Spring Football Leagues (USFL and XFL)

[DanielPlainview]

AAF: Alliance of American Football - Wikipedia

XFL: XFL (2020) - Wikipedia

The AAF has already announced 5 of 8 teams and their head coaches:

Atlanta - Georgia State Stadium - Brad Childress
Memphis - Liberty Bowl - Mike Singletary
Orlando - Spectrum Stadium - Steve Spurrier
Phoenix - Sun Devil Stadium - Rick Neuheisel
Salt Lake City - Rice Eccles Stadium - Dennis Erickson

Speculation for the remaining three includes San Diego; St. Louis; Portland, OR; San Antonio; and Birmingham, AL.

The AAF seems to be pretty well put together at this point being run by Bill Polian and funded by the Ebersols and Keith Rabois. Games will be on CBS and CBS Sports Network along with a possible streaming app; the XFL hasn't announced anything yet, but speculation is they'll utilize the WWE infrastructure. The AAF will begin play the week after this coming Super Bowl; XFL in 2020.

It's a little strange that McMahon has jumped into the game so late. Yes, he made the big splash announcement a few months ago, but I don't think he had much planned at that point. The AAF, on the other hand, has been in the works for a few years. McMahon and Dick Ebersol are apparently chums, so, at least to me, it's odd that they aren't working together again. I can only guess McMahon's thought process there. Perhaps he didn't want to abandon his XFL project for good and concluded it was now or never for an attempted comeback. Or maybe he was never invited to invest, he's upset about it, and wants to spoil the party. (I think the former is more likely.) Whatever the case may be, we're going to go from zero football in the Spring to two competing leagues by 2020, and I couldn't be happier to have more football.

Click to read more...

 

[DanielPlainview]

The AAF recently announced San Diego as the 6th team.

Some old, familiar names in the coaching staff:

HC: Mike Martz
OC: Jon Kitna
DC: Larry Marmie
OL: Jackie Slater
DL: Vincy Amey
WR: T.J. Houshmandzadeh
DB: Dre Bly
ST: Larry Mac Duff

 

[Newsworthy]

When does the season start?
Who see are the players?
Where do they come from?

 

[DanielPlainview]

Season begins a week after the Super Bowl.

The players will be a combination of NFL cuts, college grads, etc. They're expected to have about 70-80 players for camp, whittled down to 50 for the season.

 

[GKJ]

AAF: Alliance of American Football - Wikipedia

XFL: XFL (2020) - Wikipedia

The AAF has already announced 5 of 8 teams and their head coaches:

Atlanta - Georgia State Stadium - Brad Childress
Memphis - Liberty Bowl - Mike Singletary
Orlando - Spectrum Stadium - Steve Spurrier
Phoenix - Sun Devil Stadium - Rick Neuheisel
Salt Lake City - Rice Eccles Stadium - Dennis Erickson

Speculation for the remaining three includes San Diego; St. Louis; Portland, OR; San Antonio; and Birmingham, AL.

The AAF seems to be pretty well put together at this point being run by Bill Polian and funded by the Ebersols and Keith Rabois. Games will be on CBS and CBS Sports Network along with a possible streaming app; the XFL hasn't announced anything yet, but speculation is they'll utilize the WWE infrastructure. The AAF will begin play the week after this coming Super Bowl; XFL in 2020.

It's a little strange that McMahon has jumped into the game so late. Yes, he made the big splash announcement a few months ago, but I don't think he had much planned at that point. The AAF, on the other hand, has been in the works for a few years. McMahon and Dick Ebersol are apparently chums, so, at least to me, it's odd that they aren't working together again. I can only guess McMahon's thought process there. Perhaps he didn't want to abandon his XFL project for good and concluded it was now or never for an attempted comeback. Or maybe he was never invited to invest, he's upset about it, and wants to spoil the party. (I think the former is more likely.) Whatever the case may be, we're going to go from zero football in the Spring to two competing leagues by 2020, and I couldn't be happier to have more football.

Vince only announced it because he figured out the Ebersol was planning his.

Vince’s plan is to completely reimagine the game, including having them down to 2 hours. He’s also going to get worse players and rely mainly on gimmicks.

 

[DanielPlainview]

Birmingham, Alabama is the 7th city.



That rounds out the East.

