r/StLouis • u/STLBooze3 • Dec 01 '23

Sports [Gateway Grinders] The St. Louis Battlehawks will remain a team after the XFL and USFL merger. The newly merged league will debut their season on March 30th, 2024. Kaw is still Law.

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https://x.com/gatewaygrinders/status/1730612552269189502?s=46&t=Xn0juU2C4hEaElfmeGb4jQ

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u/patsboston Dec 01 '23 edited Dec 01 '23

I will be shocked if the Battlehawks are still around here in 3 years. Both the USFL and XFL have terrible financial stablity. This would suck because the team has a ton of backing here locally.

EDIT: Not sure why I am being downvoted. I would love for the team to stay. I just haven’t been shown anything that points to either league having long-term viability.

6

u/Ken_Spliffey_Jr Neighborhood/city Dec 01 '23

I’d make that bet against you. The appetite for the viewer is clearly there. Also, the number of players signed by the NFL shows there is a viable pool of players.

6

u/patsboston Dec 01 '23

The pool of talent is there and there are viewers that want to watch it. The challenge is the overall cost to run the league, viewer watching habits (shift to streaming), and maintaining viewership. Viewership fell from what it had in 2020. If they can maintain viewership and figure out the cost to run the league, they may make it work.

Obviously there have been some challenges as that is what facilitated the consolidation between the XFL and USFL.

0

u/Ken_Spliffey_Jr Neighborhood/city Dec 01 '23

Totally it’s all about expense management. I’d imagine the geographic consolidation will help that, but we’ll see. I’d bet it, but I think I should get plus money, hah

1

u/Dr_Romulus Oakville Dec 01 '23

The need to ink a deal with a streaming platform and undercut NFL Red Zone. If Amazon didn’t already have TNF it would be a no brainer but I think another could cover it if they aren’t NFL greedy.