Skip Sauer from The Sports Economist, reports that there is a new football league that will sprout up with the best of college football’s undrafted players. It will be called the All American Football League (AAFL), and will contain 8 teams and a 14 game schedule.
Players and coaches will be employed by the league, not the teams. This means that salaries will be under strict control. Players will earn about $100,000 a season, as much as triple what players in the Arena Football League make. This fact may allow the AAFL to become a viable alternative to Arena Football and the Canadian Football League. The league could allow potential NFL players a league to practice their skills before taking it to the next level. Graduation from college is a prerequisite of playing in the league.
The All American Football League has a website, and it even contains a blog where visitors can have an influence on league rules!
Not a bad place for your football clients who cannot make it into the NFL straight out of college to start their careers.
[tags]aafl, all american football league, football, nfl, afl, arena football[/tags]
3 replies on “Football Minor Leagues”
I for one am pretty excited about it. To me it’s a link to the college atmoshphere and a high spirited style of game. They will have the cheerleaders and bands of the host schoool. I would watch football 52 weeks a year if it were possible. This is the league’s site: http://www.allamericanfootballleague.com/
The Anniston Star ran a column about it in yesterday’s paper. The Birmingham News ran an upbeat article on Friday:
http://www.al.com/sports/birminghamnews/index.ssf?/base/sports/1157707132259410.xml&coll=2
What do you all think? Would you support it? I’m trying to find out more. They are apparently having teams from NCS, Purdue, Florida, Florida St., Alabama, Tennessee, and Texas to play in the Alamo Dome.
http://www.annistonstar.com/spor…sports.htm
Start-up pro league hopefully won’t be another W-Laugh
09-09-2006
When you watch Auburn play Mississippi State this morning and then take in the Alabama-Vanderbilt game this afternoon, you’ll be seeing several players who’ll be in the NFL next season.
And you could be seeing several players who’ll be in the fledgling All-American Football League next season, as well.
Reports are that Birmingham’s Legion Field likely will host one of the eight flagship franchises when the league kicks off in the spring of 2007. The AAFL is designed to be something of a post-graduate pro league; the players must have college degrees to be eligible, and the teams, for the most part, will play on college campuses.
West Lafayette, Ind., home of Purdue University, has secured a franchise, while Gainesville, Fla., and Knoxville, Tenn. — where the NCAA’s Gators and Volunteers, respectively, call home — also are sure bets.
Legion Field is not located on a college campus. However, it qualifies as a venue because it’s the site of a college bowl game. Any team that played there primarily would be made up of Alabama, Auburn and UAB graduates, although I’m sure former Jacksonville State Gamecocks and Troy Trojans also will be on the field — as long as they have degrees, of course.
On the one hand the AAFL has potential. With players making $100,000 per season, the league will attract far better athletes than those who toil in semi-pro leagues. And with the blessings of the NCAA, it has credibility right out of the gate.
But …
While quite a few football nuts like myself gladly would watch the gridiron game 52 weeks out of the year, the only non-NFL pro football circuit that has thrived in the United States is the Arena Football League.
And let’s be honest: The AFL can be fun to watch, but it’s not “real†football. It’s a niche sport stocked mostly with minor league-caliber athletes.
A real 11-on-11 outdoor league is a long shot.
In 1974 and 1975 the World Football League was in operation, but owners with shallow pockets and a public that quickly tired of the novelty of an alternative league spelled its doom.
The 1980s marked the evolution of the United States Football League, which was solid and popular — until it inexplicably decided to move to the fall and compete with the NFL.
Next thing you know the USFL is fodder for trivia aficionados.
Really, no spring league since the USFL has been viable.
The World League of American Football — WLAF for short (and, perhaps, to its detriment) — flopped and now primarily is a German-based farm system for the NFL known as NFL Europe.
The Canadian Football League’s expansion to the Lower 48 was short-lived, as the CFL quickly contracted back to the Great White North where fans could appreciate three downs and 25-yards-deep end zones.
The last spring league, of course, was the XFL — one of the greatest disasters in pro sports history.
So what do we make of the All-American Football League? It’s a nice idea with credible people behind it. It’s something I’d watch and likely enjoy.
Yet considering all other spring leagues that have come before it died, I’m not convinced it’ll live. Heck, I’m not even convinced it’ll get beyond the point of conception.
I guess we’ll see.
Meantime, enjoy watching the Tide and Tigers play today. You probably can tell which seniors, and perhaps juniors, will be performing on Sundays in 2007.
As for the ones not good enough for the NFL, well, those degrees will come in handy with or without the AAFL.
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