Gene Chizik to coach Birmingham USFL team.

[81usaf92]

It was a fairly entertaining game--Bham won!

Is it NFL talent? Oh, HELL no. But it's fun. They've got drone cameras tracking plays, and there was a series where the announcers just shut up and we listened to the coaches making calls and talking adjustments.

im just waiting for someone to hit the drone because I swear a few times they came close.

i also have to say that the new Stadium looks pretty good.

 

[CB4]

I actually thought the quality of football was pretty good given these teams have only been practicing together three weeks. We’ll see what the others look like today.
I thought the best part of the broadcast was in the third quarter when Klatt snd Menefee closed down their commentary and you heard nothing but Mike Riley and his play calling. You got the sense of tempo and pace that coaches often allude to during the course of a game.
Of course I think most anytime Klatt’s mic is off is this best part of a broadcast.

 

[CrimsonNagus]

Even after seeing a post here earlier in the week, I completely forgot about this starting this weekend. Guess that sums up my interest in the USFL. I doubt I’ll ever choose this over baseball.

 

[CullmanTide]

I actually thought the quality of football was pretty good given these teams have only been practicing together three weeks. We’ll see what the others look like today.
I thought the best part of the broadcast was in the third quarter when Klatt snd Menefee closed down their commentary and you heard nothing but Mike Riley and his play calling. You got the sense of tempo and pace that coaches often allude to during the course of a game.
Of course I think most anytime Klatt’s mic is off is this best part of a broadcast.

It was a very entertaining game. Fox and NBC had to have been pleased.

 

[CullmanTide]

I have to add, I have a lot of newfound respect for Mike Riley after watching the pregame show. He shared with his players and us fans, his wife's struggles with mental illness. He is a loving and devoted husband.

 

[TheRealPokeChop]

I actually thought the quality of football was pretty good given these teams have only been practicing together three weeks. We’ll see what the others look like today.
I thought the best part of the broadcast was in the third quarter when Klatt snd Menefee closed down their commentary and you heard nothing but Mike Riley and his play calling. You got the sense of tempo and pace that coaches often allude to during the course of a game.
Of course I think most anytime Klatt’s mic is off is this best part of a broadcast.

Riley lost the game because of their theme and pace

 

[Crimson1967]

Riley lost the game because of their theme and pace

And missing two field goals.

 

[CajunCrimson]

what’s going on at Bama? When Auburn and Georgia have 4x as many players in the USFL as Bama?

Hell. Even UT has more. Saban needs to get his act together. How is that going to play out on the recruiting trail?

#disappointed

 

[KrAzY3]

It was a very entertaining game. Fox and NBC had to have been pleased.

It actually drew a good audience. Ratings and attendance for semi-pro football tend to fall off a cliff pretty rapidly though, so we'll see...

 

[AlistarWills]

It actually drew a good audience. Ratings and attendance for semi-pro football tend to fall off a cliff pretty rapidly though, so we'll see...

Attendance sure did. Not sure they are counting on fannies in seats so much when they choose to open the season on Easter weekend in the Bible Belt.

 

[Crimson1967]

One of the games from yesterday was moved to tonight.

A nice debut for the Stallions, both on and off the field.

Starting the rest of the league on Easter was a certain fail in Alabama. Next weekend is Talladega. Good luck on that.

The league needs to hope the Stallions keep winning.

 

[bamaga]

Attendance sure did. Not sure they are counting on fannies in seats so much when they choose to open the season on Easter weekend in the Bible Belt.

People will support the Stallions, I think they will continue to draw 20k- 30k fans , especially at $10 a ticket. I don’t know about the other teams. I do think the weather, Easter affected attendance. Fox and NBC are looking for content for this time of year, as long as people watch, the league will continue

 

[TexasBama]

I watched some of the Houston game. There were more people on the sidelines than in the stands. Shea Patterson was the Michigan QB. He played pretty well.

 

[81usaf92]

The new stadium makes a serious difference. No one wants to go to Legion Field. The two weeks that the USFL will be played at LF will probably see a huge decline in attendance. The stadium is a really good little stadium.

 

[jthomas666]

And missing two field goals.

The number of missed FGs throughout the opening weekend was pretty depressing.

 

[Con]

The number of missed FGs throughout the opening weekend was pretty depressing.

That brought back some painful memories.

 

[KrAzY3]

Attendance sure did. Not sure they are counting on fannies in seats so much when they choose to open the season on Easter weekend in the Bible Belt.

We'll see how attendance goes in the long run but I guess TV revenue will dictate survival in this case. I do like that they actually kept trademarks and let people cheer for teams they can have some sort of brand loyalty to. One of the worst things to me with all these semi-pro leagues is it was always some other name, kind of abandoning what ever loyalty people might have had to a previous franchise. The ELF did that in Europe, keeping the old NFL Europe (World League) franchise names.

So oddly enough both the Birmingham Stallions and the old Birmingham Fire (now Rhein Fire) franchise are still going.

 

[DzynKingRTR]

Did not watch at all. Without any players that I care about, I just have no interest.

 

[bamaga]

Did not watch at all. Without any players that I care about, I just have no interest.

I watched some of it. , The birmingham game was OK, at least it was competitive until the end. NJ ran a HS single wing offense at times. Maybe a product of short preseason practice . The other games featured a little more sophisticated offenses.

Between NBA early round playoff games, a forced pretend dirt track NASCAR race , and Play off hockey , I watched the USFL and hockey the most.

 

[DzynKingRTR]

I watched some of it. , The birmingham game was OK, at least it was competitive until the end. NJ ran a HS single wing offense at times. Maybe a product of short preseason practice . The other games featured a little more sophisticated offenses.

Between NBA early round playoff games, a forced pretend dirt track NASCAR race , and Play off hockey , I watched the USFL and hockey the most.

I was working so anything that I would have watched would have been background noise anyway.