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Death of the Alliance of American Football


LAWeaver

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45 minutes ago, Ice_Cap said:

I know what I’m about to say isn’t particularly ground breaking but it’s something I don’t think I’ve seen said yet and your post is as good an excuse as any to jump into it...

 

As long as I’ve been here? There’s been an undercurrent among CCSLC membership that has been practically begging for a US-based alternate football league to support. It hasn’t been something everyone has been itching for, but there’s always been a vocal segment of the forum’s userbase that have wanted something like this. 

 

 

I feel the opposite.  I feel like every time some league is announced, the overwhelming majority just mock it and openly root for its failure, as if they don't understand that a successful league is good for everyone.  It's been something that frustrates me, because I just cant understand the desire to see everything fail... and fail spectacularly.  I've made the point before when there's just been post after post after post of  how the leagues will all suck.  The only place around here where I think I've read about people pining for a minor league is in the reel-line-mint thread.

 

 

"The views expressed here are mine and do not reflect the official opinion of my employer or the organization through which the Internet was accessed."

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2 minutes ago, BringBackTheVet said:

 

I feel the opposite.  I feel like every time some league is announced, the overwhelming majority just mock it and openly root for its failure, as if they don't understand that a successful league is good for everyone.  It's been something that frustrates me, because I just cant understand the desire to see everything fail... and fail spectacularly.  I've made the point before when there's just been post after post after post of  how the leagues will all suck.  The only place around here where I think I've read about people pining for a minor league is in the reel-line-mint thread.

 

 

 

As a wrestling fan, I am rooting for All Elite Wrestling to succeed because if they do succeed, it makes the WWE better and that is all we want as wrestling fans: all aspects of WWE to be better, not just NXT.

 

I think the sport hardest to create a rival league is baseball. 

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Apollos President Dave Waddell did an AMA at one of the Reddit sites dedicated to the AAF (the one which is much more Meme-centric).

 

He did answer more questions than a typical AMA guest.  Some quick takeaways:

1-While Spurrier was hired as HC in April, Waddell started on August 28 and was the third team employee.

2-There are 24 full team staff members who were hired by January 1. 

3-He was noncommittal when asked about a second jersey for 2020, but 2019 will just be the white jersey. 

 

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7 minutes ago, GDAWG said:

 

As a wrestling fan, I am rooting for All Elite Wrestling to succeed because if they do succeed, it makes the WWE better and that is all we want as wrestling fans: all aspects of WWE to be better, not just NXT.

 

I think the sport hardest to create a rival league is baseball. 

 

Stop saying "rival" league.  None of these leagues are setting out to be a rival league.

"The views expressed here are mine and do not reflect the official opinion of my employer or the organization through which the Internet was accessed."

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3 minutes ago, BringBackTheVet said:

 

I feel the opposite.  I feel like every time some league is announced, the overwhelming majority just mock it and openly root for its failure, as if they don't understand that a successful league is good for everyone.  It's been something that frustrates me, because I just cant understand the desire to see everything fail... and fail spectacularly.  I've made the point before when there's just been post after post after post of  how the leagues will all suck.  The only place around here where I think I've read about people pining for a minor league is in the reel-line-mint thread.

 

 

I mean you’ve been pretty hard on AEW in the pro wrestling subforum. Isn’t another successful wrestling promotion good for everyone? Fans, wrestlers, even the WWE?

 

I’m not trying to say “well if you’re taking the piss out of AEW then you’re a hypocrite!” 

I’m just trying to draw parallels to illustrate why many people here do view stuff like the FFL, AAF, APL, and XFL 2.0 skeptically. 

 

AEW has no media outlet, has a roster of relative unknowns to your causal fan, and has to build up a following for from nothing long after the WWE vanquished their last outstanding rivals from the old territory days. 

 

The AAF is the only one of these leagues with a media outlet, as even the XFL 2.0 has yet to announce a tv deal. They will all feature rosters of college players not good enough to be signed by the NFL or NFL washouts, and have to cultivate a fanbase from nothing long after the NFL absorbed the last real threat to its hegemony. 