One more team to go. Seems likely to be somewhere in Texas. San Antonio makes a lot of sense, but so does a big market, like Houston.

 

[DanielPlainview]

Vince only announced it because he figured out the Ebersol was planning his.

Vince’s plan is to completely reimagine the game, including having them down to 2 hours. He’s also going to get worse players and rely mainly on gimmicks.

Remains to be seen.

I have my doubts about the XFL getting off the ground, truth be told. The AAF seems to really have it's ducks in a row, while the XFL appears to be using Twitter to recruit employees...

 

[DanielPlainview]

Oliver Luck leaving NCAA to be XFL commish

 

[DanielPlainview]

That's it for the AAF; all 8 teams have been announced:

- Atlanta
- Birmingham
- Memphis
- Orlando
- Phoenix
- Salt Lake City
- San Antonio
- San Diego

 

[BKIslandersFan]

That's it for the AAF; all 8 teams have been announced:

- Atlanta
- Birmingham
- Memphis
- Orlando
- Phoenix
- Salt Lake City
- San Antonio
- San Diego

Atlanta and Phoenix are interesting. They already have NFL teams. Atlanta is in a football hotbed, but Phoenix isn't even in a good sports market.

 

[spintheblackcircle]

 

[DanielPlainview]

Either this really is a passion project for him or he's really miffed about the Ebersols and the AAF.

 

[DanielPlainview]

THE ALLIANCE OF AMERICAN FOOTBALL SIGNS FIRST 100 PLAYERS

New Professional Football League Begins Player Acquisition Process for 2019 Inaugural Season

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. – August 6, 2018 – The Alliance of American Football has signed its first 100 players to compete in the new professional league launching on February 9, 2019. The Alliance recently began the process of offering player contracts to potential prospects following an extensive evaluation process by the personnel staff of The Alliance's eight teams...

...The standard Alliance player contract offers players a base salary of $250,000 over three years with a comprehensive bonus system which will award financial compensation based on a variety of metrics such as performance, win, and fan engagement. Additionally, players who make final rosters will be offered postsecondary education assistance and health and wellness benefits.

Players are allocated to Alliance teams based on where they competed in college. If a player’s college is outside The Alliance footprint, he will be allocated based on his most recent NFL/CFL team. If a player’s college is outside The Alliance allocation footprint AND he did not play in the NFL or CFL, then he is unallocated and available to be tendered a contract by any Alliance team. If a player signs with The Alliance and is then offered a contract to play in the National Football League, the player will be granted permission to pursue that opportunity.

First 100 Signed Player List

 

[cletusvandamme]

Big fan of spring leagues here. Some friends and I have ran a fictional spring league for almost 20 years now.

We also have a CFL-Sim league. I am looking for Canadian fans.

 

[Jets4Life]

XFL was a joke in 2001, when the WWE was making boatloads of money, had NBC as an investment partner, and had a national TV contract. It was also at a time that NFL ratings were better, and there was no competition in the spring, in terms of pro football. Now the XFL will have to compete with the AAF, and somehow try and convince a network to carry the XFL games.

I think this is all ego for McMahon. He has a history of making business decisions that are influenced by his massive ego. The XFL will either be a colossal failure, or will never get off the ground.

 

[spintheblackcircle]

AAF league to have enhanced in-game betting

The Alliance Of American Football has an in-house tech team that has built a gambling product that not only will allow the gambler to watch a game on an app while betting on it simultaneously on the same screen, it will also allow the league's exclusive gaming partner to better price in-game odds by building a data set that correlates the likelihood of a certain bet winning.

When Charlie Ebersol co-founded the league, he always had the idea of building a separate tech business alongside the league in his mind. While Ebersol effusively talked about gambling, he did not reveal that his team was building a robust product that would immediately bolster interest in the league. That revelation, which comes this week, makes it more clear why investors such as the Chernin Group, which owns the sports betting site and app, the Action Network, tech investor Keith Rabois and Brian Singerman from the Founders Fund wanted in.

 

[GKJ]

Vince's league is going to be Slamball.

 

[Voight]

AAF not learn it takes more than 1 year to organize a league? I get they want to beat McMahon to the punch but this is only going to end poorly.

 

[DanielPlainview]

It was announced recently, but it's been in the works for a few years.

