Well, Memphis looks like they have a long way to go, but I certainly enjoyed the game today. Really dig the pace of the game.
What ex-college football coach is next to join Alliance of American Football League?
- Thread starter Bazza
- Start date
I watched the game on TV. The things they changed I liked - no KOs, no XPs, no TV timeouts. The sky judge didn't really come into play on a penalty. Not a fan of the 5 man blitz rule.
You can tell these guys aren't pros especially the WRs but still a quality product on the field and from an officiating standpoint. Overall I enjoyed it and prefer it still over watching basketball. Maybe Trent can earn himself a tryout with an NFL team over the season. These guys couldn't handle him once he got into a rhythm.
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You can tell these guys aren't pros especially the WRs but still a quality product on the field and from an officiating standpoint. Overall I enjoyed it and prefer it still over watching basketball. Maybe Trent can earn himself a tryout with an NFL team over the season. These guys couldn't handle him once he got into a rhythm.
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I actually really enjoyed that. They didn't screw around with stupid gimmicks like the XFL and seem to be focused on putting a quality product on the field. Going to pull hard for the Iron this year.
It was good. Was there with the wife and kids. I like what I’ve seen thus far from the AAF. I’ll be going to as many Iron home games as possible......pretty decent team. On the other hand.....Legion Field? What a decrepit facility.......my God the new stadium in downtown BHM can’t get constructed soon enough.
It's time for more football with The Alliance (TV schedule)
https://aaf.com/its-time-for-more-football-with-the-alliance
That has already been changed.
"Onside kicks are not a part of The Alliance and instead "onside conversions" will be a new addition. If a team is trailing by 17 points or more inside of five minutes remaining in a game, they must convert a fourth-and-12 from their 28 in order to keep the ball."
More on The Alliance's onside conversions here.
https://aaf.com/notable-rule-differences-for-the-alliances-inaugural
They're stylizing themselves as a farm system, but without actually being a farm system, correct? So when you say hey, we're minor leagues, but instead of actual affiliation you're just an independent minor league team, you're pretty limited in what you can do.
The two longest lasting entities in semi-pro football have been the CFL and then the Arena League, right? Followed by what became NFL Europe (but really that was kept alive by the NFL so kind of doesn't count). So really there's three ways to keep things alive and they all are slightly different models.
A: Go somewhere that doesn't have American football. This applied to the CFL but also the part of the NFL Europe that lasted the longest (Germany). It's been demonstrated that some markets can support 20K plus attendance (actual attendance, not pretend UAB style attendance), and as the CFL demonstrated you can actually keep costs down enough if it's a priority. B: Shrink the game. The Arena League used a fairly clever idea, which was using smaller venues. They have to be easier to manage, and cheaper, and smaller crowds are a lot better in those venues. Arena League shrunk football and it wasn't a bad idea. C: Have someone else pay your bills (minor league model as well). The NFL Europe, well the NFL funded that, so we know how that worked.
No one has had any kind of success going head to head with the NFL since the AFL. So, I don't think the XFL is destined for success without doing figuring something out. But, the AAFL is going to need a bailout to. They're trying to get the talent but the financial side of things is going to dry up fast, so without the NFL keeping the lights on I'm not sure how they can manage to do what they're trying to do.
Think about it like this, who watches G-league or Minor league baseball games on TV? Yet, the AAFL model is built around television revenue...
Surprisingly it’s not built around the television and attendance revenue. It’s built around something different...
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.ny...nce-of-american-football-betting-aaf.amp.html
There is a reason why there are NFL HOFs running this with a lot of gambling tech guys. Download the app and pull up some gamecasts, the technology is pretty incredible.
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17,000 is not a great start compared to the days of the Stallions, but it was a bit of a gray, chilly day. It was raining in Orlando last night, and the crowd looked about the same.
It is minor league football. I have no idea how they plan on making money, but I hope they do. So many of those guys are OUR guys, and if it gives them another shot I am all for it.
Rtr
It is minor league football. I have no idea how they plan on making money, but I hope they do. So many of those guys are OUR guys, and if it gives them another shot I am all for it.
Rtr
"To do so, the A.A.F. is working to make its games easy to find. In addition to a deal to place some of its games on the NFL Network, the A.A.F. has agreements with CBS Sports’s networks, TNT and Turner’s B/R Live streaming service"
If TV dries up, they are going to be in trouble. Long term TV audiences have always become bored with semi-pro football.
"But some other innovations — no TV timeouts; completing games in two and a half hours; tickets priced no higher than $50; three-year, $250,000 contracts to hundreds of players — have raised questions about the league’s long-term economic viability."
For good reason.
"it is hoping to land in a right-place-right-time moment in which sports betting is now legal and expanding in the United States. Eight states already offer gambling on sports contests, and by next year, sports betting could be legal in at least a dozen more.
