35 minutes ago, Tyzack said:

Or pro-bowl style football is more what I'm thinking about. People like seeing explosive offenses more than defenses. Since there seems to be an anti-player safety element, the way to do this would be to make it a sport that features more 45-42 games and fewer 12-6 games; much more akin, in that aspect to college football.

Shoot outs are more entertaining for the generic viewer, I’d agree with that. Those games can be a lot of fun to watch. I like good defensive games as well, but I think that’s akin to baseball fans who love seeing pitcher duals in 1-0 games with extra innings. It looks boring to the outsider but for someone who understands and appreciates the game, it’s still enjoyable. Generally though, 45-42 final scores look more “fun” on paper and I’m probably in a smaller percentage of people who like the low-scoring slug fests.

3 hours ago, SinisterDeath said:

Your Defense is your Offensive Team, and you only have minimal amount of teammates per game to replace in case of Injury (No More than Half your field team as reserve?)

Hello arena football.

A new month is upon us, and with that in the QONQRverse comes the raising of Atlantis. For several days each faction will be able to build their respective zones as high as possible and then wage an all out war on each other. On the first day of each month (UTC time) Atlantis will appear in some body of water around the globe. It must first be found by each faction before they can begin to launch into it. The Atlantis zones can be reached by anyone at any time while they are active, so this is literally a global conflict. Each event varies in length but typically there are 2-3 days of stacking (building zones) followed by 2-3 days of battle in which the factions slug it out in order to secure as many Atlantis zones as possible. The objective is easy: whoever holds the most turf at the end wins that month. The prize for winning is double harvesting capacity for the last week of the month leading into another Atlantis event.

Here’s how the map looks. Each faction starts with six zones to build up as much as they can. Each one has particular rules that I won’t go too deeply into here. Just know - since this pertains to new players - that the bottom left one for each group, named “Grunt”, is for players level 100 and below only. This gives them an opportunity to fight others on an even playing field without getting smashed by more advanced players like me :) The middle zone, Atlantis Prime, is the tiebreaker in essence. It counts for two.

Legion has won the past few in a row, to include last month where this screenshot came from. Think you can stop us? 

10 hours ago, Nolder said:

You don't even see NFL cheerleaders anymore anyway except for a brief 2 seconds or so on TV unless you're actually at a game.

If you think I watch football for the cheerleaders then you missed my sarcasm.

15 hours ago, BFG said:

Lol, it is played over a year (more or less). Winning the premiership and fa cup in the same year is the 'double'

 

I would guess that a lot of the organisation for the qualifying rounds (~600 of the teams) is done at a club level. So their are dates set aside for that round of the fixtures and the draw is done by the FA officials, but anything else needed (match officials etc) organised by the teams. 

 

Premier/championship play up to 6 games (plus rematches if necessary) but this is on top of the league (premiership is 38 games) charity shield (just one game, but draws a bit of attention) and any European games. 

 

Equally football is lower impact than American football and the better players may sit out or sub games that should be easy so they can rest (and other players gain match experience) 

 

Also travel times are shorter :p

I’m amused with the idea of seeing a bunch of washed up frat boys getting a club together and taking on a professional team

Travel time: I agree. That was actually something I thought about when I was thinking of how to restructure the NFL into more region friendly divisions/conferences. For instance, my favorite team (Dallas) has two nearby franchises in Houston and New Orleans that they don’t play very often because they’re in different groups. Regionally, I think those would make for great rivalries. Not only would it be less expensive for the franchises as far as travel/lodging goes (they make billions every year anyway so  ) but for the fans making those game wouldn’t be as hard either.

8 hours ago, Tyzack said:

Okay, but that's different. That's saying that the XFL would a "minor leauge" version of the NFL; sure they'll fill 5-10,000 seat arenas, but they'll never have the market force, power, penetration, cap or profit as the NFL.

This is a major concern I would have if I was investing. There’ll be young players out of college to pick up that don’t make the NFL, but those who come into the XFL and shine (to include coaches) might get poached by the NFL at some point. They won’t be able to compete when it comes down to salary.

Also regional markets, etc. I agree even if the XFL became a staying power it would never be as big or powerful or lucrative as the NFL, but if they are smart with their marketing strategy and set up camp in places without NFL franchises that they’ll find some success. There’s still big city markets they could tap into: San Antonio, San Diego, Portland, Oakland (soon), St. Louis for examples.

I’d agree that there’s definitely a market for talent that the XFL could tap into. Starting from high school the number of kids that progress to college programs is an extremely small percentage, much less to major schools: Bama, Clemson, USC, etc. From there the number of players that make it onto NFL rosters is even smaller. Out of several thousand (?) college athletes that graduate every year only several hundred are drafted and even less are invited to the NFL combine. There’s certainly a pool of players to delve into - it’s more a matter of coaching and development that will affect the product on the field. Hardcore football fans might see the XFL as a sham from an X and Os standpoint, but if their angle is more for entertainment I think they’ll find viewers. Hell, I know adults who are still crazy about the WWE.

