History has not been
kind to upstart American football leagues. No matter how well laid the
plans, it seems as though any acronym that doesn’t contain the letters
“NFL” is doomed to failure. On Saturday afternoon while most of us are
watching the Senior Bowl, a new league, the All American Football
League, will hold its inaugural league Draft. If you’re like me after
considering that for a moment, images of Vince McMahon’s horrendously
planned, preposterously hyped XFL probably come to mind.
But this league is
different, says NFL Hall of Fame guard Joe DeLamielleure one of the
leagues spokesmen. If it wasn’t, the nine time All Pro performer and
2003 Hall of Fame inductee wouldn’t have associated himself with it.
“This isn’t the XFL
or the USFL,” said DeLamielleure. “First off, were not competing with
the NFL in any way, shape or form. The other thing is we’re paying the
players between $50,000 and $100,000 to play for ten weeks in this
league. None of those other leagues paid that amount of money which
shows how serious we are.”
| So how will they do
it? Initially, six cities were
selected in pre-existing college football “hotbed” type areas to
attract a built in fan base. Available big name players were then
divvied up by the region where they played collegiately or are the most
well known. Those players were then tagged as “Protected Players” and
cannot be drafted in the league’s Draft. “Protected Players” are
those
who played college football in that particular franchise's region, and
have been pre-selected by each team as a sort of core group to build
the rest of the team around. These “Protected Players” are essentially
the heart of the league. After the Draft, it’s a 10 week season with a
championship game the week before the 4th of July pitting the top two
teams against each other. |
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“A major strength is
the name recognition and the talent,” said
DeLamielleure. “There is a lot of talent out there that we have access
to that there just isn’t room for in the NFL. Eric Crouch, Chris Leak,
Tee Martin, Woody Danzler, Shane Mathews is a coach. I could tell you
the names of backup QBs in the NFL and you wouldn’t know them. But
every guy I just named off, you know that guy immediately. That’s
another thing this league offers that those other leagues didn’t.”
Another cool feature
about the AAFL that adds even more credibility and
tugs at fans college alliances is that the games will be played in
recognizable college stadiums. The Florida team will play its home
games in Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in Gainesville, better known as “The
Swamp” to non-locals. The Alabama franchise will play its home games at
the legendary Legion Field in Birmingham and the Tennessee team will
play its home games at Neyland Stadium home of the University of
Tennessee Volunteers.
This fact adds to the
appeal of a “college based” pro league which pits
former collegiate rivals against each other and rekindles the flame of
a long dead SEC or Big Ten rivalry that seemingly died when their
college eligibility expired. As one newspaper put it,
“Think Florida
vs. Alabama or Tennessee vs. Georgia in May.”
“Originally, the
concept came from Marcus Katz (the CEO of the league)
when he was at the University of Georgia,” said DeLamielleure. “There
were a couple of particular Bulldog players who he really enjoyed
watching but realized they weren’t quite good enough to make it to the
NFL. And he thought it was too bad he’d never be able to see them play
again. Then he thought it would be cool to play football in the spring
and carry over some of that enthusiasm that college football is known
for.”
Another thing the
AAFL has over the XFL, for example, is a noticeable
lack of gimmicks. There are no one on one sprints between two players
prior to kick off to see who possesses the ball first.
“All the rules are
exactly the same as college. For example, one foot
down constitutes a legit catch where it’s two in the NFL”, said
DeLamielleure. “We also have a partnership with the NFL and NFL
officials. The NFL wants their officials to get more game time so
they’ll get more practice with us. The NFL will provide officiating
crews for all thirty AAFL regular season games, two playoff games and
one championship game.”
Speaking of lack of
gimmicks the AAFL requires a college degree for
anyone who plays in the league, further polishing the leagues feel
good, “Go Team” image.
“The main reason we
instituted the rule requiring a degree to play in
the league is because we thought it would create a higher quality
league. Anywhere you look in society the more educated you are, the
better your opportunities and current situation. For example, the
Patriots have the highest graduation rate of any team in the NFL so
there is a connection between education and performance, just like with
anything else.”
And what kind of game
can we expect?
“This league is going
to be wide open and most teams will run the
spread offense. Nobody wants to see a 6-3 game. I know the Florida team
under Shane Mathews is going to run the ‘Fun-n-Gun’ that Spurrier ran.
John Jenkins, the former Houston Cougars head coach who had guys like
David Klingler and Andre Ware, he’s going to implement the same type of
offense with the Houston team.”
So back to my
original point; why should YOU care? Why give this league
a second thought and follow this link
(http://www.allamericanfootballleague.com/AAFLDraftInformation.php) to
watch the Draft live? Because we’re talking about football in April
here people! What else do you have going on besides Easter? Not only is
it football in April, but an apparently high level of football based on
the names of players involved. And who can seriously tolerate the Arena
League? It just isn’t natural.
“This ship has never
sailed,” concluded DeLamielleure. A league that’s not competing against
NFL, guys are getting paid well and they have a built in following
because people are going to know the players. Tell me another league
that ever started out like that?”
Check out the
league’s homepage at: www.allamericanfootballleague.com
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