2019 AAF Season Thread

[John Price]

The AAF money issues were kind of interesting but this was supposed to be the "legitimate" league compared to the XFL. Seeing it go so fast is highly disturbing. And again, I'll point this out. What are you going to do from February to August without football? Why can't football be played during those months? Why does there only have to be one league? (two if you count CFL)

Spring football is a terrific idea. The AAF in theory was a good place for former NFL prospects to play and regain attention. If you want to play football as a career, your only option shouldn't be the NFL. Other leagues like this would be nice.

Gloating and laughing at the demise of a league like this seems kind of silly IMO.

 

[John Price]

So basically Dundon and the AAFB had a falling out over the use of players, and he is just going to stop payment and quit as the owner leaving the league in disarray. Again, the league had bright ideas like more mics on officials and players, and more transparency. The removal of kickoffs was also great as well as the removal of the onside kick (that 4th and 15 option). This leads me to believe that it was sustainable financially but that the owner just didn't agree on how players should be managed. Honestly, there should be no reason to be bitter towards the AAF. They weren't trying to compete with the NFL. They were a chance for players to pursue their passions and get noticed.

 

[GKJ]

The AAF money issues were kind of interesting but this was supposed to be the "legitimate" league compared to the XFL. Seeing it go so fast is highly disturbing. And again, I'll point this out. What are you going to do from February to August without football? Why can't football be played during those months? Why does there only have to be one league? (two if you count CFL)

Spring football is a terrific idea. The AAF in theory was a good place for former NFL prospects to play and regain attention. If you want to play football as a career, your only option shouldn't be the NFL. Other leagues like this would be nice.

Gloating and laughing at the demise of a league like this seems kind of silly IMO.

Football is played in the spring, the Arena League(s) have been active for 30 years in various forms.

Whoever their biggest investors were pulled out right before the season began, that's why they brought in Tom Dundon. That's what threw their whole business model into chaos.

 

[John Price]

Football is played in the spring, the Arena League(s) have been active for 30 years in various forms.

Whoever their biggest investors were pulled out right before the season began, that's why they brought in Tom Dundon. That's what threw their whole business model into chaos.

The Arena football league has like 4 teams though.

Clemson coach Dabo Swinney brought up a good point when I was doing research on the AAF. He and Spurrier are good friends and he wished Spurrier luck and he said that the AAF provided an opportunity for football players to pursue their dreams without having to play for the NFL or CFL (which has a cap on international players for some reason). So, if you come from one of many football powerhouses in college and just want a chance to play football, why should it just be the NFL? The best go to play in the NFL, and that's fine, but if you're not one of the best, and you still love playing football, why can't you make a career out of it? The AAF did a great job taking care of insurance for players, that was one of the big advantages.

Athletes should be allowed to play football competitively in other leagues not named the NFL. Heck, it's already done for hockey and baseball. Even Basketball has a D-league.

 

[GKJ]

The Arena football league has like 4 teams though.

Clemson coach Dabo Swinney brought up a good point when I was doing research on the AAF. He and Spurrier are good friends and he wished Spurrier luck and he said that the AAF provided an opportunity for football players to pursue their dreams without having to play for the NFL or CFL (which has a cap on international players for some reason). So, if you come from one of many football powerhouses in college and just want a chance to play football, why should it just be the NFL? The best go to play in the NFL, and that's fine, but if you're not one of the best, and you still love playing football, why can't you make a career out of it? The AAF did a great job taking care of insurance for players, that was one of the big advantages.

Athletes should be allowed to play football competitively in other leagues not named the NFL. Heck, it's already done for hockey and baseball. Even Basketball has a D-league.

Stop asking why they should and ask why they don't. You can only make a career out of it if someone is willing or able to pay you.

 

[John Price]

Stop asking why they should and ask why they don't. You can only make a career out of it if someone is willing or able to pay you.

I'm telling you there isn't a reason why they shouldn't. The notion of there being only one football league in America is ludicrous. There should be minor league football teams playing football around American during the offseason. This is what AAF was essentially. Again, every other sport has a system in place where they aren't the only league in America. Even MLS has a minor league soccer program where players play (One of them is being built a few minutes away in Loudoun county!)

 

[John Price]

Note to the XFL: Don't even bother.

I'm curious to see how the XFL does compared to the AAF as the XFL has the more "goofball" and less serious brand whether they want to embrace it or not. People hear XFL and they laugh at the old XFL and who knows how much of that we'll see in 2020. XFL also has dual head coach / gm modes which is curious.

Even with their demise I doubt this is the end of spring / summer football.

