Is there an opening for another pro football league to start up?

[LeoNY]

Major League Football bought the AAF’s gear. Ricky Williams and his Freedom Football League are hovering somewhere. Will the XFL have competition in the market place from another secondary pro football league in the states? Not now but maybe in 2021. I was reading Mike Mitchell’s recent article on XFL Newshub about Luck’s 560 best non NFL players comment and it got me to thinking.

If I was trying to run a pro football league to compete with the XFL. What would I do? I would probably not start up in February to avoid the XFL altogether but maybe the XFL’s hard stance on character and their lack of fascination with headline making can create an opening for me to do the opposite.

Sign Colin Kaepernick, Antonio Brown, Johnny Manziel, Trent Richardson, Josh Gordon and all the other name value players available. Maybe even Oakman. Pay them the most to headline the league. Play in non NFL markets. Oakland, Portland, San Diego and maybe even have an actual team play in New York or label them as New Jersey instead.

It’s all a fantasy because you need a lot of money to run these leagues and exposure. The XFL has both of those things but if a new AAF type league were to emerge. Perhaps this would be the way to go.

Start your season in May right after the XFL season ends. Sign away XFL star players as soon as their season ends and they are free from contract. Play from May till August. Maybe a 12 team league with 12 regular season weeks. Then follow that up with 6 playoff teams. Top two teams get a bye. 3 weeks of playoffs. Championship in August. Just a thought.

[GDAWG]

Major League Football bought the AAF’s gear. Ricky Williams and his Freedom Football League are hovering somewhere. Will the XFL have competition in the market place from another secondary pro football league in the states? Not now but maybe in 2021. I was reading Mike Mitchell’s recent article on XFL Newshub about Luck’s 560 best non NFL players comment and it got me to thinking.

If I was trying to run a pro football league to compete with the XFL. What would I do? I would probably not start up in February to avoid the XFL altogether but maybe the XFL’s hard stance on character and their lack of fascination with headline making can create an opening for me to do the opposite.

Sign Colin Kaepernick, Antonio Brown, Johnny Manziel, Trent Richardson, Josh Gordon and all the other name value players available. Maybe even Oakman. Pay them the most to headline the league. Play in non NFL markets. Oakland, Portland, San Diego and maybe even have an actual team play in New York or label them as New Jersey instead.

It’s all a fantasy because you need a lot of money to run these leagues and exposure. The XFL has both of those things but if a new AAF type league were to emerge. Perhaps this would be the way to go.

Start your season in May right after the XFL season ends. Sign away XFL star players as soon as their season ends and they are free from contract. Play from May till August. Maybe a 12 team league with 12 regular season weeks. Then follow that up with 6 playoff teams. Top two teams get a bye. 3 weeks of playoffs. Championship in August. Just a thought.

Ricky Williams' league is never kicking off and if they do, they will probably want all of the players you mentioned. But there are signs that the league isn't kicking off ever. The first sign was when Norm Chow (whom the FFL had announced to be a part of the San Diego Warriors) left for the LA Wildcats. If the FFL was ever going to kick off, Chow would never have left. The second sign came from the Indoor Football League in September when Marshawn Lynch announced the Oakland Panthers, which was supposed to be the name of an FFL team. This indicates to me that the FFL failed to copyright the name Oakland Panthers and somehow Lynch and Roy Choi (a gaming entrepreneur from Silicon Valley) were able to acquire the name without any serious legal ramifications from Ricky's league. They also spent weeks announcing their "founding 50" of former players on Facebook, but many of whom are more "who's that?" rather than "wow, he's involved in this league?" If they really wanted to make a splash, they should have pursued the many former players currently gracing the TV screens on Fox, NBC, CBS, ESPN doing NFL coverage, many of whom were big name players we recognize from the NFL. Instead many of the former players involved in the FFL were nothing more than practice squad guys or camp bodies during their playing days.

They also don't have a "money guy" like the AAF tried to have with Tom Dundon and the XFL has with Vince McMahon. They also have the worst name ever for a football team: Florida Strong.

[Tank55]

There's always an opening, and there are always players. It's really only a question of money.

[LeoNY]

I agree with you GDawg. Everything about the FFL seems doomed from the start. Horrible team names notwithstanding.

It’s funny because you would think that people would shy away from the idea of another pro football league at this point. The way it stands right now. If the XFL is even a moderate success. It wouldn’t shock me if someone else tries. Like Tank stated. It’s all about the money. You need hundreds of millions just to get started and do it right.

The best bet is someone who already owns their own network like an NBC or CBS starting up a league. You would need that kind of serious ownership to start off with.

[nick1091]

Start up, I agree, as long as there is someone with deep enough pockets, it's always possible.

I think the other key part is really patience and sustainability. It sounds like Dundon would've indeed had the capital to keep the AAF's proverbial lights on probably into this year, but was unwilling to throw good money after bad.

I think if there was to be another league to open with any modicum of success, it would be NFL created, whether a resurrection of the World League or similar, or something akin to the NBA G League essentially as a developmental league in underserved US cities. I think the XFL is as well set up from an infrastructure perspective as any alternate league since the launch of the USFL; the only people who I think could match a league of that scale from a personnel standpoint as well as being able to secure the TV coverage is likely the NFL themselves.

[Sounder]

Major League Football bought the AAF’s gear. Ricky Williams and his Freedom Football League are hovering somewhere. Will the XFL have competition in the market place from another secondary pro football league in the states? Not now but maybe in 2021. I was reading Mike Mitchell’s recent article on XFL Newshub about Luck’s 560 best non NFL players comment and it got me to thinking.

