Professional Football Researchers Association Forum

Things to know:

• Fans "join" a team
  Two franchise players per team
  Remaining players drafted each week (a la fantasy football)
  After first week, fans choose one "keeper" player
  Games are played on Saturdays
  Games are broadcast on Twitch.TV
  1-hour games
  No instant replay
  Running clock
  50-yard field
  Player entrances "WWE style"
  7 versus 7
  3-man line
  No kickoffs
  Teams start at their own 10.
  Fans vote on the next play in real time
  No punts
  No goal posts
  Sidelines (i.e. not arena football)
  "Madden View" camera from a drone
  Helmet cams
  Microphones on players
  Virtual Reality cams
  Extra points are one-on-one battles between a WR and DB, for 1 point from the 5 yard line, 2 points from the 10
  TD celebrations include lights, LEDs, lasers, and cryo ("like a rock concert")
  Johnny Manziel

More info: https://www.fcf.io/

No offense but this is one of the more ridiculous concepts for a football league I have ever heard of.

lastcat3 wrote:No offense but this is one of the more ridiculous concepts for a football league I have ever heard of.

Yup. That's why I find it so interesting. Past attempts at professional leagues have sometimes included innovations that eventually make it into the NFL.

Watched both games.

Most exciting thing for most will be the 2nd half of the first game where the broadcast didn't pay attention to the actual game and instead let Marshawn Lynch and Richard Sherman talk to eachother for forever.

Reaser wrote:Watched both games.

Most exciting thing for most will be the 2nd half of the first game where the broadcast didn't pay attention to the actual game and instead let Marshawn Lynch and Richard Sherman talk to eachother for forever.

I did, too, but I paid more attention to the broadcast innovations. I believe we will see the following show up in the NFL.

- Interactive simulcasting of games on Twitch
- Helmet cams, for instant replay
- WWE-style entrances for the players (eventually)

Did you notice how the NFL had more player-level, on-field steady cams this season? Didn’t XFL 2 start doing that first?

The football product itself wasn’t lousy, but the smaller field and smaller squads just make it more playground. You did have more open-field running, which is fun to watch.

RyanChristiansen wrote:I did, too, but I paid more attention to the broadcast innovations. I believe we will see the following show up in the NFL.

- Interactive simulcasting of games on Twitch
- Helmet cams, for instant replay
- WWE-style entrances for the players (eventually)

Well, helmet cams aren't exactly a new innovation. Shoot, WLAF had them three decades ago and produced better quality video/shots than last night. So if/when the NFL finally adds that, it won't be because FCF 'invented' it.

Similar for entrances, the NFL has introduced starters one at a time, and players have had signature dances (e.g. Ray Lewis), not overly different from the group dance then a couple individual players introduced last night. A lot of levels of football have had entrances with music and players dancing individually or as a group. Not really something they did so different as to where it was anything new.

It is possible the NFL someday does some similar polls that FCF had on twitch or has a fan rating/score.

Otherwise, not like the FCF had many broadcast innovations, or reinvented the wheel in any way. It was a pretty bad broadcast and presentation.

From a broadcast 'innovation' perspective, really the primary thing they did different is the uncensored language. Which for people that like hearing fuck, mf'er, shit, [n-word'a], etc, every other word for an entire half and sporadically throughout the rest of the night then that's cool. I prefer uncensored/authentic but it was a bit 'funny' that it was coming from the broadcast booth/announcers and not language being picked up from the field.

As for actual quality of play. They're real football players/people that played football at college/pro level previously so not just guys off the streets. But, the quality wasn't exactly good. Inordinate amount of dropped passes, for example. I mean, even Marshawn Lynch, there to hype up the league, was just saying how bad players were before he said he was going to play, then suited up, then didn't play.

As for their primary innovation of fans calling the plays, didn't really make anything more exciting or a big difference on the field. Especially since you can't see what the fans are choosing from if you're just watching the game, all you know is they either called a run or a pass (usually a pass) and the QB either throws vertical, short or just runs and takes the chunk of field always open in this 7o7 setup. So fans calling plays couldn't be less interesting from a neutral perspective. I suppose you have to be on the app pretending your vote counts and is the reason plays are being called for that aspect of the league to generate any excitement. I think they should show the options the fans are choosing from on the broadcast then we would get to find out what they picked when the long delay of relaying the fan vote to them actually running the play happens.

Either way, it's football, at least a bastardized version of it, and it's watchable enough.

I suppose if they could somehow incorporate chug-a-lug contests or wrestling bears into the game, I'd be interested. Maybe make the coaches ride circus elephants on the sidelines or turn the goal lines into moats...anyway, just a thought.

RichardBak wrote:I suppose if they could somehow incorporate chug-a-lug contests or wrestling bears into the game, I'd be interested. Maybe make the coaches ride circus elephants on the sidelines or turn the goal lines into moats...anyway, just a thought.

The fans can vote on what pants one of the founders wears (they picked American flag pants yesterday) ...

That's not enough for you?!

Reaser wrote:

RyanChristiansen wrote:From a broadcast 'innovation' perspective, really the primary thing they did different is the uncensored language. Which for people that like hearing fuck, mf'er, shit, [n-word'a], etc, every other word for an entire half and sporadically throughout the rest of the night then that's cool. I prefer uncensored/authentic but it was a bit 'funny' that it was coming from the broadcast booth/announcers and not language being picked up from the field.

As for their primary innovation of fans calling the plays, didn't really make anything more exciting or a big difference on the field. Especially since you can't see what the fans are choosing from if you're just watching the game, all you know is they either called a run or a pass (usually a pass) and the QB either throws vertical, short or just runs and takes the chunk of field always open in this 7o7 setup. So fans calling plays couldn't be less interesting from a neutral perspective. I suppose you have to be on the app pretending your vote counts and is the reason plays are being called for that aspect of the league to generate any excitement. I think they should show the options the fans are choosing from on the broadcast then we would get to find out what they picked when the long delay of relaying the fan vote to them actually running the play happens.

Yes, the profanity stuck out to me, too, and I was okay with it, but I know it would turn many people off.

I did participate in the play-calling for the beasts. The way it works is they give you a limited number of plays to choose from in every situation. Then after you vote, you see all of the play selections and vote percentages update in real-time until the clock expires, and then it tells you which play was chosen and whether your play was selected or not. And, yes, they really did run those plays and I do believe it is legit. What I didn't like was how, during the first game, they were taking a LONG time to get the play in. I wasn't making choices for either of those teams, so I'm not sure what the issue was.

Reaser wrote: The fans can vote on what pants one of the founders wears (they picked American flag pants yesterday) ...

That's not enough for you?!

I'm waiting for them to roll out Senior Citizen cheerleading squads for halftime---say, Dirty Gertie's Girdle Busters from Milwaukee (always a crowd pleaser). Talk about foul mouths...they're all ex-barmaids.