sports.asp
BY STEPHAN A. ABRAHAM Updated Jan 9, 2018
Investors in these uncertain economic times are looking for stability and predictability. So consider this investing proposition: You have a chance to invest in businesses that have been around since the 1920s and are growing in popularity. These companies have an intensely loyal consumer base. In some areas of the country there is a waiting list of years to purchase products. Most rational investors would argue this is a compelling value proposition.


The industry that I am referring to is professional sports, particularly its franchises and ancillary businesses. This seems like a slam dunk of an investment theme; however, to quote ESPN football analyst Lee Corso: "Not so fast, my friend!" It is true that professional sports leagues, and their derivative businesses such as athletic apparel and media conglomerates, have become a multi-billion-dollar industries, but these businesses are not risk-free and in many ways can be more risky than traditional businesses. Today, we will look at the pros and cons of investing in big-time sports. (See also: Value Investing.)


The Pros
In economics, demand (or "final demand") is defined as the ability and the desire to purchase goods and services. Professional and college sports programs strike a strong emotional chord with their audiences. There aren't a lot of companies that can claim a higher brand loyalty to their businesses than big-time athletics. Typically, this means their dollars will follow their hearts. The National Football League (NFL) tends to market toward a more affluent or "able" customer base; an affluent family of four can easily spend over $1,000 while attending a single sporting event. If this family attends 10 events per year, well, you get the picture.


Likewise, people spend serious money renovating entire rooms of their homes to show support for their favorite teams and players. Professional and collegiate sports have also successfully adapted to the ever-changing technological landscape that is part of our daily lives. Viewing of live sporting events on mobile devices is growing rapidly, as well as on satellite radio and pay-per-view showings. All of these distribution channels are revenue drivers for these businesses.

In fact, the NFL started its own television network where it can realize more of the advertising revenue, instead of sharing with traditional networks (FOX, CBS, NBC and EPSN, among others). The networks charge premium prices that their loyal customers, and sponsors are willing and able to pay. How many people thought there would ever be an around-the-clock golf or tennis channel?


Another tremendous advantage these major sports leagues have is lack of competition. It's simply a tough nut to crack, or as economists would claim, there are too many "barriers to entry" to compete with Major League Baseball, European soccer or the National Football League. There have been some attempts to challenge these leagues, but all have failed. Some sports leagues are also protected by anti-competition legislation.


The NFL in the U.S. has a special antitrust exemption. How many businesses can make a similar claim? One would suspect that is a very short list. Finally, these businesses enjoy repeat business. Most people don't just own one T-shirt of their favorite team, they own several. Many families pass down season tickets to their children, instilling further brand loyalties for future generations.

The Cons
Sports teams and leagues are not immune from economic shocks. Demand for sports entertainment depends on the overall economic climate. The recent, prolonged weakness in the economy has hurt attendance at many sporting events. but most average Americans view sports as good entertainment that can be enjoyed when there is extra income to spend.

From an economist's perspective, demand for attending sporting events is elastic. In other words, a change in someone's income (downward) or a change in the products costs (ticket prices upward), will have a material impact on final demand (ticket, merchandise and pay-per-view sales). These are the hard economic facts about why sports investments can be risky, but perhaps less apparent are the exogenous or human factors that investors should be attuned to that present at least equivalent business risk. (See also: Why We Splurge When Times Are Good.)

It seems that every day we hear about a sports scandal more sensational or unbelievable than the day before. Make no mistake, these scandals hurt business and at times present irreparable damage to reputations. Tiger Woods' extramarital affairs caused NBC's golf ratings to take a significant hit. Allegations of sexual abuse at Penn State University not only hurt the school's reputation, but apparel sales dropped significantly as a result. Incidents such as the one where NBA players jumped into the crowd and brawled with fans (or "customers"), harms the reputation of the NBA brand.

Furthermore, greed is everywhere in these businesses: Stars in these leagues make much more annually than the average consumer. The point here is that these businesses present risks to investors that are not traditionally part of business. If employees of a major corporation went on strike, the company's stocks would most likely get hammered in the short term. If the CEO of a blue-chip company decided he wasn't going to report to work for months, or hold out for more money, these companies would face serious repercussions from investors. (See also: Stocks Basics: What Causes Stock Prices to Change?)

The Bottom Line
Investing in sporting franchises and the associated ancillary companies that benefit from the multi-billion-dollar sports business can be an appealing and profitable proposition. High consumer demand, pricing power and lack of competition are critical success and survival advantages that big-time sports leagues and teams command. It is also important to realize that these businesses have unique risks. So, the next time you are at a sporting event, look at the ancillary businesses that support your favorite team and see if they make sense in your financial playbook.

Also realize that sports entertainment is generally considered a "luxury" and is subject to the economics laws of elasticity. The same human or emotional factors that attract us to spend our dollars on their product can quickly sour due to unforeseen events.



