Yesterday, the NFL announced that, after $30 million per year in losses, NFL Europa is folding. I had no idea until about three weeks ago that the league formerly known as the World League of American Football and NFL Europe was now known as NFL Europa. But, no more. The league ended with five teams in Germany and a team in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. They developed a small fan base, but not one that would be mistaken for that of European soccer. So, the great experiment with overseas American football moves to the import of regular season NFL games, beginning this fall in London with a game between the Miami Dolphins and the New York Giants.
But, there is a new league on the way. And, it's not the Mark Cuban league. This is the All-American Football League. The league is conducting an open tryout on July 3 at the Citrus Bowl in Orlando. They plan to begin play in the spring of 2008.
The league is led by a group of former college athletic administrators, including former NCAA executive director Cedric Dempsey. They plan to play at least part of their games on college campuses. The league is targeting markets where college football is king. They already have stadium deals in Birmingham, AL, and Gainesville, FL. The league is planning to push a version of college alumni football. These won't be teams made up of purely alumni of one school (for example, Florida). However, the league is attempting to create a college atmosphere, and to appeal to fans of college football by giving college players the chance to play in the backyard of their alma mater. They are not going to attempt to pretend to be like the NFL, but to be a professional version of college football.
One interesting component: the league is requiring its players to have four-year degrees. This is to be expected from a league run by former college administrators.
There are a lot of guys that were good Division I-A players, that are a step too slow or a couple of inches too short for the NFL. These guys would be good prospects for the AAFL. It won't be hard to find players for this league.
If they can come reasonably close to replicating college football, this league has a chance. I'd love to see it get off the ground.
3 comments:
I like the idea and I hope it works. I'm usually for people trying new things like this, so let's see how it goes. Too bad they couldn't or didn't try to enlist Mr. Cuban's help.
Something I forgot to mention: They plan to play in the spring. This wouldn't jive with Cuban's desire to play in the fall.
I can't see Cuban getting along with a bunch of ex-college AD's well enough and long enough to make a league work. He'd rather do his own thing. The new league could use his money, though.
Something else: This league is planning to pay their players $100,000 per year. While that's not nearly as much as a guy would make if he were to make an NFL team, it's a lot more than they would make in the CFL or Arena League, or that they would have made in NFL Europa. It's also more than they would make if they got a degree and got a regular job straight out of college.
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