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Hopefully we can still watch the rest of the XFL season.

by koolba 7y ago

Cyberdog 7y ago
Indeed. It would probably be socially responsible to cancel their season too, but I'm really enjoying their games (at least the ones that air on free TV). Here's hoping the NBA, and whatever leagues might be affected, are able to reschedule their games once this nasty bug finally dies out.
- AmericanChopper 7y ago
  I’m planning on watching the F1 Australian GP this weekend (on tv, not in Australia). So far China is the only race on the calendar that they’ve “rescheduled”. There was news yesterday that 3 F1 team members (not drivers) were in isolation pending test results. But they say everything is going ahead.
  - gregoryl 7y ago
    The track is less than 50 metres from my window, can confirm it is very much in full swing.
    - gregoryl 7y ago
      And now the track is being dismantled!
  - tunap 7y ago
    After running the 1st race in Qatar with only the moto 2 & moto 3 classes, MotoGP has rescheduled the next 3 races for later dates in the season. That's a lot of money deferred indefinitely. Edit: Closer to home(mine), I was sent away at the doors of a minor league hockey game in the midwest tonight. Only team, staff & media personnel were allowed in the doors for the game that was still being played.
  - microtherion 7y ago
    One big difference between F1 and the NBA is that in the NBA, players are routinely within 2m of each other. If that happens to F1 drivers during the race, they have problems other than coronavirus to be concerned about.
    - zebnyc 7y ago
      You are forgetting about the pitlane and the motorhomes of the teams
    - AmericanChopper 7y ago
      An F1 driver will spend 4-5 hours on track during a race weekend. The rest of the time is spent in hotels, with the press, with fans and in the track facilities/garage. I’ve been around a few F1 tracks on race days, and they are incredibly packed full of people. The drivers don’t need to worry about catching a virus on track, it’s everywhere else that’s the problem. But the thing that makes F1 actually somewhat unique in terms of Coronavirus risk, is that it’s supposed to take place across 22 countries (down to 21 now that China’s been cancelled - or “postponed”). Including a number of countries that have high infection rates, like Italy, Singapore and Japan. An F1 team member could theoretically be infected in one country, go to a race in another country, leave and arrive in a 3rd country before they even show symptoms. So far what the FIA has done is cancel China, prohibit driver > fan interaction at events, limit press interaction, and said that some races will be run without live audiences. They’ve also said that if a team can’t race because of the virus, they won’t hold an official GP, but they kinda implied they’d still hold a race. I’m a big fan of F1, so I’m happy to see the races. But it seems like a disaster waiting to happen. The FIA also have a terrible history of not cancelling events when they really should be cancelled. Last year when Typhoon Hagibis was forecast to arrive onshore in Japan on the Saturday of the Japanese GP weekend, the FIAs plan was “we think Typhoon Hagibis will be gone by Sunday, so we’ll just run qualifying on Sunday morning”. It did clear up by then, but really just by luck. In 2005 the circuit for the US GP had a corner that was dangerous to take at speed for any car that was using Michelin tires, because they may catastrophically fail. This caused two major crashes during practice. The FIA refused to change the track, refused to cancel the race, and refused to allow the teams to withdraw. The result was that the (7/10) Michelin teams drove one formation lap, and then had all 14 of their drivers retire. In short, they can’t really be trusted to make defensible decisions about cancelling events.
- Rebelgecko 7y ago
  I think maintaining 6 feet of separation is actually possible at a lot of XFL games
RandomBacon 7y ago
I've never really been into sports, but this year I've become an XFL fan. I hope the league manages through this okay.
- koolba 7y ago
  I hope so too. The season exceeded my expectations and it’d be sad if this black swan event is what kills any chance of summer football for another two decades.
  - jonpurdy 7y ago
    Here I was thinking that the three of you were being super sarcastic. Just Googled it and found out there's a new XFL...
    - exabrial 7y ago
      Pretty crazy. They got away from the WWE model and instead are using it as a testbed for new rules. It is actually very exciting to watch.
      - serf 7y ago
        what does the 'WWE model" mean when referring to football? genuinely curious. I'm not into sports.
        3131s 7y ago
        The original XFL had some different rules around certain types of hits, and it also emphasized the players' personas more by letting them choose the names on their jerseys, trash talk, take their helmet off for celebrations, etc. It was and is still run by the same people behind WWE. Now I take it they're moving in a different direction. Is there generally more or less concern for player safety in the XFL now, compared to the NFL?
        7y ago
tnecniv 7y ago
Yeah I'll be really bummed if I can't watch the Guardians take home the inaugural championship. If the XFL does play through, the pandemic might be great for them, but I don't see that happening.
exabrial 7y ago
I've actually enjoyed watching the XFL so far. Great rule changes
vondur 7y ago
Wait, is this the same XFL from back in the day, with all the trash talking like wrestling?
- astura 7y ago
  Same founder/owner (Vince McMahon) but different league with different teams. No wrestling gimmicks and no cheerleaders this time around.
  - Cyberdog 7y ago
    Can't help but wonder if the new XFL would be better off if they had been able to ditch the tainted name. Even many people who don't follow football closely have heard of the old XFL and only seem to have the worst memories of it. The new league doesn't deserve all that baggage - most of which isn't even related to the actual on-field football. Here's a good video about the disastrous old league, if you need your memory jogged: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVj6I_5gCR8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVj6I_5gCR8
- Rebelgecko 7y ago
  Less gross stuff like sending cameras into the cheerleader locker room. More of the cool stuff like players climbing up into the stands and high fiving fans after a TD
  - ohyeshedid 7y ago
    XFL definitely has more of the arena football vibe.
alasdair_ 7y ago
I have (had?) tickets for a game on Saturday. It's not happening any more. I don't know if that's because of the WA state ban on any gathering of 250 people or more or because of another reason but I'm somewhat sad.
- ncallaway 7y ago
  Yes, the game takes place at Century Link stadium, which is in King County. It's affected by the ban. The game will still be played, but no fans will be admitted to the stadium. The game will still be aired on TV. Sorry for your cancelled tickets! What a bummer for timing...
Mountain_Skies 7y ago
They could trying going spectatorless like the NCAA is doing for basketball. The difficulty will be that tv rights are a huge moneymaker for the NCAA with ticket sales being some extra gravy on the top. The XFL gave away the tv rights for free to promote the new league. While they have planned to lose money for several years, ticket sales and in game concessions was to help offset the expense. Don't know how much this will increase their burn rate but it certainly won't help.