.
“Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.” ~ Albert Einstein

"I cannot see how nature could have created itself. Only a supernatural force that is outside of space and time could have done that. ~ Francis Collins

He may as well flush that money down the toilet.

.
.
“Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.” ~ Albert Einstein

"I cannot see how nature could have created itself. Only a supernatural force that is outside of space and time could have done that. ~ Francis Collins

Buying into a pro football league that's not going to be around in a few years is not one of the better ones.

>Buying into a pro football league that's not going to be
>around in a few years is not one of the better ones.

Diversifying funds and creating revenue streams with major tax breaks is always a good thing.



.
.
“Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.” ~ Albert Einstein

"I cannot see how nature could have created itself. Only a supernatural force that is outside of space and time could have done that. ~ Francis Collins

Pro football leagues that aren't the NFL don't really do very well. Arguably the most successful (since the NFL-AFL merger in the late 60's) has been the Arena Football League and they've gone through multiple leaguewide reorganizations in the last decade and has never really taken off as more than a niche sport.

>Diversifying funds and creating revenue streams with major tax
>breaks is always a good thing.


Let’s look at this...

The USFL was the only league that did okay outside of the NFL (here in the USA), in part because they had access to top talent coming out of college. People actually watched the games. I did believe that the NFL played a major part in the undoing of that league.

So with that said this league ain’t gonna be around for too long. If that don’t fill up the stadiums and don’t get high ratings then I see them around two years tops. No one is even talking about that league. All in all it would be a very bad investment.

has a lot of history and is downright impossible to break.

But if the option is so fruitless, why do you think people keep trying to develop a non-competing option for NFL quality football?




.
.
“Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.” ~ Albert Einstein

"I cannot see how nature could have created itself. Only a supernatural force that is outside of space and time could have done that. ~ Francis Collins

merge with the NFL (if not the whole league, then at least some teams.) The XFL didn't have individual team owners, it was all owned by NBC (who had recently lost the NFL and discovered, like CBS before them, that the only thing worse than paying through the nose for the NFL is NOT having it at all and wanted to televise pro football they could control) and WWF/E (because every time there is a boom for pro wrestling, Vince McMahon thinks he can expand into something else only to fall on his face doing it.)

I still don't know what the UFL was trying to do, it just sort of came and went.

People see that Americans like football and think "how can I make money off of it" not realizing that Americans don't like the sport of football like that. The NFL is the sport at it's highest level and dominates sports media landscape. College (and high school) football is tribal as hell and ties into people's youth and sense of loyalty like no other American sport does.

The AAF has neither of these things, and it's going to meet the same fate as those other leagues.

Dang shame what they did to that dog.

I mean you're all probably right. But hey nothin ventured, nothing gained.

And needed a $250 million investment just to make it. This thing's not getting a second season.

https://www.si.com/nfl/2019/02/19/aaf-money-problems-tom-dundon-investment?utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&xid=socialflow_twitter_si&utm_campaign=sinow&__twitter_impression=true&__twitter_impression=true

The Alliance of American Football is only a few weeks old and already it has encountered the biggest problem that plagues most startup leagues.

According to a report from The Athletic, the AAF despite a good ratings debut, was running low on cash with the possiblity of missing payroll before its second weekend of play.

But then Carolina Hurricanes owner Tom Dundon stepped up and made a $250 million investment in the league. With the new infusion of funds on hand, Dundon will reportedly be named the league's new chairman on Tuesday.

Dundon paid $420 million for the Hurricanes in January 2018.

“Without a new, nine-figure investor, nobody is sure what would have happened,” a source told the Athletic. “You can always tell people their checks are going to be a little late, but how many are going to show up on the weekend for games when they don’t see anything hit their bank accounts on Friday?”

The AAF, which has been billed as a way for former NFL players and coaches to get another shot in the game, has eight teams in Atlanta, Birmingham, Memphis, Orlando, Salt Lake City, San Antonio, San Diego and Tempe. The league is scheduled to have a 10-week regular season before it has its championship game on April 27.

>Dundon paid $420 million for the Hurricanes in January 2018.
>

Who in their right mind pays that type of money for an upstart team in an upstart league?

Though it's fair to ask if an NHL team in Raleigh is worth that much.

The key here is NHL. They’re a known entity, so paying that to get a new franchise is understandable. That is not what you should spend your dough on in a fresh new league that is having problems with payroll right out the gate. If the league folds after one or two seasons (which is very possible) then that would not be a sound investment.

and someone who can write off $250 mill and not flinch.

You must be a Texas fan

>You must be a Texas fan

Okay dude let’s reel it in for a sec.

First off my point is that the league needs talent or a name to help make the games watchable. As someone pointed out is that when the Super Bowl is over then generally everyone is done watching the sport.

