Football 201: Advanced Techniques in League Competition (aka "Can You Beat the NFL at its own Game?")

What's Playing in my Head: "Never There", by Cake

Quote of the Day: "It's only when you look at an ant through a magnifying glass on a sunny day that you realise how often they burst into flames." - Harry Hill

Okay, so I'm back from work, and on the football topic again. Saints rejoice.

We left off with the whole media/TV deal, which I figure is a pretty important part of any new league. Too many leagues have failed because they didn't lock down a decent media contract that targeted the audience they wanted to reach. The USFL, to their credit, actually got a pretty decent arrangement with ABC and ESPN when they started (their problem was more of being a spring league, and having too many teams spread out too thin).

The WFL of the '70s was a complete dud in large part because they didn't have a decent TV contract, and Arena football stayed small until they got a better deal with ESPN (and NBC). The XFL's contract was good with the NBC game of the week, but they heavily relied on secondary stations (like Channel 20 in DC) to show the other games - which rarely promoted the league in the first place. On the other hand, the AFL succeeded because they got a good TV deal with ABC, and wound up merging into the NFL.

Point being, leagues can be made or broken because of the exposure that they get from being on TV. The NFL, in fact, draws most of their power in the sports market from its media contract and smart marketing. The BFL would have to have a major contract and marketing presence to work, and to have the kind of high profile that it'd need to hope to compete with the 10,000-ton giant (aka, the NFL). So basically, the question becomes, how does the BFL get some network to give it fistfuls of cash on the promise that there will be, at some point, a reason for people to watch it on said network?

Three ways I can think of:

1.) Sign at least 2 high-profile players to each team. (Note that this doesn't mean that teams should sign the Peyton Mannings of the world to $20 million a year contracts - just sign guys who are moderately well-known and have NFL cred) Guys who need second chances at proving themselves would be perfect. A guy like Jeff Garcia, for example. Or a guy like Ricky Williams. Or Stephen Davis. You get the idea. It'd also be good for the league to set its sights on swiping 1 or 2 really big names (ie, Keyshawn Johnson, Randy Moss, Edgerrin James, etc. etc.) from the NFL. And getting players on teams close to where they're from. Central franchise ownership would be helpful in making all of this happen.

2.) Pour money into a set of funny, eyecatching ads. Don't try to be XFL II to the whole nation - the BFL can save that macho stuff for promo spots on a target network like Spike TV, which caters to testosterone-pounding raw masculinity. But also don't try to pretend that the league has got the best gameplay - it can't, and it won't. (And most importantly, casual viewers won't care) Best thing to do is to try to suck people by getting them to know the league brand without them knowing that they're being sold on something new - the ads for Major League Soccer, when it first started up, are perfect examples of this. And don't skimp on the media dollars, either.

3.) Find a media advocate in each community - one on the print side (ie, a prominent columnist), one on the radio side, and one on the TV side (ie, local stations that people listen to/watch). Obviously, this would be harder in the major markets (ie, New York, LA), which aren't hurting for news. But in places like Las Vegas, Portland, San Antonio and even Detroit, this should be do-able. (It's amazing how lazy reporters can be - feed them with buffets, inside access to players and coaches and being "The Official Station of the San Antonio Scorpions", and watch the stories roll in) The point is, the BFL needs media people to sell its teams to their local communities for it, for free. I'd even say that if the league can't find these sort of connections in a city they choose, it should drop that city and pick up another one where connections are stronger.

All of these things add value to the TV contract because people are talking about the league, and are more likely to tune in - not just for the first 1-2 games, like with the XFL, but for most of the season. If the BFL could sink its hooks into even a fifth of the football fans in this country, college or pro, it'd be well on its way to establishing a foothold.

And that's all you'd need to start. Beating the NFL at its own game will never be an overnight task - it'll take years of hard combat. But it starts with getting established and letting people know that the league exists, that it's legitimate and worth watching. Getting on TV in really visible places, and all over the media (including print and radio) is the first step in doing that.

Now...Is there anyone with a billion or two to spare in the audience?