AAF: Anyone watching?

[tducey]

All the best to the new league. As popular as football is in the U.S. a secondary league in the NFL's off season should work, 1 would think.

 

[Deep Creek]

I'll give 'em kudos for a couple of things.

1. The pace of the games...they are trying to get 'em done in 2.5 hours.
2. Having to go for two on PATs.

 

[78Cyclones]

The fact that the League is a Developmental League and not trying to compete with the NFL and steal their players, play in their markets, etc. will go a long way to keeping it interesting and hopefully succeed. I wasn't sure if I would care much for a League somewhere between College and NFL, but I was this weekend. I have instantly bonded with my hometown team Birmingham Iron after one game.

 

[NolePride]

I think it is a good product.

There was nothing wrong with the games I saw. (And I watched
parts of 3 of them.

Orlando looks tough as nails or Atlanta is worthless. I don't
agree with Atlanta having a team. They need to find a city that does
not have an NFL franchise in it.

I also believe those teams would be better served if they played
in stadiums with 35 or 40k capacity. Orlando did that. They play at
UCF instead of the Citrus Bowl.

 

[theboardref]

I think it is a good product.

There was nothing wrong with the games I saw. (And I watched
parts of 3 of them.

Orlando looks tough as nails or Atlanta is worthless. I don't
agree with Atlanta having a team. They need to find a city that does
not have an NFL franchise in it.

I also believe those teams would be better served if they played
in stadiums with 35 or 40k capacity. Orlando did that. They play at
UCF instead of the Citrus Bowl.

It is better to show off the crowd you do have, then if the producr does become bigger move locations. For the time being I think you are correct.

 

[tomcat1]

Seriously, be honest, is anyone actually watching this bush league, minor league crap?

A good friend of mine who was a college football head coach and a QB coach for the San Francisco 49ers is now a QB coach for one of these bush league teams only because he couldn't get a job anywhere else. I tease him about this all the time and he just tells me that he's got to make a living.

 

[NolePride]

Seriously, be honest, is anyone actually watching this bush league, minor league crap?

A good friend of mine who was a college football head coach and a QB coach for the San Francisco 49ers is now a QB coach for one of these bush league teams only because he couldn't get a job anywhere else. I tease him about this all the time and he just tells me that he's got to make a living.

That depends. There are currently 73,000 former Div1, College Football players under the age of 30. Only 1700 are in the NFL.
Why can't they put out a good product.

 

[Ickey Shuffle]

I feel suffocated while watching NFL ( and annoyed with all of the blatant bullshit ). With this, I actually enjoyed myself. Strange.

I will definitely continue to watch. I need to find a team to really commit to though. That might take awhile.

 

[7Samurai13]

I think it is a good product.

There was nothing wrong with the games I saw. (And I watched
parts of 3 of them.

Orlando looks tough as nails or Atlanta is worthless. I don't
agree with Atlanta having a team. They need to find a city that does
not have an NFL franchise in it.

I also believe those teams would be better served if they played
in stadiums with 35 or 40k capacity. Orlando did that. They play at
UCF instead of the Citrus Bowl.

The should put a team in Detroit. We don’t have an NFL team here.

 

[tomcat1]

That depends. There are currently 73,000 former Div1, College Football players under the age of 30. Only 1700 are in the NFL.
Why can't they put out a good product.

Because their ratings will die just like just like all of the other minor league attempts at football have done. Their product had decent ratings on their first weekend because it was NEW. What kind of ratings will they have next month when March Madness kicks in and most sports fans will be glued to watching college basketball? My guess is not good ratings at all.

 

[theboardref]

These games will falter to continue to draw these views. Mainly due to the channels it will show up on. CBS Sports and the NFL network will not draw the same views.

 

[NolePride]

Because their ratings will die just like just like all of the other minor league attempts at football have done. Their product had decent ratings on their first weekend because it was NEW. What kind of ratings will they have next month when March Madness kicks in and most sports fans will be glued to watching college basketball? My guess is not good ratings at all.

All leagues have failed in the past, because they tried to be an
"alternative" to the NFL. This league claims to be a partner with
the NFL.

Leagues have to play within themselves. Don't try to be what they
are not. FTR...The old AAFC outdrew the NFL in a majority of
their cities. The 49er's and the Cleveland Browns were stalwarts
of the AAFC and forced the NFL into admitting them into the NFL.

The AFL went toe-to-toe with them and their aggressive owners
pushed the NFL close to bankruptcy, before the AFL forced a merger.

This league has a low pay scale, but they have a major network.
As long as they stay within themselves, they could be successful.

No doubt they will lose teams...they all do. The NFL had a team
go bankrupt in its first season of play (Dallas Texans in 1952)
The league took them over and they finished the season playing
in Hershey, PA. The next season, they became the Baltimore
Colts.

You just need cash to back you up, the proper city to play in.

There's enough players out there to support a second league.

 

[AlaCrimsonTide06]

I watched, I liked it. Birmingham Iron! Trent Richardson scored the 1st touchdown for the team!

 

[tomcat1]

All leagues have failed in the past, because they tried to be an
"alternative" to the NFL. This league claims to be a partner with
the NFL.

Leagues have to play within themselves. Don't try to be what they
are not. FTR...The old AAFC outdrew the NFL in a majority of
their cities. The 49er's and the Cleveland Browns were stalwarts
of the AAFC and forced the NFL into admitting them into the NFL.

The AFL went toe-to-toe with them and their aggressive owners
pushed the NFL close to bankruptcy, before the AFL forced a merger.

This league has a low pay scale, but they have a major network.
As long as they stay within themselves, they could be successful.

No doubt they will lose teams...they all do. The NFL had a team
go bankrupt in its first season of play (Dallas Texans in 1952)
The league took them over and they finished the season playing
in Hershey, PA. The next season, they became the Baltimore
Colts.

You just need cash to back you up, the proper city to play in.

There's enough players out there to support a second league.

I guess we will just have to agree to disagree on this for now and wait and see how much the public will buy into this product over time.

 

[Gopherfan84]

Who? What? No idea what this AAF is.

 

[Zoop]

After week 1 I can honestly say I like it better than the NFL

 

[rmilia1]

Because their ratings will die just like just like all of the other minor league attempts at football have done. Their product had decent ratings on their first weekend because it was NEW. What kind of ratings will they have next month when March Madness kicks in and most sports fans will be glued to watching college basketball? My guess is not good ratings at all.

The USFL did quite well til they decided to move to the fall to try to "compete " with the NFL . That league went big though and got legit stars. Not sure a developmental league will work as well

 

[tomcat1]

The USFL did quite well til they decided to move to the fall to try to "compete " with the NFL . That league went big though and got legit stars. Not sure a developmental league will work as well

I think it's just going to be a wait and see kind of thing.

 

[rmilia1]

I think it's just going to be a wait and see kind of thing.

Yeah it'll be interesting but I think for an alternate league to succeed they need to go big . The 2 most successful examples are the AFL and USFL. Leagues designed to develop guys inevitably fail

 

[tomcat1]

Yeah it'll be interesting but I think for an alternate league to succeed they need to go big . The 2 most successful examples are the AFL and USFL. Leagues designed to develop guys inevitably fail

I totally agree with you!