If this new league is going to get any type of attention then they need fresh talent and not old NFL rejects. The USFL was watchable because Herschel was there... a major college star. Murray as I stated would easily be the best QB in that “crappy” league. He could get some reps and develop some more in situations that don’t involve that much pressure because no one really cares about the outcome of these games. Murray would essentially be the face of the league. Yes he’d make less money, but I do believe that the A’s are still going to be paying him so he’ll be fine.

>has a lot of history and is downright impossible to break.
>
>But if the option is so fruitless, why do you think people
>keep trying to develop a non-competing option for NFL quality
>football?
>

I believe that there is a large amount of people that would love to see the NFL fall. So attempts are made to see if they can create a league to topple the NFL. It has gotten worse since Goddell took over as commissioner. This new league doesn’t pay players enough to crossover. With all of these players who say that the owners have a slave mentality, they won’t think about going to this new league because they don’t give out NFL type paychecks.

The only way I see an entity taking viewership away from the NFL is the run their season the same time that the NFL starts their season. To also get prime time slots on major networks with comparable ratings. Also get the top talent out of college and not players that aren’t good enough to play in the NFL.

For instance... Murray should consider playing in this new league. He’s too small to be a NFL QB. This new league could help him flourish to be a top player, something that I don’t ever see him becoming in the NFL.

for this league?

Dude is about the same size as Brees.

I think this league is going to be a development league for the NFL and a decent alternative for players who didn’t make the NFL but don’t want to go to Canada to play.

>for this league?
>
>Dude is about the same size as Brees.
>
>I think this league is going to be a development league for
>the NFL and a decent alternative for players who didn’t make
>the NFL but don’t want to go to Canada to play.


Yeah but I don’t see Brees potential.

You may see it as a development league, but they don’t view it that way. My point on Murray is that he could actually star in that league. The one thing that made the USFL watchable is that they were able to get some star college players. In a league that small, he could easily be the best QB.

and let’s be real.

Bree’s wasn’t anything special until his last year when they drafted Rivers and then he and Sean Peyton made magic.

If Murray gets an Andy Reid type offense minded coach he can flourish. It really comes down to a coach not forcing Murray to be what he isn’t and playing to his strengths.

Exactly because they were getting some good players to play there.

No matters what your comments are about Brees, he’s going into the HOF.

Murray will have to be in a system that will suit him. I see him in the AAF as a star player and would probably be the top player there. Whereas in the NFL even if he is in the perfect system, he won’t be the top player.

Dude was small and still succeeded but he didn’t shine right out the gate.

There are tons of terrible QB’s on the NFL too. More than enough room for Murray to carve out a spot and be a star.

https://www.thescore.com/news/1719635

Why wouldn't Kaep invest in this league, Ceej??

Sadly, its apparent he does not.

.
.
“Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.” ~ Albert Einstein

"I cannot see how nature could have created itself. Only a supernatural force that is outside of space and time could have done that. ~ Francis Collins

I don't know what I'm making yet, but hey, you won't see the rewards of whatever I create if you don't risk!

>I don't know what I'm making yet, but hey, you won't see the
>rewards of whatever I create if you don't risk!

I Got you SON!


.
.
“Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.” ~ Albert Einstein

"I cannot see how nature could have created itself. Only a supernatural force that is outside of space and time could have done that. ~ Francis Collins

"but I'm so fuckin dumb I don't wait to see if the players will actually get paid"

- case one

www.engadgethd.com - the other stuff i'm looking at

Look at you trying to be funny.

.
.
“Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.” ~ Albert Einstein

"I cannot see how nature could have created itself. Only a supernatural force that is outside of space and time could have done that. ~ Francis Collins

Especially with today's social media.
I think a ton of the problem is the visualdesign.
Seems kinda low quality,
they introduced some cutting edge concepts to football
yet the visuals dont seem to be cutting edge.
The uniforms are all bland.

If you want to watch football, you can watch either support your favorite school and watch young remarkable talent gun all Saturday, or you can watch the best talent in the world on Sunday and Monday night.

No one's out there going, "What I really want is to watch *more* football, but with none of the teams or players I recognize and a much lower quality of talent."

people will still watch this bc they like football, just like movie-goers will still go see a movie in a theater that sucks.

>people will still watch this bc they like football, just like
>movie-goers will still go see a movie in a theater that
>sucks.


.
.
“Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.” ~ Albert Einstein

"I cannot see how nature could have created itself. Only a supernatural force that is outside of space and time could have done that. ~ Francis Collins

And they have for over a century. People loved the earliest shitty movies, so they opened a studio to crank them out. That studio couldn't produce them fast enough, so more studios jumped into the game. There was demand from the consumer for even more shitty movies. Now studios crank out more shitty movies than ever, because more people than ever demand more and more shitty movies. Shitty movies are a very proven commodity.

