The AAF to cease football operations

[Kiwibrown]

5 hours ago, MWil23 said:

I would assume that Vince McMahon will actually pay extra for positive PED tests if it's anything close to the WWE over the last 30 years.

I dont watch wrestling, but they dont seem to have the freaks of the 90s anymore.

[Xenos]

Peter King weighs in. Man, the AAF really messed up despite supposedly having a long term plan and a concept that I could get behind. A developmental league.farm system  that provides a second chance for guys to make it to the NFL. If only it had the funds behind it like the XFL.

Quote

5. I think someone from the Alliance of American Football, co-founder Charlie Ebersol or chairman Tom Dundon, owes eight cities and players and coaches an explanation about the league folding in the middle of its first season. Someone needs to step up and explain why the league, which was talking about a multi-year gestation period, died after eight weeks. I have known Ebersol for years, and my experience is that he is a good person. I’m going to hear his explanation first before passing judgment on anything other than my first point: The players and coaches and employees of the AAF deserve to hear what happened, and soon. But I want to take you back to a conversation I had a year ago with Ebersol, when I asked him about how he could be so sure this league would make it when the sporting road is littered with disastrous minor football leagues. Ebersol made three points:

• He was building for the long term. Ebersol said, “The most important thing of all the previous attempts of spring football—football—was not the core focus. There was razzmatazz, there was marketing, there was excitement, but never before did you have national champion coaches, you didn’t have Super Bowl coaches, you didn’t have Bill Polian and you definitely didn’t have a reimagining of the structure of a league that empowered the players to be taken care of … Me, my investors, my partners, Bill [Polian] my co-founder, and the people involved, are all looking at a seven to 10-year business model as a starting point of what we are trying to build.”

• He said he had partners willing to be patient. “Amazon didn’t make its first dollar of profit for 23 years,” Ebersol said. “We’re not a business based on one or two billionaires pouring money in and hoping for the best on the promise of 80,000 people in the stadiums and a massive TV deal. No, this is a very sober business model.”

• He said the returns in early years would be insignificant. “The type of money that we raised is from institutions that do not look at first and second-year returns. They look at seven.”

Ebersol has not spoken publicly since the death of the AAF. But a few things are clear. The AAF trusted an early $170-million investment from a former investor with the Vikings, Reggie Fowler, and had his money vetted through league investigators. It’s unclear how or why this money turned out to be an issue during the first year of the AAF, but when the league needed Fowler’s money in year one, it had a problem accessing all of it. That led to needing immediate help early in this season—and, clearly, Ebersol should not have relied on one investor to this extent, to the extent that his efficacy threatened the entire league—and so the league turned to Dundon. But Dundon, who saved the league early with a cash infusion, clashed with Ebersol and Polian over the direction of the league.

6. I think Ebersol is going to have to explain why he wasn’t willing to see the league through the last month of the first season. Did Fowler or Dundon, or both, view the AAF as a steppingstone to NFL ownership, and were their initial investments shows of faith to NFL owners that they should be considered for future franchises? We don’t know. But questions like those hang over the death of another minor league that had grandiose visions and not enough money to support them.

7. I think the other thing people who build spring football league have to ask is whether we really want football in the spring. I have little interest in it, and I didn’t have one email, tweet or text in the last two months asking me if I’d be covering the AAF, or criticizing my lack of attention to it. From mid-February to late April, the time of AAF games, I believe my readers/experiencers care about the combine, free agency and the draft. Not that it’s impossible for the AAF or another minor league to exist, but it should exist as a minor league, without all the bells and whistles (an extra official known as a Sky Judge, coach-to-QB communication, and so many of the other pricy toys that you just don’t need to run a sports league). This was Triple-A football, and should have been financially managed as such.

8. I think I don’t give the XFL much a chance either. I’ve heard people in the last few days say things like, “Great for the XFL—now the competition is out of the way!” But how is the XFL not going to bleed money the way the AAF did, even if Vince McMahon has all that wrestling dough to throw into this?

 

[Superman(DH23)]

On 4/7/2019 at 6:28 PM, PARROTHEAD said:

I thought it was 19 year olds? Go one year to random college. Then to the XFL for full time coaching/experience while getting paid. Then be able to skip the draft and go to which ever team you want instead of being picked by Washington or some other bottom feeding poorly run franchise.

