Are you ready for more football? Not even a week after the Superbowl, a new league is arriving to your television. Perhaps one of the eight teams have invaded your city. A.A.F. stands for Alliance of American Football. It sounds like an insurance company or the Rebels and the Imperial forces making a pact with each other. This is not the first attempt to do a Spring football league, it’s been tried multiple times and has not worked. Are people at this time of year just plain sick of football? Clemson and Alabama are far more superior than any other college program. Then what the NFL shoves down your throat on a regular basis. Could another league be the answer and fix your football needs? Can a new league even be relevant against other sports? The NHL and NBA are gearing up for the playoffs. While March Madness will be in a higher gear. Plus, baseball is getting started. Who will watch a new league of football?  Can this league do well? So many questions, but not enough answers.

The show must go on, as all the investments are in to construct this new league. They had a draft so each team from eight cities has a roster in place with a coaching staff. I imagine tickets and merchandise have been purchased already. It will have people excited, especially in the cities they picked.  Most of the teams are from cities that do not have an NFL team. Only Arizona and Hot Atlanta have NFL teams. All the cities they picked have a stadium already in place for these teams to have their home games at. I love the idea of Turner field that was abandoned by the Atlanta Braves, being used for the Atlanta Legends. I like how the San Diego team will be using the same stadium that the Chargers left. The San Diego Fleet, they call themselves, which is one of the best names in the league. They will have better facilities than their old tenants,  the NFL LA Chargers, because their home games were played at a soccer stadium. Perhaps they might get a bigger following than the Chargers ever did. The Eastern conference is Atlanta, Birmingham, Memphis, and Orlando. While the Western Conference consists of Arizona, Salt Lake City, San Antonio and of course San Diego. Some of these cities had other teams once upon a time ago in other football leagues that folded. The league folding does not mean these cities did badly with the fan bases at the time.

MY FAVORITE THREE HELMETS

Something about the battle ship and the colors for San Diego Fleet stands out to me. You have to love the axes from the Hot Shots as well. Then the Greek god, I take it, shooting the arrow to make it show time at the Apollos in Orlando.  Usually the cool logos are never the winning teams.

Like Martin Luther King said, “I had a dream,” someone had to have a dream to be the founder of this football league. The founder is Charlie Ebersol. He is the son of Dick Ebersol, one of the brains behind the operations of the one and done XFL league. First thing, wrestling and football do not go together. You don’t need Mean Gene as your side line reporter. I will say, back in the 1980’s I did like seeing William “the Refrigerator” Perry in the battle royale that took place in the wrestling ring.

 

I think Charlie will not be sorry as he handed off the football operations to a very smart man, in Bill Polian. Bill Polian was the architect of some great teams like when he held the General Manger title for the Buffalo Bills. He constructed the Bills that had Jim Kelly leading his team to  4 Superbowls in a row. The Bills had a ton of talent to accomplish getting there that many times. He also built those Indianapolis Colts teams, like the one that beat the Bears in 2006 in that Superbowl. Their words of wisdom for the AAF, “It’s football for football people, by football people.” The backbone of this league is that the product on the field is what matters the most. Good football is what most of the fans want. They have guys like Jeff Fisher and Troy Polamalu inserted in the day to day operations to make sure things are running smoothly and they achieve their goal and make this into football first.

It is a league that has lots of NFL flavor. Each team has a big name guy that has coached at one point in the NFL. Mike Martz took over the greatest show on turf and the Kurt Warner Rams in St. Louis. Plenty of years as the offensive coordinator. When Martz worked with Jay Cutler, that was really genius stuff in Chicago. NOT. Like wrestling and football don’t mix.  Martz is head coach of the San Diego Fleet. Then one of the greatest linebackers to ever play the game. Killed more quarterbacks with his deadly stare than tackling them. Mike Singletary from the ’85 Bears is coaching the Memphis Express. He was head coach of the San Francisco 49ers and did  tours as assistant. Then a guy who seems like he’s coached in many of these start up leagues. He was a wonderful college coach with the crazy offensive formations. Steve Spurrier is coaching the Orlando Apollos. He did well in the old USFL league in the early 1980s.  He also was head coach of the Washington Redskins. The Salt Lake City Stallions are being coached by Dennis Erickson. He was head coach for the Seattle Seahawks and San Francisco 49ers. I like the idea that each team has an  experienced head coach . Many of these guys have did it done it before.  These guys will not be jumping ship on their first offer they get, if they do well in this league. I think it makes the players better too.