There has been zero consumer demand for more football league, but rich people have tried to compete with the NFL several times regardless. USFL? Lasted a couple years. XFL? Lasted one season. UFL? What, two years? Arena Football League? It's still going, but it declared bankruptcy at the turn of the decade and had to pare down dramatically just to remain afloat. AAF already has had trouble paying their players and it's been, what, a few weeks?

It'd be one thing if the NFL opened and people all agreed, "We love professional football so much that we need more of it!" That's what happened at the dawn of cinema. But that's never been the case, and every time someone tries to insist, "Hey don't you love football and wouldn't you kill to watch more of it?" the people have overwhelmingly replied every time, "Nah, we're good."

It's almost March, I can't care about football right now. Once the Super Bowl is over, I'm not trying to watch a football game played in front of 4,000 fans in Birmingham.

I don't think there's much of a market for year-round football.

Not that i think it would be successful then either

I’m not sure it’s failing like some of you are implying.

3.25 mill is pretty good ratings.

I haven’t watched it yet to see if the quality is decent.

Didn’t take long for them to be deader than dead.

www.engadgethd.com - the other stuff i'm looking at

www.engadgethd.com - the other stuff i'm looking at

.
.
“Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.” ~ Albert Einstein

"I cannot see how nature could have created itself. Only a supernatural force that is outside of space and time could have done that. ~ Francis Collins

www.engadgethd.com - the other stuff i'm looking at

AAF 2019: How the new Alliance of American Football stands out in a growing pro football landscape

Charlie Ebersol used lessons from his father to help create the AAF from scratch. Here's what makes it different
by Ben Kercheval
@BenKercheval
Feb 3, 2019 at 11:35 pm ET • 14 min read

https://www.cbssports.com/aaf/news/aaf-2019-how-the-new-alliance-of-american-football-stands-out-in-an-ever-growing-pro-football-landscape/



Startups are Charlie Ebersol's thing. They've been his thing his entire life, long before he first conjured up the Alliance of American Football. The son of legendary former NBC television executive Dick Ebersol started his first company when he was 12 years old: a movie review magazine that he distributed to local coffee shops across New York and Connecticut for a dollar an issue. But as a pre-teen, Ebersol's resources were practically non-existent. So to physically build out the magazine, he began using (i.e. stealing) his parents' copy paper. "I had no overhead cost," he said. "As it turns out, I had really good margins."

He also had an honorary copy editor for a dad. After three weeks of working tirelessly, a proud Charlie handed his father the first issue. Dick took one look at the cover and handed it back to his son without ever opening it up. The title, Movie Maddness, contained a typo -- an extra "d."

"My whole career has been defined by working to make sure that nothing like that ever happens again. It took me years, I mean decades to come to grips with the fact that that moment defined a lot of my psychosis," Ebersol said.

While Movie Madness had a somewhat short life cycle, the AAF is Ebersol's fourth company and suffice it to say he's far more prepared. The alliance's inaugural season begins on the weekend of February 9-10, one week after Super Bowl LIII, and continues through the championship game in Las Vegas on April 27. (See our Viewer's Guide for more information.)

The AAF kicks off this weekend so Ben Kercheval joined Will Brinson on the Pick Six Podcast to break down everything about the new league, and you can listen here:


As CEO, Ebersol has overseen a process that began three years ago inside his own head with the dream that if he built a quality football product during the time of year when fans still crave inventory in cities where there is a demand for it, the growth would follow. He would know. Dick, of course, was one of the founding minds behind the short-lived XFL, along with WWE CEO Vince McMahon. Charlie got a firsthand look at the whole operation and later directed the ESPN 30 for 30 "This Was the XFL."

"I remember being on the sidelines and thinking 'this is incredible,'" Charlie said. "When I started to dig back into that a couple of years ago to do the film, I started seeing how the potential was never met in terms of what you could do with football. You had lots of people show up. They just showed up to bad products. So if you really focused on having a good product, there'd be something there."

Ebersol's dream is now a reality. There are eight teams spread across the country, from the Southeast to San Diego and Salt Lake City. As a so-called stopgap between college football and the NFL, the AAF is loaded with names you already know -- Birmingham Iron running back Trent Richardson, Orlando Apollos coach Steve Spurrier, Atlanta Legends offensive coordinator Michael Vick and San Antonio Commanders GM Daryl "Moose" Johnston, to name a handful -- along with some names you'll know soon enough, all with their own stories of how they got here.

Meanwhile, the front office has been built out with some of the biggest names from the NFL, including co-founder Bill Polian, former Titans and Rams coach Jeff Fisher, former Steelers wide receiver Hines Ward and safety Troy Polamalu. "It's football for football people, by football people," Polian said.


And, last but not least, board member Dick Ebersol.