 

[GKJ]

AAF not learn it takes more than 1 year to organize a league? I get they want to beat McMahon to the punch but this is only going to end poorly.

Vince was the one trying to beat AAF by announcing first.

 

[Voight]

Vince was the one trying to beat AAF by announcing first.

Yes and then they wanted to one up him by starting earlier but 1 year is not enough time to organize and start a league.

 

[GKJ]

Yes and then they wanted to one up him by starting earlier but 1 year is not enough time to organize and start a league.

No they didn’t, they already were doing that. This was always the plan for AAF. They already had a TV deal lined up while Vince, who has nothing, was selling his WWE stock in order to start Alpha Entertainment.

 

[VickAshley]

AAF: Alliance of American Football - Wikipedia

XFL: XFL (2020) - Wikipedia

The AAF has already announced 5 of 8 teams and their head coaches:

Atlanta - Georgia State Stadium - Brad Childress
Memphis - Liberty Bowl - Mike Singletary
Orlando - Spectrum Stadium - Steve Spurrier
Phoenix - Sun Devil Stadium - Rick Neuheisel
Salt Lake City - Rice Eccles Stadium - Dennis Erickson

Speculation for the remaining three includes San Diego; St. Louis; Portland, OR; San Antonio; and Birmingham, AL.

The AAF seems to be pretty well put together at this point being run by Bill Polian and funded by the Ebersols and Keith Rabois. Games will be on CBS and CBS Sports Network along with a possible streaming app; the XFL hasn't announced anything yet, but speculation is they'll utilize the WWE infrastructure. The AAF will begin play the week after this coming Super Bowl; XFL in 2020.

It's a little strange that McMahon has jumped into the game so late. Yes, he made the big splash announcement a few months ago, but I don't think he had much planned at that point. The AAF, on the other hand, has been in the works for a few years. McMahon and Dick Ebersol are apparently chums, so, at least to me, it's odd that they aren't working together again. I can only guess McMahon's thought process there. Perhaps he didn't want to abandon his XFL project for good and concluded it was now or never for an attempted comeback. Or maybe he was never invited to invest, he's upset about it, and wants to spoil the party. (I think the former is more likely.) Whatever the case may be, we're going to go from zero football in the Spring to two competing leagues by 2020, and I couldn't be happier to have more football.

No AAF Chicago team what the heck? With Mitchell playing like absolute garbage you'd think this would be a huge market for a AAF team, literally disappointed about this and shaking my head IRL.

I can't WAIT for XFL to drop. Vince has more then likely learned from his mistakes of the passed and should have it nailed down tightly to take the USA by storm with his new version of XFL. I don't even care that he's a Trump supporter and hates Kaepernick, he knows how to put on a show and it should be very entertaining in my IMO. Imagine if he does some cross-over promotional mashups with the WWE eventualy? It will literally be sick a* and bring the game of football into the modern age. Can you imagine the Promos??? Can you even wrap your brain around how Braun Strohman would look as a DT in a 3/4 front?? Seriously, maybe even bring in Sumos to play linemen, that would literally be amazing. Not to mention the NFL guys that get into too much trouble and get kicked out of the league, Vince can make a place for them to make a name for themselves if anyone can do it!

 

[Conrad McBenis]

No AAF Chicago team what the heck? With Mitchell playing like absolute garbage you'd think this would be a huge market for a AAF team, literally disappointed about this and shaking my head IRL.

I can't WAIT for XFL to drop. Vince has more then likely learned from his mistakes of the passed and should have it nailed down tightly to take the USA by storm with his new version of XFL. I don't even care that he's a Trump supporter and hates Kaepernick, he knows how to put on a show and it should be very entertaining in my IMO. Imagine if he does some cross-over promotional mashups with the WWE eventualy? It will literally be sick a* and bring the game of football into the modern age. Can you imagine the Promos??? Can you even wrap your brain around how Braun Strohman would look as a DT in a 3/4 front?? Seriously, maybe even bring in Sumos to play linemen, that would literally be amazing. Not to mention the NFL guys that get into too much trouble and get kicked out of the league, Vince can make a place for them to make a name for themselves if anyone can do it!

Or maybe Velveteen Dream can play QB better (he's way more athletic and younger than Kaep) and Kaepernick can go take Dream's place in NXT.

 

[DanielPlainview]

What in God's name