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Death of the Alliance of American Football


LAWeaver

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20 hours ago, Skycast said:

One thing I hear consistently about the Alliance is that many people are skeptical about how the product is going to be on the field because these aren't NFL caliber players, but you can have very exciting, competent and competitive football at all levels of play. From high school and up through the various "lower" tiers of college football to the Group of Five, Power Five and the CFL...there is a LOT of great football being played.

 

 

Good point. I mean it's not like NCAA D1 and the CFL are incompetent football. There are plenty of great football players who just don't make the NFL due to the limited number of entries into that league every year. Only 2% of NCAA footballers join the NFL in any year. But far more than 2% are quality football players. 

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8 hours ago, mkg74 said:

The quality of play did improve as the season went on.

 

It sure did.  By mid-season, not only had the quality of play improved, but so did the quality of the broadcasts.  No more of the Jesse Ventura-style foolishness that characterised the first couple of weeks and that turned off many who watched.

Here is a game between the Hitmen and the San Francisco Demons at what was then Pac Bell Park.  The atmosphere is great, and both teams are executing.  And the announcers are taking the competition as seriously as the players are; they are assisted by the Demons' regular quarterback, Arena League mainstay Mike Pawlawski, who was injured and was talking to them all game from the Demons' sidelines.
 

 

 

8 hours ago, mkg74 said:

Too late. The media already buried the league by week 2

 

Yes.  This was very unfortunate.  It was partly self-inflicted, and to that extent the XFL could only blame itself for having given the league a brand identity that was intertwined with the idioic idenity of wrestling.

But the ignoring of that league also partly had its basis in mindlessly reflexive dismissal, an ugly trait that is found in far too many fans and media people.

 

Whether the AAF can succeed despite this unfortunate phenomenon remains to be seen.  But the placement of the new league's games on the NFL Network will go a long way to help break through this barrier.

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What's the big deal about the app? All everyone talks about is the app and how they are disappointed by it not coming out, lack of transparency, etc. Who cares!? Are you going to watch the game because of the app? Will it change the quality of play on the field? The app does not matter, the actual games do.

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15 minutes ago, CrimsonBull9584 said:

What's the big deal about the app? All everyone talks about is the app and how they are disappointed by it not coming out, lack of transparency, etc. Who cares!? Are you going to watch the game because of the app? Will it change the quality of play on the field? The app does not matter, the actual games do.

Your mans, err boss, Charlie Ebersol told the public on his the app would differentiate the AAF from any other sport telecast. 

 

Source: https://www.sporttechie.com/alliance-american-football-charlie-ebersol-bill-polian/
 

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“One of the things we’re building is a football league,” Ebersol said, “but on the other side, we’re building a technology company that allows direct and, for the first time ever, fully real-time data streaming out of the game for what we call Stats 2.0.”

 

The AAF has been building proprietary hardware and software for the past two years that Ebersol said will be “a couple of generations ahead of where everybody else is.” Every player will don some sort of wearable. The goal is to generate predictive data by tracking position, velocity, and biometrics and sharing that information in real-time.

 

That trove of data will power an active fan engagement platform. That app will include fantasy football and other social gaming options, as well as the potential for sports betting in states where it’s legal. MGM has signed on as an investor and the exclusive owner of in-game betting rights for the first three seasons. All in-play wagering will be hosted through MGM’s app and will tap into wearable data to better refine live oddsmaking.

 

The AAF’s plan is to build a product that keeps fans participating throughout games, using its app during the lulls between plays. And the target audience for this product is a demographic delight for advertisers.

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8 hours ago, dfwabel said:

 

Well if a godamned APP is gonna determine the reputation or fate of this league, then what a sad world we live in...my mistake for thinking on the field matters

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4 minutes ago, mkg74 said:

Well if a godamned APP is gonna determine the reputation or fate of this league, then what a sad world we live in...my mistake for thinking on the field matters

When you claim you're a TECH company first and a football league second, then it matters. It really, really matters because there's much more money in licensing your IP to other leagues, conferences, and teams than from selling tickets and sponsorships.  

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53 minutes ago, mkg74 said:

Well if a godamned APP is gonna determine the reputation or fate of this league, then what a sad world we live in...my mistake for thinking on the field matters

 

Being able to deliver on their promises will determine the reputation or fate of this league. 

 

Not our fault that they’re apparently hoping people won’t notice that they’re failing to meet those promises. 

 

One little press release admitting and explaining the delay would make the issue go away.  Wonder why they haven’t done that?

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6 hours ago, Skycast said:

Man, as much play as the lack of the app currently being released is getting you'd think the league is already a failure. I see more posts and discussion about it that anything else. Has the actual league ever given a release date? I've only seen reports of 2/2 - 2/4 from an "inside source" but nothing official from the league.