Lessons learned from the XFL
The AAF actually marks the first time the Ebersols have worked together. "When I first told my dad I wanted him on the board, he might have been the happiest retired person you've ever met," Ebersol said, "yet he embraced it more than anyone."

If nothing else, the new league is a chance for Dick to pass along his experiences to his son. The XFL lasted one whole season in 2001 and failed for a variety of reasons, the catch-all of which is that it overestimated the parts of football and wrestling it thought viewers wanted to see -- big personalities, violence and the like -- and underestimated the logistical hurdles of putting together a league of quality football. It overpromised and underdelivered. (However, it is worth noting that the XFL was innovative all the same. There would be no SkyCams in the NFL today, for example, without the XFL.)

With the XFL 2.0's reboot scheduled for 2020, the AAF will have a year's head start in the complementary pro football league arena. Ebersol noted that one of the defining characteristics of his league is there's more that makes it similar to the NFL than what makes it different. "We're not looking to be a markedly different product," he said. "We're actually looking to be a very, very similar and very parallel product to what the NFL has."

It remains to be seen if the new XFL has learned its lessons, but Dick certainly has. His biggest piece of advice for his son should be no surprise. It was one word: Football. The on-field product had to be the most important part. To wit, teams have been in training camp for the past month and were cut down to 52-man rosters on Jan. 30. Before that, there was a quarterback draft. Before that, a formula created to allocate talent regionally. And before that, there was research and development. The concept has been years in the making.


"Almost any company you start, you have what I refer to as 'E-L-E': an extinction-level event. Your parents figure out that you're stealing their paper for a magazine and start charging you, and it puts you out of business in one day. Every company has a handful of those," Ebersol said.

"This company, for the first 15 months, had three or four a week and you never knew what they were going to be."

That's probably because the AAF didn't begin with a pre-existing infrastructure, not like the XFL had. "Seventeen years ago, WWE was a billion dollar company. NBC and General Electric, its parent company, were the biggest in the world. So when they were like, 'Oh, yeah. We're starting a league,' instantaneously they had human resources and marketing. They produced a full marketing run that was like Michael Bay explosions, tanks, all this other stuff.

"We've had to build everything from scratch. And in having to build everything from scratch, you have a lot of benefit. You can create. You have no debt. You have no tech debt. You have no intellectual debt. You have no bureaucratic debt. But you also have nothing to fall back on."


Building the teams
Ebersol used the "If you build it, they will come" adage more than once. But how, exactly, do you build it? There's no widespread draft for the AAF -- at least not in the way the NFL does it. There was a quarterback draft last November in which teams can either protect a quarterback on their roster or pick one up elsewhere. Polian also mentioned, while declining to get into the "secret sauce," that the league office has a process to allocate talent to its individual teams. "We make sure that access to talent -- you know, we're not picking it for them -- but that access is available to everybody, on a relatively equal basis."

The allocation process is executed through a point system. Teams can acquire players through a handful of regional college football programs, along with a few select NFL teams and a CFL team. The idea is two-fold: to disperse talent as equally as possible with some wiggle room -- specifically, a quarterback might fit another coach's offense, and through the quarterback draft, could end up with that coach -- while giving local fanbases name recognition and nostalgia.

"We've studied a lot of different ways to try and build rosters," Polian said. "We went back to the USFL experience and we realized that it gave us two things. Number one was instant recognition in the home market because players that were not well-known to the football public at large are quite well-known in their local markets. That was a huge plus. And then secondly, it gave us an orderly and reasonable way of making sure that the talent was kind of spread evenly."

There are myriad angles that go into a company's success or failure, but achieving as much parity as possible is the single biggest key for the AAF's future. There are many voices at the table, but as Head of Football, the details of Polian's job will ultimately decide whether the game is, well, good or not.


The allocation not only needs to work for competitive balance, but for the longterm health of the alliance. As a single entity -- there are no owners amongst the teams -- the AAF rests its hat equally on everyone's success. Ebersol joked that he could guarantee there would be 40 wins and 40 losses this season*, and to his point, not everyone can win every game. However, in introducing a new team to a city, even ones ready to embrace professional football, one big-picture concern is a continuously bad team.

*Technically there can be ties. More on that below.

But it's not the only forward thinking challenge. Brand loyalty takes time regardless of winning or losing. There are plenty of recognizable names amongst players to coaches, but as of now the alliance is chiefly concerned with packaging good football in a more easily digestible time frame.

Streamlining the game
The AAF is not trying to reinvent pro football as much as cut out the fat. Ebersol doesn't even view other leagues, including the NFL, as competition. "My competition is movie theaters, restaurants, the reason I'm leaving the house to go do something," he said. "So I looked at the benchmark of two hours and 15 minutes and two hours and 30 minutes. Is that how long someone is willing to go sit in a movie theater to watch a movie? Can we meet that benchmark without affecting the quality of the game?"