As far as player safety/compensation - I'd argue that despite all the research there are still people out there who just want to play the game, and/or make a lot of money in the process. I think the impact would be less on finding players to suit up but more with viewers/medical professionals arguing that its too brutal/dangerous.

7 hours ago, Nolder said:

Have you read up on the details (such as they are)?

It seems like a legitimate attempt to provide what the NFL does not.

There won't even be cheerleaders.

Count me out

Realistically I can’t even fathom 700 football teams entering a tournie. There’s so much game planning/practice that goes into one game, not to mention the recovery time between. A bracket that big would literally take an entire year to play out.

1 minute ago, Nolder said:

Anyone have thoughts on the return of the XFL?

Is Vince McMahon still running the show?

So go Yeovil?

38 minutes ago, Tyzack said:

[political rant removed]

...

 

But yeah, I'm going to make lobster pizza (served with Trillium - DDH Congress), and philly pizza (served with Victory - golden monkey), and may the best pizza/team win!

No tough choices there. I’ll take both!

40 minutes ago, Tyzack said:

 

I actually like both teams and would be equally happy if either win.

 

I would have, in terms of narative, liked the patriots not to recover from their early season slump, not trade grarapalo and limp into the playoffs with a new QB (ie, 2001) and then see what happened.

 

But, that didn't happen. After the divisional round, I also was cheering for a "good game" in Philly (despite my family being from there) because I thought the idea of a home-team wild-card super bowl was really cool.

 

That being said, the Eagles were the best team in the NFC, and the Patriots were/are the best team ever  in the AFC, so I'm fine with this Super Bowl match up.

 

I want a good, close game, and I want a game that both teams can be proud of.

I’m predestined to not like Philly so there’s nothing I can do about that. Even the idea of cheering for ‘the NFC’ is hard to stomach. With the Pats it’s more of those not again situations. They’re easily one of the most polarizing teams in the NFL, maybe ever.

The better narrative would’ve been the 5-time super bowl champ veteran QB vs the scrappy young guy from a small school destined for greatness. But I guess Foles/Brady will have to do

12 minutes ago, Tyzack said:

Stop comparing the patriots to trump.

Theyre all interchangeable and equally unsavory imo. Flip the images around if it really makes you feel better

Sorry Browns

1 hour ago, Tyzack said:

No interest in the priemership/table idea?

Its pretty interesting now that I looked. I assume that scheduling would be based on what league you’re in for the upcoming season? Top tier plays top tier, etc. Is there any overlap? And as far as playoffs go, who gets in?

8 minutes ago, WWWwombat said:

So basically the Browns would never matter.  Not that they really do anyway.

No promotional zone for them ever.

30 minutes ago, Tyzack said:

No interest in the priemership/table idea?

I’m not sure I get the concept.

The current scheduling isn’t bad. Each team plays division rivals twice, two other full divisions (from each conference) and then two other conference games from the remaining conference divisions to round out the schedule.

Tonight I was attempting to map out two new 16 team conferences based on geography. West/East seemed to work out better, though some of the teams in the middle states are borderline. Not really sure how the scheduling would go. 10 conference games and 6 cross-conference? 12/4? Everything would be roundrobin-esque but I didn’t really check to see if it would actually work.

I’m really intrigued with the idea of highlighting regional matchups and it’s sort of a shame that more teams in the same ~area don’t play more often because they aren’t in the same conference/division.

18 minutes ago, SinisterDeath said:

If we go that route, why not break them all up, and then just either randomize or adjust which teams play each other, based on last years standings?

That’d be interesting. And without doubling up on division games that no longer exist, feasibly every team should be able to play each other at least every two years. So old rivalries don’t die and potentially new ones can form

2 hours ago, Tyzack said:

OMG; break up the AFC East, it's depressing lopsided.

What would you change? I’ve thought about Miami moving to the AFC South, Indy going to the AFC North, and then sliding Baltimore into the AFC East. Geographically it makes more sense imo.

You should be able to get past those screens and pick whichever you’d like. Also you don’t have to choose the automated name they offer. I don’t know why they throw all those screens at new players first versus just letting them enter their own info. It’s confusing I’m sure.

but yeah, I’m positive. You’ll need to get onto the Portal to do it. I can walk you through whenever.

1 hour ago, Gentled Ben said:

Swarm it is, then! According to that map, there is green all over my neighborhood. 

Should be easy to get yourself set up then. Once you’re in game, I’d look at the zone leaderboards nearby and find some of the locals that are still active and reach out. They’ll take care of you I’m sure.