Anticipating and embracing interest from serious and casual gamblers, the A.A.F. has invested heavily in the technology and platforms that can provide data in a blink of an eye, all in the hope of transforming a minor league football broadcast into an interactive experience."
I assume this is what you're talking about. Some sort of hope that bettors are going to care about minor league football. Does the CFL get a lot of betting action? If so I was unaware that minor league sports were actually this giant stream of revenue.
Bottom line though is right now most money coming in is investors, followed by TV revenue. And both are those are likely to dry up. This betting thing is absurd because people bet on what they care about.
The fact that the NFL is desperately trying to get into the sports betting business tells you who is running this thing and wants it to succeed is my point. NFL Europe’s problem wasn’t that it had the NFL’s name attached it was where it was had very little interest and the crazy travel expenses. I guarantee after a year or so if the ratings are what they are now or close you’ll see the NFL’s name more attached.
As for betting for what they care about... you do realize WWE has a significant betting community. Speaking of WWE don’t you find it funny both the XFL and AAFL both have been upfront about wanting to get big into the gambling game. So I think either both’s marketing agents are crazy or something is there that the average Joe isn’t seeing. I’m thinking the latter is more true than the former.
The lack of interest was stateside, and what will change in this case? I mean their attendance was actually solid by semi-pro standards, but it was still after all semi-pro football and Americans got bored with it. Travel expenses didn't help though, but once it became an almost exclusively German league that wasn't much of an issue.
And I've had season tickets to a semi-pro football team. Still a niche audience. I'm not saying I have no interest (I am talking about it after all), I'm just pointing out how difficult this will be. I'd add that I was one of the people saying South Alabama would struggle with attendance, even though some here swore up and down they'd do well. Sometimes it's easy to let optimism get in the way of a realistic view of things.
There's some big issues they'll have to deal with
A: The head to head competition is just plain bad. There can not and will not be two successful leagues to come out of this, and the one that struggles the most is going to scare away investors, advertisers, and so on who get tired of wasting money.
B: The AAFL's farm system style approach doesn't really match with the core idea of teams being built around talent from regional colleges. My wife doesn't care one bit about the league, but she brought up the fact that Trent Richardson played today. If they fully go the NFL farm system route they'll lose this sort of regional identity. They're trying to do both right now, but their allegiances will be tested if the NFL becomes actively involved.
C: What they're doing now is not sustainable. Steven Spurrier made 4 million a year at Florida. I'm not sure what he's being paid now, but either they're paying him more than they can afford long term, or he won't be around for long. That's just one example though.
D: Insurance. I recently read a report about organized football become uninsurable. Even the NFL is having trouble getting insurance, so we have these new cash strapped entities entering at a time in which there's greater financial risk.
I could keep going, but there's a lot in the way of this being successful. If the NFL comes in and buys them out, that's one way to sustain it. I mean the NBA still has the WNBA going even though no one cares about that either. But, without that there's really only a narrow window for success, and having two competing sides only makes that more narrow. The only real salvation I see besides being an NFL charity project, is if a streaming entity steps in and throws a lot of money at them for content. We've seen Amazon Prime and Netflix overpay for content, since there's a battle for market share going on. DAZN signed Canelo Alvarez for 365 million. So there's money to be spent there if anyone is desperate enough for content, but eventually that money would run out to.
It's not that I want this to fail, it's more like these people should be working together because it will be tough either way. For instance Vince and his money and resources, Bob Stoops, Oliver Luck (NFL Europe commissioner), those guys are on one side. And on the other we have Spurrier, Dick Ebersol, and those guys on the other side. They'd be a lot better off cooperating instead of competing in my opinion. Also, I'd add the CFL and Arena League still exist, so these leagues aren't filling a newly created void either.
Most every sports writer/talk show host said it was about 25k there. 17k was paid attendance.
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Salt Lake?!? I hate those guys!It's time for more football with The Alliance (TV schedule)
https://aaf.com/its-time-for-more-football-with-the-alliance
(Okay, I'm just trying to drum up some additional emotional attachment to the Iron. I really am cheering for Trent, though.)
Trent did not do badly.
Former first-rounder Trent Richardson salvages AAF debut with two late touchdowns
I believe that the college coaches and the regional approach will evolve in time towards guys like Tim Lewis and teams signing the best available player no matter where they are from. I think that this thing was set up to draw attention, but will turn into a true minor league, if it survives. And it might. Everyone I have talked to enjoyed the game yesterday.
The guys sign a three year, $250K deal, all of them. They all get paid the same money. And they qualify for a stipend that will allow them to go to school in the off-season. Sounds like a win-win to me.
rtr
The guys sign a three year, $250K deal, all of them. They all get paid the same money. And they qualify for a stipend that will allow them to go to school in the off-season. Sounds like a win-win to me.
rtr
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