Post by JABF on Apr 5, 2019 15:31:49 GMT -6
I actually loved having Spring football to watch. Sure, the product wasn't even close to the NFL, but I wasn't expecting it to be on that level. I just enjoyed watching football during the Illinois winter months after the NFL season had ended.
I thought the NFL would kind of like the idea of a developmental league like the AAF. But I guess not.
I thought the NFL would kind of like the idea of a developmental league like the AAF. But I guess not.
LINK
A look in the stands at any of the AAF games should make any potential investor — or player — in a new league cautious. A look at the television ratings should send them fleeing to the next big thing somewhere else far, far away.
The AAF wasn’t exactly a grand experiment, no matter what its founders said. Recent history is littered with leagues like the USFL, XFL and WFL that launched to great fanfare only to go under amid fan indifference and financial sinkholes.
Spring football doesn’t work, and minor league football isn’t an appealing product. No one can go head to head with the NFL and, as the AAF found out, no one particularly cares about the NFL’s castoffs.
The marketing genius of the WWE isn’t enough to overcome that. Neither is sports betting, which AAF had counted on to ensure the league’s survival.
The AAF was supposed to be different, but it really wasn’t. Take away celebrity coaches Steve Spurrier and Mike Singletary and there wasn’t a recognizable face in the league for fans.
The game plan wasn’t to take on the NFL, but rather to become a development league for it. But the NFL wasn’t terribly interested, and its players’ union didn’t embrace the idea of players taking a beating over two seasons instead of one.
A look in the stands at any of the AAF games should make any potential investor — or player — in a new league cautious. A look at the television ratings should send them fleeing to the next big thing somewhere else far, far away.
The AAF wasn’t exactly a grand experiment, no matter what its founders said. Recent history is littered with leagues like the USFL, XFL and WFL that launched to great fanfare only to go under amid fan indifference and financial sinkholes.
Spring football doesn’t work, and minor league football isn’t an appealing product. No one can go head to head with the NFL and, as the AAF found out, no one particularly cares about the NFL’s castoffs.
The marketing genius of the WWE isn’t enough to overcome that. Neither is sports betting, which AAF had counted on to ensure the league’s survival.
The AAF was supposed to be different, but it really wasn’t. Take away celebrity coaches Steve Spurrier and Mike Singletary and there wasn’t a recognizable face in the league for fans.
The game plan wasn’t to take on the NFL, but rather to become a development league for it. But the NFL wasn’t terribly interested, and its players’ union didn’t embrace the idea of players taking a beating over two seasons instead of one.