When the league claims to be a tech company first and foremost, and makes a big deal about an app they already promised for January, yes, it being almost mid-February and it still not here is a big deal. First impressions, especially for startup leagues, matter greatly. If they can't be on time with their app, can they be on time with paying players? Can they showcase all the games that are supposed to be?

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2 hours ago, CrimsonBull9584 said:

What's the big deal about the app? All everyone talks about is the app and how they are disappointed by it not coming out, lack of transparency, etc. Who cares!? Are you going to watch the game because of the app? Will it change the quality of play on the field? The app does not matter, the actual games do.

Again: this league has claimed multiple times to be a tech company first that is running a football league. They have made extensive talk about their app, how it's going to set them apart from other leagues, etc. They said multiple times it would be available in January. It's now February, the league starts next Sunday, and the app still isn't here. If you don't see how that's a red flag or an issue, I don't know what to tell you.

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5 minutes ago, Gothamite said:

 

Being able to deliver on their promises will determine the reputation or fate of this league. 

 

Not our fault that they’re apparently hoping people won’t notice that they’re failing to meet those promises. 

 

One little press release admitting and explaining the delay would make the issue go away.  Wonder why they haven’t done that?

The website doesn't have team depth charts up yet although rosters were set six days ago.  It does seem that those on Reddit want information yet are not getting much from the league or their local media (if applicable).  The AAF app was to stream the games live, but with the relationship with B/R Live, does that change the role of the app in year 1?  The level of communication has been minimal, especially when the Orlando team president is a mod at their Reddit page.

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57 minutes ago, dfwabel said:

When you claim you're a TECH company first and a football league second, then it matters. It really, really matters because there's much more money in licensing your IP to other leagues, conferences, and teams than from selling tickets and sponsorships.  

Exactly. 

 

Heck, back in 2017, Apple started hyping up some product called AirPower that was going to be the wireless charging mat to end all wireless charging mats. They said it would be available "soon," then after about six months they said "next year," then several times in 2018 they promised "eventually." It's now 2019 and rumors are the product was canceled. Needless to say, pretty disappointing given the hype they built up for it. But this Apple, a company that can obviously weather the storm. We're talking about a brand-new startup not delivering one of its key products.

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10 minutes ago, Quillz said:

Again: this league has claimed multiple times to be a tech company first that is running a football league. They have made extensive talk about their app, how it's going to set them apart from other leagues, etc. They said multiple times it would be available in January. It's now February, the league starts next Sunday, and the app still isn't here. If you don't see how that's a red flag or an issue, I don't know what to tell you.

The red flag is if a game isn't played, or a team folds, or something like that. An app not appearing by Saturday isn't going to make or break this league. 

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1 minute ago, CrimsonBull9584 said:

The red flag is if a game isn't played, or a team folds, or something like that. An app not appearing by Saturday isn't going to make or break this league. 

It may not make or break the league, but when they're behind on something they've put a lot of weight behind, that doesn't give me a lot of confidence in the league.

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7 minutes ago, CrimsonBull9584 said:

The red flag is if a game isn't played, or a team folds, or something like that. An app not appearing by Saturday isn't going to make or break this league. 

 

It speaks to a general level of mismanagement. Companies wanting to enter a crowded marketplace can’t afford a lot of that. 

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Re: BR Live.

 

I signed up for BR Live for a month to watch some NLL games and I haven't really been impressed. The streaming doesn't always work and I've had issues with streams freezing and cutting out. A lot of times, the website won't even load and it takes me a few tries to get onto the site (though this may have something to do with ad blockers because when I turn it off or whitelist the site it usually works after a refresh).

 

Also, it seems unnecessarily difficult to try to cancel the subscription, which I will be doing partially because I haven't been able to watch as many games as I thought due to other commitments.

 

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Monthly and annual subscriptions automatically renew at the end of each month/year. To avoid auto-renew charges you must cancel your subscription at least 24-hours before the current billing period ends. To cancel a subscription purchased via the B/R Live website,email us or start a live chat session from our Help Center and choose “Cancel Auto-bill” option. An agent will reply once your request has been received. 

 

You should just be able to click a button to cancel the subscription.

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25 minutes ago, monkeypower said:

You should just be able to click a button to cancel the subscription.

Yup. Any company that doesn't do that is very shady. Don't be surprised when your e-mail gets "lost," the tech didn't "understand your request," etc. I had to deal with a company like that for months and it was miserable.

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1 hour ago, Gothamite said:

 

It speaks to a general level of mismanagement. Companies wanting to enter a crowded marketplace can’t afford a lot of that. 

They've also had a merchandising issue in the last month too.  Good thing is the online store sold out of many shirts.  Bad thing is the online store just received replica jerseys and the was offline at times in January. 

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