If I was trying to run a pro football league to compete with the XFL. What would I do? I would probably not start up in February to avoid the XFL altogether but maybe the XFL’s hard stance on character and their lack of fascination with headline making can create an opening for me to do the opposite.

Sign Colin Kaepernick, Antonio Brown, Johnny Manziel, Trent Richardson, Josh Gordon and all the other name value players available. Maybe even Oakman. Pay them the most to headline the league. Play in non NFL markets. Oakland, Portland, San Diego and maybe even have an actual team play in New York or label them as New Jersey instead.

It’s all a fantasy because you need a lot of money to run these leagues and exposure. The XFL has both of those things but if a new AAF type league were to emerge. Perhaps this would be the way to go.

Start your season in May right after the XFL season ends. Sign away XFL star players as soon as their season ends and they are free from contract. Play from May till August. Maybe a 12 team league with 12 regular season weeks. Then follow that up with 6 playoff teams. Top two teams get a bye. 3 weeks of playoffs. Championship in August. Just a thought.

Ricky Williams' league is never kicking off and if they do, they will probably want all of the players you mentioned. But there are signs that the league isn't kicking off ever. The first sign was when Norm Chow (whom the FFL had announced to be a part of the San Diego Warriors) left for the LA Wildcats. If the FFL was ever going to kick off, Chow would never have left. The second sign came from the Indoor Football League in September when Marshawn Lynch announced the Oakland Panthers, which was supposed to be the name of an FFL team. This indicates to me that the FFL failed to copyright the name Oakland Panthers and somehow Lynch and Roy Choi (a gaming entrepreneur from Silicon Valley) were able to acquire the name without any serious legal ramifications from Ricky's league. They also spent weeks announcing their "founding 50" of former players on Facebook, but many of whom are more "who's that?" rather than "wow, he's involved in this league?" If they really wanted to make a splash, they should have pursued the many former players currently gracing the TV screens on Fox, NBC, CBS, ESPN doing NFL coverage, many of whom were big name players we recognize from the NFL. Instead many of the former players involved in the FFL were nothing more than practice squad guys or camp bodies during their playing days.

They also don't have a "money guy" like the AAF tried to have with Tom Dundon and the XFL has with Vince McMahon. They also have the worst name ever for a football team: Florida Strong.

If they were to change the Oakland team to "Commodores"......then you could have the Commodores vs. the Ohio Players. Some big hits there.

[Firecop]

Now THAT'S funny Sounder!

[MikeMitchell]

Now THAT'S funny Sounder!

Well played by Sounder.

[johnnyangryfuzzball]

Do I think there's an opportunity? Yes and no.

I do not think there's an opportunity for 11-on-11 football. There aren't enough linemen to stock the leagues we have now, IMO.

But I do believe there is a market for some form of football in late spring and early summer, after the NHL and NBA seasons end, while colleges are during summer vacation. MLB is the only game in town, and MLS is not nor has it ever been a particularly TV-friendly sport. If you're looking to do football, you have to have a good TV deal. The biggest opening is weeknights, during the summer.

The XFL has—conspicuously—left some of the best and most recognizable players available (and by available, I mean realistically willing to work for a five-figure salary) on the market. Since the NFL wants no part of them either, and some of them aren't the usual toxic names, just players whom the league has decided are over the hill, a third pro football league would have access to some good players.

Markets: put them in mid-sized markets, ideally cities with other major league teams, but not MLB. (MLS is negotiable, because they primarily play weekends... and if you try to avoid them, it's going to eventually get to the point where they'll just expand into your market anyway, so it's futile to even try.) Off the top of my head that gives us: Portland, Sacramento, Utah, New Orleans, Nashville, Memphis, Jacksonville, Orlando, Raleigh, Columbus, San Antonio, Austin, Green Bay, and Buffalo. You obviously can't include all of them in a league but that's a potential list. And maybe you throw in a few markets that weren't big markets but have proven they can handle pro ball: Omaha, Shreveport, Albany. There are also a few different ways to look at it. You could go the traditional route, you could do the BIG3/PLL touring league concept, or you could go regional (let's say the league puts teams in Alabama, Memphis, Nashville, New Orleans, Jacksonville, Raleigh. You could market that as Deep South Football and market it as something unique to their culture, for example, but that would risk making it much harder to get a national TV deal... and in the south's case, it gets hot in the summer anyway. The one exception might be a primarily West Coast league: it's later at night, and there might be more broadcast windows open at that time. You probably might not get as much in rights fees but it's an available slot that others might not want to exploit.).

I'd use six-man football or something like that. It's mostly retreated to Texas now (most every other reduced-man league is now eight-man) but reducing the number of players to a side might be the easiest, most effective way to lower costs. Arena football did that for 30 years, and I firmly believe it was a big component to their financial security until they got rid of making most of their players play both sides of the ball—which is when the money problems started happening. But unlike, say, the A7FL, they have to have some sort of pads. It has to look like a football game. Plus, of course, they have to have players people recognize.

There was a window—a short one, only about six weeks—between the Super Bowl and March Madness where a small, UFL or FXFL-sized league I think would have had an opening to capitalize on lingering football desire, but the AAF and now the XFL have closed that hole. The thing that concerns me about a full league of this size is that once you start spilling into late March and April, that desire for football dissipates with more sports options.

[4th&long]

There is certainly a time zone for a small league in the late May - 1st week in August time frame. There is a dead zone of sports programming in June-1st week-Aug that would be welcome by TV nets looking for Sports programming.