As such, the 150-minute time window was born. The AAF will aim to finish games in two-and-a-half hours, down about 30 minutes from the NFL's slotted window. Practically everything the league does in the rulebook is based on this principle, including a 35-second play-clock, just like the XFL had. According to Ebersol, this speeds up the pace of play without rushing players to the line and failing to properly get the play off, leading to incompletions, increased snaps or penalties due to fatigue.


And kickoffs? Gone for player safety purposes, but also in response to what the league has determined to be the least interesting play in the game according to fans. Instead, each team will start on the 25-yard line. Onside kick attempts are substituted by offenses beginning on their 35-yard line and playing one "fourth-and-10" down. If the offense converts, it keeps the ball.

Also on the cutting room floor are television timeouts. "The economics of the world have changed. You don't need to sell that many commercials to engage with a consumer anymore," Ebersol said. "What's the number one complaint among fans about the actual production of the broadcast? It's the commercials. You're going to commercial every couple of minutes, and you're gone for a couple of minutes at a time. If you ever look at a game tape, the actual game play is like 18 minutes long.

"The other thing is, for an advertiser, if a game is only going to full-screen commercials a couple of times a game, look at how much more valuable it is to the limited number of advertisers we give into. Right now there are 72 commercial units in the average NFL game. That is insane."

Most fans can get behind the elimination of unnecessary plays or timeouts if it improves the flow of the game. Replays fall under this category, too, and the AAF will reduce those by limiting them to a coach's challenge, of which there are two each. What fans might consider sacrilege is a tie. And, yet, the AAF will allow those in the regular season if the game isn't settled after one overtime period. The format itself more closely resembles college than the pros. Each team will start at the opponent's 10-yard line with one possession to score. Again, the 150-minute window is what's at stake.


Whether overtime games will end in ties is another thing, though. All AAF games require offenses to go for two after each touchdown, both in regulation and overtime.

Contracts and bonuses
While the AAF says it's more like the NFL than not, one key difference is in compensation. From the starting quarterback to the backup defensive end, each player is on a three-year, non-guaranteed $250,000 contract. This is a matter of leverage among commodities. The biggest stars in the NFL can command huge contracts and hold out until they get what they demand because the market allows it. Players in the AAF don't have that leverage and there are no agents.

At the end of the day, though, everyone playing in the AAF is looking for a chance, be it in the NFL again, or to simply to play as long as possible. "It's so refreshing," Arizona Hotshots coach Rick Neuheisel said, "because at the collegiate level, we entitle them. We're the ones recruiting them. And they all have this expectation, they have to play now. At the NFL level, you've got a cap system because you've got so many vets that have earned their stripes. So sometimes that's the tail wagging the dog."

However, there are still two ways AAF players can earn bonuses: team-based, performance incentives and individual, fan engagement incentives. The team bonuses are achieved whenever one side of the ball does something significant, like score touchdowns. If, say, the Orlando Apollos have the highest scoring offense in the alliance, every offensive player gets an equal amount of "coins." Similarly, if San Antonio's defense leads the league in scoring defense, the defense gets a bonus. On an individual level, players can earn bonuses through their work in their local communities and social media outreach for good causes because that builds the goodwill between teams and fanbases.


(Ebersol and Polian both declined to get into the specifics of how the bonuses will be calculated, citing the need to explain the process in detail with all of the players. "Stay tuned," Ebersol said.)

"If you're a person that really gives back to your local community, and goes above and beyond, you're gonna earn more in the way of bonuses," Polian said. "If you happen to play on a team that has a great defense, because it's a team game, you'll earn money there. Whether you're the marquee corner or the backup nose tackle, everybody will get the same, so you're incentivized to play great as a team, not as an individual."

Learning to let go
Sitting along San Antonio's River Walk at a Tex-Mex restaurant, Ebersol, who had just come from a scrimmage between the Atlanta Legends and San Antonio Commanders, still had one major concern before the season kicked off.

"My fear is when to let go," he said. "The thing that keeps me up at night is at what point in time can Bill and I let this thing take flight? Because there's a balancing act. The thing that we've done that nobody's ever done before ... and I would venture might not ever be able to do again for a variety of reasons ... is we did this with no infrastructure.

"The company has gotten bigger than any individual person or any individual thing," he continued. "And when it starts to get to that size, and the ball starts rolling itself, there's a scary moment when you're rolling the wheel down the hill at your own pace, and all of a sudden it starts to separate from your hand. This is going wherever it wants now. It is its own entity."

Letting go requires a lot of trust in the people Ebersol has hired, from the top down. Ultimately, the product needs to be good enough for it to continue gaining momentum. Growth and profitability is the business' primary goal.

