In years past after the Super Bowl, fans had to wait for six months before the CFL season or seven months for the NFL season to resume. Fans would take to social media to post gifs or comments about the first weekend with no football. Leagues like the UFL and FXFL tried to satisfy the fans with alternative football, but their business models were terrible as they would compete during the NFL, College Football and High School seasons.
Spring football began in 1983 when the USFL took to the field. The league featured hall of fame players like Jim Kelly, Reggie White, and Steve Young. The USFL would play from 1983 until they folded in 1986. The next spring league to hit was the XFL in 2001 founded by WWE owner Vince McMahon, the league would last just a season before folding, and there has not been a spring football league since until now.
Beginning in 2018, filmmaker Charlie Ebersol, who is the son of former NBC Sports Director Dick Ebersol along with former Indianapolis Colts GM Bill Polian founded the Alliance of American Football. The AAF is overseen by Bill Polian along with his team that consists of former players Hines Ward, Troy Polamalu, Justin Tuck, J.K McKay, former referee Mike Pereira, and Dick Ebersol. The leagues consist of eight teams in Birmingham, Memphis, San Antonio, San Diego, Orlando, Arizona, Salt Lake City, and Atlanta. While the AAF plays to NFL rules, there are slight differences that separate them from the NFL.
First, the play clock is shorter; the AAF play clock is thirty-five seconds, five seconds shorter than the NFL. There are no kickoffs. Instead, the team that gets the ball first will have it at the twenty-five-yard line. There are no extra point kicks after a team scores a touchdown. Instead, the team has to go for a two-point conversion. There are no onside kicks. Instead, they will get a fourth and twelfth play on their own twenty-eight-yard line. Teams are not allowed to rush more than five defensive players in a single play. Players are also not allowed to blitz for more than two yards outside of the defensive line or five yards back of the line of scrimmage.
Any violation of the rules will result in a fifteen-yard penalty. Coaches are allowed two challenges for the game and can’t challenge in the last two minutes. If the teams are tied after regulation, they will play overtime where each team gets one possession at the ten-yard line. If there is still no score, the game will end in a tie.
The AAF players will feature some big-name college football players that some fans will recognize like Trent Richardson, who played college football at Alabama and was a former number three pick by the Cleveland Browns and will now be the running back for the Birmingham Iron. Christian Hackenberg, was a second-round pick by the Jets and played college football at Penn State he will be the quarterback for the Memphis Express and Aaron Murray, who was a fifth-round pick for the Kansas City Chiefs and played college football at Georgia will play for the Atlanta Legends.
The AAF will also feature big-name coaches like Steve Spurrier, Tim Lewis, Rick Neuheisel, Mike Singletary, Kevin Coyle, Dennis Erikson, Mike Martz, and Mike Riley. Having a league like the AAF can be beneficial for both players and coaches who are looking for a second chance.
Time will tell if the Alliance of American Football works, but they have the potential to be successful in the long run because of legalizing sports betting, supply and demand for football all year round, and networks looking to fill time slots during the football offseason and much more.
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