Hopefully we can still watch the rest of the XFL season.

by koolba 7y ago

Hopefully we can still watch the rest of the XFL season.

Indeed. It would probably be socially responsible to cancel their season too, but I'm really enjoying their games (at least the ones that air on free TV). Here's hoping the NBA, and whatever leagues might be affected, are able to reschedule their games once this nasty bug finally dies out.

AmericanChopper 7y ago
I’m planning on watching the F1 Australian GP this weekend (on tv, not in Australia). So far China is the only race on the calendar that they’ve “rescheduled”. There was news yesterday that 3 F1 team members (not drivers) were in isolation pending test results. But they say everything is going ahead.
- gregoryl 7y ago
  The track is less than 50 metres from my window, can confirm it is very much in full swing.
  - gregoryl 7y ago
    And now the track is being dismantled!
- tunap 7y ago
  After running the 1st race in Qatar with only the moto 2 & moto 3 classes, MotoGP has rescheduled the next 3 races for later dates in the season. That's a lot of money deferred indefinitely. Edit: Closer to home(mine), I was sent away at the doors of a minor league hockey game in the midwest tonight. Only team, staff & media personnel were allowed in the doors for the game that was still being played.
- microtherion 7y ago
  One big difference between F1 and the NBA is that in the NBA, players are routinely within 2m of each other. If that happens to F1 drivers during the race, they have problems other than coronavirus to be concerned about.
  - zebnyc 7y ago
    You are forgetting about the pitlane and the motorhomes of the teams
  - AmericanChopper 7y ago
    An F1 driver will spend 4-5 hours on track during a race weekend. The rest of the time is spent in hotels, with the press, with fans and in the track facilities/garage. I’ve been around a few F1 tracks on race days, and they are incredibly packed full of people. The drivers don’t need to worry about catching a virus on track, it’s everywhere else that’s the problem. But the thing that makes F1 actually somewhat unique in terms of Coronavirus risk, is that it’s supposed to take place across 22 countries (down to 21 now that China’s been cancelled - or “postponed”). Including a number of countries that have high infection rates, like Italy, Singapore and Japan. An F1 team member could theoretically be infected in one country, go to a race in another country, leave and arrive in a 3rd country before they even show symptoms. So far what the FIA has done is cancel China, prohibit driver > fan interaction at events, limit press interaction, and said that some races will be run without live audiences. They’ve also said that if a team can’t race because of the virus, they won’t hold an official GP, but they kinda implied they’d still hold a race. I’m a big fan of F1, so I’m happy to see the races. But it seems like a disaster waiting to happen. The FIA also have a terrible history of not cancelling events when they really should be cancelled. Last year when Typhoon Hagibis was forecast to arrive onshore in Japan on the Saturday of the Japanese GP weekend, the FIAs plan was “we think Typhoon Hagibis will be gone by Sunday, so we’ll just run qualifying on Sunday morning”. It did clear up by then, but really just by luck. In 2005 the circuit for the US GP had a corner that was dangerous to take at speed for any car that was using Michelin tires, because they may catastrophically fail. This caused two major crashes during practice. The FIA refused to change the track, refused to cancel the race, and refused to allow the teams to withdraw. The result was that the (7/10) Michelin teams drove one formation lap, and then had all 14 of their drivers retire. In short, they can’t really be trusted to make defensible decisions about cancelling events.
Rebelgecko 7y ago
I think maintaining 6 feet of separation is actually possible at a lot of XFL games