But what makes the AAF so interesting is that it's made up entirely of people looking for a chance in whatever form that may be. From players to coaches and everyone behind the scenes, it's more personal than business. And personal stories are the best stories.

"The entire league is about opportunity. From players to coaches, and sometimes the opportunity isn't necessarily to take the next step. The opportunity is to be on the sideline again," Neuheisel said. "There are a number of guys who this will probably be their last job. But what a fun job. And we get to teach and help graduate. I can't tell you how many times I've been in homes in my life where I've said 'We're going to graduate your player.' I feel the same way in this league. I want to graduate these players to get a chance at the next level. Or graduate them with the thought that 'I finished everything I could do in football, and I'm ready for the next challenge.'"























.
“Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.” ~ Albert Einstein

"I cannot see how nature could have created itself. Only a supernatural force that is outside of space and time could have done that. ~ Francis Collins

has failed up and is failing again but only gets chances because of who his dad is.




www.engadgethd.com - the other stuff i'm looking at

.
.
“Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.” ~ Albert Einstein

"I cannot see how nature could have created itself. Only a supernatural force that is outside of space and time could have done that. ~ Francis Collins

Damn near every post of his is trash

.
.
“Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.” ~ Albert Einstein

"I cannot see how nature could have created itself. Only a supernatural force that is outside of space and time could have done that. ~ Francis Collins

that it's a personality trait.

www.engadgethd.com - the other stuff i'm looking at

I think that’s why dude pumped 250 mill into the league.

Heard an idea about wearable tech and in game gambling ideas they will experiment with.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/nfl-paid-under-10-million-to-settle-colin-kaepernick-grievance-11553192288?mod=hp_lead_pos5

By Andrew Beaton
March 21, 2019 2:18 p.m. ET
Colin Kaepernick and Eric Reid, the NFL stars who alleged the league’s teams colluded to keep them off the field after they led protests during the national anthem, will receive less than $10 million to settle grievances with the league, according to people briefed on the deal.

The confidential agreement was widely celebrated as a victory for the players. But the settlement is far less than the tens of millions of dollars Mr. Kaepernick, especially, would have likely been owed if his grievance had prevailed. It couldn’t be determined how the payment is divided between the players and how much they will net after legal fees.

Mr. Kaepernick, the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback, and Mr. Reid, a safety, alleged in their grievances that they were blackballed by the league after they catalyzed a movement of protests—typically kneeling or holding up a fist—during the national anthem to draw attention to social issues and racial inequality. Mr. Kaepernick, who has gone unsigned the last two seasons, filed his grievance in 2017. Mr. Reid followed suit last year, and was later signed by the Carolina Panthers midway through the 2018 season.

An NFL spokesman declined to comment. An attorney for Messrs. Kaepernick and Reid said they are respecting the deal’s confidentiality agreement.

The league and attorneys for the players did not announce terms of the deal last month when they announced a settlement of the respective grievances. The parties said the agreement was subject to a confidentiality agreement and that there would be no further comment from any party. Details of the settlement have been tightly held among just a few league officials and Mr. Kaepernick’s attorneys.

If Mr. Kaepernick had won his grievance, the league’s collective bargaining agreement with its players would have entitled him to damages worth up to three times what an arbitrator determined he lost as a result of the collusion. If Mr. Kaepernick’s market value had been judged to be a total of $30 million over the two seasons he was sidelined—a ballpark price tag for a player of his caliber—he could have been awarded $90 million from the ruling.

If the league didn’t settle, it faced the possibility of costly litigation had Mr. Kaepernick lost and taken the case to court.

In the settlement’s aftermath, Mr. Kaepernick was widely hailed for making the league pay for the damage allegedly done to his career.

“I’m happy to see the news come out yesterday that he won his suit,” NBA star LeBron James said after the agreement was announced. “I hope it’s a hell of a lot of money that can set not only him up but set his family up, set his grandkids up for the rest of their lives. I hope the word of what he did will live on throughout American history.”

The settlements brought resolution to a dispute that extended far beyond football. The players’ protest movement stoked racial and political tensions, and the controversy surrounding the protests thrust the country’s richest and most popular sports league into tumult as it faced difficult questions about how to respond to competing pressures.

The protests turned Mr. Kaepernick into a high-profile activist, while it also transformed the NFL into a political lightning rod that drew the ire of critics, including President Trump, who called the demonstrations unpatriotic.

Mr. Kaepernick starred as a quarterback for the 49ers through 2016, the season he began sitting and then later kneeling during the national anthem. He was joined by players such as Mr. Reid, and others across the league, who would sit, kneel, raise a fist or demonstrate in other manners.

After the 2016 season, Mr. Kaepernick became a free agent. He has gone unsigned since then, even though his body of work compares favorably to other quarterbacks who have gotten jobs.