 

[GKJ]

I'm telling you there isn't a reason why they shouldn't. The notion of there being only one football league in America is ludicrous. There should be minor league football teams playing football around American during the offseason. This is what AAF was essentially. Again, every other sport has a system in place where they aren't the only league in America. Even MLS has a minor league soccer program where players play (One of them is being built a few minutes away in Loudoun county!)

All of those other leagues have fairly modest expectations that don't need resources sunk into them like football does.

 

[John Price]

All of those other leagues have fairly modest expectations that don't need resources sunk into them like football does.

I agree that the resource issue for football is enormous compared to other leagues but this league was doing things the right way and again was essentially shut down over a disagreement over roster players.

 

[cutchemist42]

Why did the model need low rate NFL players for success though? Was it from the point that wanted NFL teams to cover salaries ala AHL/AAA baseball? If it was a talent point, I dont see how there would have been an interest increase from marginal NFL players.

 

[tony d]

To bad to see this. Doesn't bode well for the XFL which failed in 2001.

 

[kingsholygrail]

Isn't the XFL being funded essentially entirely by Vince? With the AAF it took one of the owners to decide he wanted to take his toys home to drop the league into the dumpster.

 

[Blitzkrug]

There's a rumor floating around that Dundon only put in the 250 million so he could get the rights to their app, which allows you to predict plays and would obviously have a pretty big valuation on the gambling market.

Reallllly scummy if that's the case imo.

I still don't understand why he needed NFL involvement so damn bad. the CFL has been drawing from essentially the same pool of players that the AAF had for decades and has been totally fine. Dude looks like a really sore loser in doing this.

 

[keonsbitterness]

Is it just me or does three years go by much faster nowadays?

AAF - apparently dead
UFL - dead
XFL #1 - dead
WLAF/NFL Europe - dead

The USFL remains the only spring league to have any legitimate success. They also had rich owners who successfully signed NFL and NCAA stars away from the NFL. That was easier back then since the average NFL salary was about $100K. Today it's $2.7 million, and the minimum is $480K. In 1986, ABC offered the USFL $175 million over four years to keep playing in the Spring, but Trump & co. had other ideas. Who knows how things would be today if that offer was accepted.

A new league has to start really small (no stupid $70,000+ salaries), take whatever crumbs it can get from TV, and try to grow slowly. But I don't see Vince having the patience for that. He may be crazy enough to think he has to compete head-to-head with the NFL for star players. In which case he'll lose.

Isn't the XFL being funded essentially entirely by Vince? With the AAF it took one of the owners to decide he wanted to take his toys home to drop the league into the dumpster.

The AAF essentially became one owner -- Dundon.

 

[Blitzkrug]

Interesting sidenote: Vince McMahon apparently sold around 275 million worth of WWE stock today.

Buy it out and absorb it in to the XFL?

 

[GKJ]

I agree that the resource issue for football is enormous compared to other leagues but this league was doing things the right way and again was essentially shut down over a disagreement over roster players.

No, it was shut down because they didn’t have investors who agreed with their vision, and their TV and gate don’t make enough revenue.

 

[Golden Puppers]

 

[DanielPlainview]

Attendance-wise, the only teams worth keeping around are San Antonio, Orlando, Birmingham, and San Diego. I could definitely see the XFL grabbing those teams.

 

[GKJ]

Attendance-wise, the only teams worth keeping around are San Antonio, Orlando, Birmingham, and San Diego. I could definitely see the XFL grabbing those teams.

XFL has already announced the markets they're starting in

 

[DanielPlainview]

I'm very aware. Doesn't mean they can't add more. They didn't anticipate the AAF getting screwed over by it's own investors, I'm sure.

 

[NJDevs26]

Seeing all the NFL people talk about and hype up this league I thought it was more popular than it was. I wasn't really paying attention at all but I was just starting to think maybe I was missing out and I'd catch playoff games, but obviously now I'm glad I didn't waste my time on this

 

[Pilky01]

LOL @ Manziel!

Lifetime banned from the 2nd best football league in the world for 6 days of AAF play.

 

[c9777666]

So who's the champ?

 

[keonsbitterness]

Another obstacle for any spring league is that the NFL now has an extensive off-season presence with the combine, free agency, the draft, and OTAs. The combine and especially the draft are money-makers for the league. No wonder the NFL had zero interest getting in bed with the AAF. Why cannibalize themselves?

So who's the champ?

The guys who pulled out their money early.

 

[DanielPlainview]

It wasn't that the NFL had no interest. There were CBA hangups that needed to be worked out. Dundon wanted it done now, Polian was willing to wait till the next CBA negotiations.

It basically comes down to Dundon being the worst sort of VC imaginable.