RandomBacon 7y ago

I've never really been into sports, but this year I've become an XFL fan. I hope the league manages through this okay.

koolba 7y ago
I hope so too. The season exceeded my expectations and it’d be sad if this black swan event is what kills any chance of summer football for another two decades.
- jonpurdy 7y ago
  Here I was thinking that the three of you were being super sarcastic. Just Googled it and found out there's a new XFL...
  - exabrial 7y ago
    Pretty crazy. They got away from the WWE model and instead are using it as a testbed for new rules. It is actually very exciting to watch.
    - serf 7y ago
      what does the 'WWE model" mean when referring to football? genuinely curious. I'm not into sports.
      - 3131s 7y ago
        The original XFL had some different rules around certain types of hits, and it also emphasized the players' personas more by letting them choose the names on their jerseys, trash talk, take their helmet off for celebrations, etc. It was and is still run by the same people behind WWE. Now I take it they're moving in a different direction. Is there generally more or less concern for player safety in the XFL now, compared to the NFL?
        7y ago

tnecniv 7y ago

Yeah I'll be really bummed if I can't watch the Guardians take home the inaugural championship. If the XFL does play through, the pandemic might be great for them, but I don't see that happening.

exabrial 7y ago

I've actually enjoyed watching the XFL so far. Great rule changes

vondur 7y ago

Wait, is this the same XFL from back in the day, with all the trash talking like wrestling?

astura 7y ago
Same founder/owner (Vince McMahon) but different league with different teams. No wrestling gimmicks and no cheerleaders this time around.
- Cyberdog 7y ago
  Can't help but wonder if the new XFL would be better off if they had been able to ditch the tainted name. Even many people who don't follow football closely have heard of the old XFL and only seem to have the worst memories of it. The new league doesn't deserve all that baggage - most of which isn't even related to the actual on-field football. Here's a good video about the disastrous old league, if you need your memory jogged: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVj6I_5gCR8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVj6I_5gCR8
Rebelgecko 7y ago
Less gross stuff like sending cameras into the cheerleader locker room. More of the cool stuff like players climbing up into the stands and high fiving fans after a TD
- ohyeshedid 7y ago
  XFL definitely has more of the arena football vibe.

alasdair_ 7y ago

I have (had?) tickets for a game on Saturday. It's not happening any more. I don't know if that's because of the WA state ban on any gathering of 250 people or more or because of another reason but I'm somewhat sad.

ncallaway 7y ago
Yes, the game takes place at Century Link stadium, which is in King County. It's affected by the ban. The game will still be played, but no fans will be admitted to the stadium. The game will still be aired on TV. Sorry for your cancelled tickets! What a bummer for timing...

Mountain_Skies 7y ago

They could trying going spectatorless like the NCAA is doing for basketball. The difficulty will be that tv rights are a huge moneymaker for the NCAA with ticket sales being some extra gravy on the top. The XFL gave away the tv rights for free to promote the new league. While they have planned to lose money for several years, ticket sales and in game concessions was to help offset the expense. Don't know how much this will increase their burn rate but it certainly won't help.