Mr. Kaepernick’s grievance, filed in 2017, accused the NFL and all 32 teams of colluding to keep him unsigned because of the protests and his role as an activist.

Legal experts say Mr. Kaepernick faced a difficult path to winning the grievance. Although his grievance argued that it was a “statistical impossibility” that Mr. Kaepernick had not been signed, the burden of proof in this type of grievance required proving that there was some type of coordinated effort to keep him unsigned.

Mr. Kaepernick led the 49ers to the Super Bowl in the 2012 season and the NFC Championship the following year, emerging as a transcendent star with a strong arm and remarkable speed. But from 2014 to 2016, he won only 11 of 35 starts as injuries, and diminished play in the eyes of some, damped the hype around him.

Even with Mr. Kaepernick unsigned, the fervor around the player protests grew. Mr. Trump repeatedly assailed the protests and criticized the NFL for allowing them to continue—placing the league in a direct feud with the president. In a 2017 speech, Mr. Trump referred to a kneeling player as a “son of a bitch,” and players—and entire teams—responded by kneeling en masse. Later, Vice President Mike Pencewalked out of a game when players knelt during the anthem.

After the 2017 season, the NFL briefly instituted a rule change that required players to stand and “show respect” for the anthem or otherwise remain in the locker room during its playing. In response, the NFL Players Association said it wasn’t consulted on the new policy and threatened litigation. The parties agreed to suspend the rule change, and it was never implemented.

The Wall Street Journal previously reported on depositions, taken as part of Mr. Kaepernick’s grievance, in which NFL team owners indicated that Mr. Trump’s pressure on the issue pushed them to shift their stance.

Mr. Reid became a free agent following the 2017 season and went unsigned, and he filed a grievance similar to Mr. Kaepernick’s. After the 2018 season began, Mr. Reid, who plays safety, was signed by the Panthers.

The settlement agreement, in February, came more than a year after Mr. Kaepernick filed his grievance but within a month or two of when his case had finally been set to be heard by the arbitrator, a person familiar with the matter said when the case was resolved.

Maybe Kap can sue them again

This is one of those stories that doesn't provide a source on the record

And then every other outlet references the same story

I'm gonna wait to pass judgement

http://www.espn.com/espn/story/_/id/26423928/source-aaf-suspends-operations-1st-season

The Alliance of American Football is suspending operations Tuesday, a source told ESPN's Michael Rothstein, confirming multiple reports.

The league will hold a call with all players and staff at 1 p.m. ET Tuesday afternoon, the source said.

Tom Dundon, who became the AAF's majority owner in February, had said last week that the league was in danger of folding without help from the National Football League Players Association.

Dundon, who also owns the NHL's Carolina Hurricanes, made a $250 million investment in the AAF last month after the league reportedly was in danger of not making payroll.

The eight-team AAF, billed as a development league, kicked off the weekend following the Super Bowl. The league is seven games into its 10-game regular season.

ProFootballTalk was first to report that the league would suspend operations.

.
.
“Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.” ~ Albert Einstein

"I cannot see how nature could have created itself. Only a supernatural force that is outside of space and time could have done that. ~ Francis Collins

take your L

.
.
“Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.” ~ Albert Einstein

"I cannot see how nature could have created itself. Only a supernatural force that is outside of space and time could have done that. ~ Francis Collins

...after seeing the headline elsewhere. Was not disappointed.

*skatin' the rings of saturn*


..and miles to go before i sleep...

I'm not ashamed to be optimistic and suffer failer even in belief or actions. So, hey, anyone can be a hindsight prophet. :)


.
.
“Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.” ~ Albert Einstein

"I cannot see how nature could have created itself. Only a supernatural force that is outside of space and time could have done that. ~ Francis Collins

.

Though I think if he did start the league, he'd have enough money to keep it going throughout the season. It just wouldn't come back, after that.

Only way I'd see him taking a chance and launching this is if he did sign Kaep. A new league needs a hook, especially Vince's. But even with Kaep, it wouldn't be enough to keep things going past an initial season.

Dundon just funded the league to get access and ownership of the betting technology. He never really was interested in the league. If he wanted, he could have funded to keep it running; but like most super rich folks once he got what he wanted, he was done.



------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

medical/hotel bills, it would be cool if some of the big dogs in the NFL threw them a little cash

.
.
“Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.” ~ Albert Einstein

"I cannot see how nature could have created itself. Only a supernatural force that is outside of space and time could have done that. ~ Francis Collins

.
.
“Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.” ~ Albert Einstein

"I cannot see how nature could have created itself. Only a supernatural force that is outside of space and time could have done that. ~ Francis Collins

AAF officially folds & files for bankruptcy

They apparently owe lots of people lots of money.


https://deadspin.com/aaf-officially-pulls-the-plug-files-for-bankruptcy-1834121723?