Mark Cuban is planning to start a new pro football league and there's been another in the planning stages for the last year and a half or so.

The late Winter/Spring sports scene is so dead that I would watch one or both provided they don't monkey with the rules like the CFL does.

Ideally, one would succeed and the other (hopefully Cuban's) would be an epic XFL-like disaster.

Ironically enough, American football originally descended from Canadian football.

someone should remind cuban about the XFL

someone should remind mark cuban of daniel snyder's success in the NFL.

the problem with starting a whole new league based on there being a demand for more football is the supply of talent isn't nearly as deep as everyone wishes it was. Ever seen an arena league game? NFL Europe?
Although the NFL has hamstrung itself, in part, with salary cap rules, I can probably think of another reason just about every team looks like an 8-8 team before the season starts.

3 downs and a 110 yeard field is rad, fuck you guys

there's probably enough big name college guys who never panned out in the NFL to make for some interesting rosters. this could work if they start small in certain cities and try to grow as a niche league. XFL tried to be too much too soon...

i bet chris henry, pacman and the vick boys are happy about this

a league full of pacmans would be awesome.

not gonna happen

isn't the AFL lame enough?

I'd tune in if it was Marc Cuban's Football Thunderdome.

Clint Dolzel, Quincy Carter, Troy Bergeron, Chris Jackson they should be pumped about this.

Of course it will be about as intriguing as the AFL. I don't understand these ventures....

Hockey has everything that people like in sports, it's not a huge draw for a variety of reasons, same as the AFL, same as the MLS, same as the XFL.

The NFL works because it's big and it's the best and it's on accessable networks, Any hokey upstart league might be intersesting for a few minutes but people by and large don't have time and money to devote to this kind of thing. Maybe if they tie in MMA I guess..

this should be about as interesting as the bon jovi league

you can't compete against an already established league(the nfl) just by itself (unless you plan on waiting it out 5-10 years for your's to catch on) but there are enough afl fans out there too so...why even try?

unless they totally revolutionize pro football, it will be doomed to fail. that was pretty much the xfl's problem (along with too many teams). an xfl game was pretty much like any other football game (aside from determining possession and the "names" on the backs of jerseys)

I thyink this can work and very soon if they do it right. I watched every USFL game that was on and although it didn't hold a candle to the NFL it was still intriguing. It also didn't do too bad in the ratings. If they get some "named" players in their league and tweak some of the rules(allow celebrating, less commercials, less protection of the QB's) it could work. Just make sure it doesn't interfere with the NFL schedule at all(have it from like April til August) and even spread out the schedule to have games played on weekday nights as well as the weekends. It's the best sport in the world to gamble on too. The reason the Arena doesn't do that great is because it doesn't cater to the gamblers enough. Why do you think college basketball is on 8 different channels every night during the season? The gamblers can make or break a sport in some instances. A decently run football league with named players can work

If it causes the option to be brought back, I'd be all for it.

If the NFL wanted to kill the competition, all they have to do is to set up a minor league farm system like in baseball and hockey. It doesn't has to be as extensive as those two sports so you don't ruin the college game, and it can be a way for those late round and undrafted rookies to develop other than languishing on the practice squad. Have it run in the spring, so not to conflict with the current football schedules.

Places it could run where I think it could be successful:
--Los Angeles, a way to get into the market without devoting an NFL team there
--overseas games, especially in Mexico
--other cities that could be on the cusp of getting an NFL team in the future (i.e. San Antonio, Salt Lake City, Norfolk)
--big cities that have a solid college program running and a stadium to use nearby (i.e. Austin, Boise, OKC)

that's a pretty good idea. every minor league team would get two NFL parent teams. Taht way ther eis some competition for the NFL teams to look at the minor leagues and take a risk at bringing someone else up. and then the NFL could ditch thursday football and stick it to the minors.

I'm pretty sure there are a bunch of guys who could use an intermediary league to develop. it'd also be great for QB's.

Another thing I think the league should do if they go with a 17-game schedule with one overseas (which I like) is that with only 3 preseason games, each team should play one preseason game in a smaller area to get an idea for the strength of future expansion. I bet something like a Cowboys/Texans game in San Antonio would go over very well.