Alliance of American Football Thread

Postby **nocera** » Tue Feb 19, 2019 12:43 pm

Right. They clearly didn't plan very well which makes me think the league isn't long for this world. The only way I see it continuing past this season (if it even makes it through the first season) is if the NFL invests huge in hopes of it being a developmental league.

Postby **shafnutz05** » Tue Feb 19, 2019 1:01 pm

Postby **dodint** » Tue Feb 19, 2019 1:34 pm

For me personally when I saw that the NFL was helping the league along I immediately lost what little bit of interest I had. I do not want more NFL.

Postby **MrKennethTKangaroo** » Tue Feb 19, 2019 1:36 pm

I'd go watch one of those games

Postby **meow** » Tue Feb 19, 2019 1:55 pm

Phase 1: Create football league
Phase 2: ?????
Phase 3: Profit

Postby **nocera** » Tue Feb 19, 2019 3:59 pm

I tried to watch a game but I didn't last very long. My problem is it's too similar to the NFL. The no kickoffs/extra point is great and starts to set it aside but the other rule changes are so minute that only the most diehard football fans would notice a difference. Plus the majority of the teams comes from cities I don't care about with crowds that look like the above picture. The logos/unis also look like every "create a team" you've ever seen on Madden.

Postby **dodint** » Tue Feb 19, 2019 5:08 pm

I was watching a game the other day and both teams had dark purple jerseys.

Postby **iamjs** » Tue Feb 19, 2019 5:22 pm

Report: the AAF needed a $250 million bailout after just two weeks of games:
http://deadsp.in/85W9rMu

On February 18, 2019, the league announced that Tom Dundon, whose other holdings include the Carolina Hurricanes of the National Hockey League (NHL), agreed to invest $250 million into the league.[19] He was also named the new chairman of the AAF.[20] The investment was initially reported to be due to the league being in danger of not making payroll.[20] However, it was later reported that the payroll issue was due to a glitch in the league's changing of payroll companies, and that Dundon's investment had already been planned.[21]

Leaving the citation marks in there because I'm too lazy to go back to grab the link to the AAF wikipedia page

Postby **offsides** » Sat Mar 23, 2019 2:12 pm

Former NFLers now doing AAF stuff. Marvin Lewis is an announcer for today's AAF game. And Johnny Football signs with AAF Memphis Express.

Postby **Freddy Rumsen** » Tue Apr 02, 2019 12:54 pm

I can't confirm, yet, that the league is folding. But the tone of the person I talked to didn't sound good.

https://twitter.com/BenKercheval/status ... 5129469953

/thread

Postby **Freddy Rumsen** » Tue Apr 02, 2019 12:56 pm

https://twitter.com/darrenrovell/status ... 0073716736

Sources: The AAF will suspend all football operations today. New owner Tom Dundon will lose approximately $70 million on his investment. Dundon makes decision against wishes of league co-founders Charlie Ebersol and Bill Polian.

Postby **Dickie Dunn** » Tue Apr 02, 2019 12:59 pm

My god. Never in a million years would I have expected a minor football league to fold.

Postby **Morkle** » Tue Apr 02, 2019 1:15 pm

I don't understand why these leagues exist, and owners dump ridiculous amounts of money into it.

Postby **shafnutz05** » Tue Apr 02, 2019 1:16 pm

https://twitter.com/darrenrovell/status ... 0073716736

Sources: The AAF will suspend all football operations today. New owner Tom Dundon will lose approximately $70 million on his investment. Dundon makes decision against wishes of league co-founders Charlie Ebersol and Bill Polian.

Yeah...I mean honestly, I know these guys have a ton of money to throw around, but holy sht anyone with half a brain could have saw this coming a million miles away. Going up against the NFL has failed every single time it has been attempted.

Postby **NAN** » Tue Apr 02, 2019 1:22 pm

Shocked I tell ya!

Postby **Orlando Penguin** » Tue Apr 02, 2019 1:25 pm

I don't understand why these leagues exist, and owners dump ridiculous amounts of money into it.

Because Americans have an unhealthy obsession with football and everyone seems to think anything to do with the sport is worth tossing money toward. Guess what? If it's not NFL-related, it's not going to work, especially in this country. WLAF and NFL Europe worked for a good long time because of the European venues and the NFL's allotment of players but even that had a shelf life. Fans and media (especially the media) need to just be happy with a few months without football rather than it saturating the sports market.

Postby **dodint** » Tue Apr 02, 2019 1:30 pm

Going up against the NFL has failed every single time it has been attempted.

I bailed on it when I found out they were supported by the NFL. I don't want more NFL, I want a true alternative.

Postby **Morkle** » Tue Apr 02, 2019 1:30 pm

I don't understand why these leagues exist, and owners dump ridiculous amounts of money into it.
Because Americans have an unhealthy obsession with football and everyone seems to think anything to do with the sport is worth tossing money toward. Guess what? If it's not NFL-related, it's not going to work, especially in this country. WLAF and NFL Europe worked for a good long time because of the European venues and the NFL's allotment of players but even that had a shelf life. Fans and media (especially the media) need to just be happy with a few months without football rather than it saturating the sports market.

It's pretty much my point. The saturation of NFL and College Football is more than enough, I don't understand the wants and needs of a spring league.

Postby **nocera** » Tue Apr 02, 2019 2:42 pm

My problem was it just wasn't different enough. It was basically the NFL with much less talented players. Nobody wants that.

Postby **Morkle** » Tue Apr 02, 2019 2:50 pm

It's always going to be that way though. Every league, not the NFL, are going to always be players not good enough to be in the NFL.

Postby **dodint** » Tue Apr 02, 2019 2:58 pm

This was supposed to be a D league. I suppose my best vision for the AAF is that it would supplant the NCAA over time. Giving kids a choice between corrupt college slave labor and making some money while showcasing their talent would've been nice.

Postby **RonnieFranchise** » Tue Apr 02, 2019 3:03 pm

Americans love football but not bad football.

Postby **nocera** » Tue Apr 02, 2019 3:05 pm

It's always going to be that way though. Every league, not the NFL, are going to always be players not good enough to be in the NFL.

Right but if that's the case, the league needs to do something else to drastically differentiate itself from the NFL. A simple kickoff rule change or no extra point won't do it. XFL had the right idea, at least.

YouTube · Postby **mikey** » Tue Apr 02, 2019 3:13 pm

This was supposed to be a D league. I suppose my best vision for the AAF is that it would supplant the NCAA over time. Giving kids a choice between corrupt college slave labor and making some money while showcasing their talent would've been nice.

The only way I really see this going down is if NFL teams individually sponsor their own development programs...i.e. the Euro model, essentially. I don't expect to see that any time soon because of the delicate balance between the poorness of the product, the money investment and the NCAA's monopoly on cheap labor...

Postby **NAN** » Tue Apr 02, 2019 3:13 pm

This was supposed to be a D league. I suppose my best vision for the AAF is that it would supplant the NCAA over time. Giving kids a choice between corrupt college slave labor and making some money while showcasing their talent would've been nice.

Lev Bell says the NFL is slave labor.