The USFL in the early 1980’s had the talent of young stars. They would have won the arms race versus Russia back then with guys like Jim Kelly, Doug Flutie, Doug Williams, and Steve Young . The AAF have cast off quarterbacks from the NFL. Guys that could not get their feet wet in the NFL. Guys that had some chances, but failed from poor play or injuries. Guys like Christian Hackenberg, Trevor Knight,  Aaron Murray and Zack Mettenberger. The Hershel Walkers of the AAF names are more familiar than the quarterbacks. Zac Stacy, former Ram. Denard Robinson, who was running quarterback at Michigan University. Was drafted in the NFL and used as running back for the Jaguars. Trent Richardson who was a bust with the Browns and Colts.Then Bishop Sankey who did have some good games in the NFL running the ball for the Titans. The AAF has some former defensive players. Throw in some former kickers of the NFL. The Chicago Bears should monitor that. Every player in the AAF is looking to show case what talent they either still have or a coming out kind of talent for the NFL. Each player, no matter who you are, gets a three year non guaranteed contract for 250,000. You can make more money from bonuses. Team based performance bonuses. They can get individual fan engagement incentives if they are really strapped for cash. This should keep the league competitive.

The  AAF has added their own twist on things for how they do things differently from the NFL.  They have no owners of each team. The league runs all the teams.  When it comes to building the teams, they have a quarterback draft. Then they allocate talent regionally.  Players that have played in colleges closest to the city of the team, will likely be playing there. The reason is so you are familiar with your players to draw more interest, rather than not knowing anyone.

The rules of the AAF are interesting as well, as they are doing some of their own things compared to the NFL. No kickoffs, which I don’t like. Taking a wonderful play out of the game, to me the run back is awesome to watch.  They are trying to speed up the games by going to 35 seconds on the play clock. Every sport is trying to speed up the game. Everyone has to be somewhere else all of a sudden. That is one less beer per game in my world. Teams will start on their own 25 yard line. No onside kicks either. They have substituted this play. They have to convert a 4th down and ten, and it depends how much you are down by. No extra points, only two point conversions. This is a rule that I’m in favor of. Overtime is like college. Both teams get the ball. However it’s first and goal from the ten yard line. No field goals. Team has to score a touchdown and then go for two point conversion.

There have been so many attempts at a professional football league that has played their games in the spring time. It is better than trying to go against the NFL at the same time, when the NFL plays in fall.  Ask the great President Trump on that great idea. As he ran the USFL into the ground. Then you have the XFL coming back next season and they can see what the AAF does and try to make their league better in the process. The idea of playing football and having a league that is competitive and not watered down like the NBA, is a good thing. I hate when they mess with the traditional parts of the game. Practically no special teams is annoying. I want to see a well balanced game with defense, not being handicapped. If this is going to arena or flag football it will be garbage. I think they need to keep the league small until they build up the fan bases and not think about expanding to other cities. They need to keep it simple. I do like that they have many football people involved.

I will watch and judge on my own. The chances of this league being a success are slim.  The league will simply fold. Another possibility is the NFL buys it, and makes a minor league system out of it like they did to the World League in the early 1990s. I know the AAF and XFL will not be able to function together at the same time next season and be profitable. Yes, perhaps both  leagues will merge sometime in the years to come. Fat chance of that happening. I do know the month of February is the suckiest sports month of them all. I can see this league will be the bridge to get me into baseball, March Madness, and beyond.