Anyone entering the NFL has to enter via declaring for the draft.  So even if they spent their 3 years post hs in the xfl, they would still have to declare for the NFL draft.  Getting a real developmental league tho would be interesting, allow some of the kids who have no interest in class an opportunity without taking somebody's spot who does.  And it gives them a chance to prove they can play with grown men

[PARROTHEAD]

1 hour ago, Superman(DH23) said:

Anyone entering the NFL has to enter via declaring for the draft.  So even if they spent their 3 years post hs in the xfl, they would still have to declare for the NFL draft.  Getting a real developmental league tho would be interesting, allow some of the kids who have no interest in class an opportunity without taking somebody's spot who does.  And it gives them a chance to prove they can play with grown men

I thought any entering whats considered "Pro Ball" wernt eligible for the draft. Like when the Rocket Ismiel went to Canada for a huge contract. He didnt have to enter the draft to get into the pros.

[Cheesehawk]

2 hours ago, Superman(DH23) said:

Anyone entering the NFL has to enter via declaring for the draft.  So even if they spent their 3 years post hs in the xfl, they would still have to declare for the NFL draft.  Getting a real developmental league tho would be interesting, allow some of the kids who have no interest in class an opportunity without taking somebody's spot who does.  And it gives them a chance to prove they can play with grown men

If it provides incentive to pay NCAA players so we can finally get a damn NCAA football game again, I am all for it.

[theJ]

4 hours ago, PARROTHEAD said:

I thought any entering whats considered "Pro Ball" wernt eligible for the draft. Like when the Rocket Ismiel went to Canada for a huge contract. He didnt have to enter the draft to get into the pros.

The answer to this question is surprisingly hard to find. 

However, Ismail was drafted.  He had signed with the CFL after using up his college eligibility (so he was draft eligible).  He was going to be selected near the top of the draft, but instead ended up going in the 4th round on a flyer in case he left the CFL.  When he left the CFL, he signed with the Raiders since they owned his rights.

So his case doesn't answer the question.

[theJ]

Have there been any foreign rugby players that bypassed the draft?  That feels like it was a thing a few times recently.

[FinSting]

On 4/2/2019 at 2:04 PM, FinSting said:

So the entire AAF is now unemployed free agents? Fins 'bout to stack that depleted roster. 

Not one or two but *seven* AAF players are now on the Fins roster, bahaha. 

[Woz]

On 4/2/2019 at 11:00 PM, lancerman said:

And the USFL only lasted 3 years. It also faced a much less dominant NFL. 

In part due to a billionaire forcing changes the league wasn't ready for in order to go head to head with the NFL.

[Woz]

On 4/3/2019 at 9:54 AM, kyle21121 said:

So with the several already established gambling apps that people are currently using what is the hook with this? Yea gambling is huge I get that but this just seems excessive to lose $70m to get this technology and when it’s fully legal all across North America presumably in the next 5-10 years every notable casino and Sports book will probably have an app. 

Especially if they were in such dire straights that they had to beg you for the cash infusion only a couple weeks into the season.

He probably could have waited for the league to fold and then buy the IP at the liquidation auction for a fraction of that price.

[Superman(DH23)]

18 hours ago, PARROTHEAD said:

I thought any entering whats considered "Pro Ball" wernt eligible for the draft. Like when the Rocket Ismiel went to Canada for a huge contract. He didnt have to enter the draft to get into the pros.

No, all entrants to the NFL must first be draft eligible.  In the case of some players they had been eligible but did not get drafted, went to other leagues and came back to the nfl.

[FinSting]

Without checking all 8 pages of this thread, are there any He Hate Me references?

[lancerman]

2 hours ago, Woz said:

In part due to a billionaire forcing changes the league wasn't ready for in order to go head to head with the NFL.

Well good thing Vince McMahon wouldn’t do that 

[Mastercheddaar]

On 4/10/2019 at 7:24 AM, FinSting said:

Not one or two but *seven* AAF players are now on the Fins roster, bahaha. 

If anything could be learned from the AAF is that a shorter developmental league season could be very helpful for younger players that need real playing time to turn into productive players. 

Go Birds

Mastercheddaar

[BayRaider]

XFL just released their OT Rules.

Each Offense will be on the opponents 5 yard line. If they score, it's one point. If an INT or Fumble happens it's one point for the other team. If it's an incomplete, failed run attempt, etc it's nothing for either team. All four units will be on the field at the same time.

First to 5 wins.