 

The challenges faced by an upstart wrestling promotion and an upstart football league are similar in a lot of ways, and given how you’ve been less than impressed with AEW’s “launch”? You should be able to see why there are people who assume the worst about the AAF, XFL, and their start-up imitators. 

 

Even then though? The segment of CCSLCers who predict doom and gloom for the recent crop of spring football leagues we only one part of this community. 

 

Be it USFL nostalgia, people insisting that the XFL 1.0 could have worked with some tweaks, or people adamant on hashing out potential NFL “minor leagues” in the Concepts section and Reel-Line-Mint thread? I’ve definitely been aware of a subsection of users here who have been itching for a US-based alternative football league. 

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9 minutes ago, Ice_Cap said:

I mean you’ve been pretty hard on AEW in the pro wrestling subforum. Isn’t another successful wrestling promotion good for everyone? Fans, wrestlers, even the WWE?

 

I’m not trying to say “well if you’re taking the piss out of AEW then you’re a hypocrite!” 

I’m just trying to draw parallels to illustrate why many people here do view stuff like the FFL, AAF, APL, and XFL 2.0 skeptically. 

 

AEW has no media outlet, has a roster of relative unknowns to your causal fan, and has to build up a following for from nothing long after the WWE vanquished their last outstanding rivals from the old territory days. 

 

The AAF is the only one of these leagues with a media outlet, as even the XFL 2.0 has yet to announce a tv deal. They will all feature rosters of college players not good enough to be signed by the NFL or NFL washouts, and have to cultivate a fanbase from nothing long after the NFL absorbed the last real threat to its hegemony. 

 

The challenges faced by an upstart wrestling promotion and an upstart football league are similar in a lot of ways, and given how you’ve been less than impressed with AEW’s “launch”? You should be able to see why there are people who assume the worst about the AAF, XFL, and their start-up imitators. 

 

Even then though? The segment of CCSLCers who predict doom and gloom for the recent crop of spring football leagues we only one part of this community. 

 

Be it USFL nostalgia, people insisting that the XFL 1.0 could have worked with some tweaks, or people adamant on hashing out potential NFL “minor leagues” in the Concepts section and Reel-Line-Mint thread? I’ve definitely been aware of a subsection of users here who have been itching for a US-based alternative football league. 

 

Probably why AEW is interested in Dave Bautista.  He could get the casuals interested in AEW.  I have friends who are not wrestling fans, but know who Dave Bautista is due to his role as Drax in the Marvel movies. 

 

With the AAF, they are trying and at least they are playing games.  The APL has been silent for a month and they don't began play until March.  Many leagues are announced, but never actually play. 

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4 minutes ago, GDAWG said:

With the AAF, they are trying and at least they are playing games.  The APL has been silent for a month and they don't began play until March.  Many leagues are announced, but never actually play.  The AAF is playing games and if it fails, at least they tried.  What I think will eventually happen to the AAF is that the NFL buys them.

I don’t think the FFL or APL will get off the ground. The AAF is actually making things happen, which is all you can hope for, really. 

The XFL I’m going to say will make it to one season at the very least due to the people and capital involved. Some network somewhere will be starved for post-Super Bowl content. 

 

Regardless, I’m not really talking about the AAF’s chances. As I’ve said? I’ve watched a fair bit of it and I’m seeing a lot of potential. The football is fine for what the league aspires to be, and it’ll only get better as teams gel together. I wouldn’t mind watching the AAF, or even heading to Orlando to catch a game live on a slow weekend. I’m concerned that bad attendance will sink them before they have a chance to stabilize and find a niche though. Only time will tell. 

 

My major point, however, is that there has been a subsection of this community that has been craving an alternative football league that hedged its bets by aspiring to supplement rather than supplant the NFL. 

And now we have one that’s made it onto network tv and seems at least semi-competent. 

 

So of course it’ll get traction here.

 

I’m fond of the AAF so far, I’m just a bit more guarded in my optimism compared to people who are willing to go all out after only two weeks. 

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4 minutes ago, Ice_Cap said:

I don’t think the FFL or APL will get off the ground. The AAF is actually making things happen, which is all you can hope for, really. 

The XFL I’m going to say will make it to one season at the very least due to the people and capital involved. Some network somewhere will be starved for post-Super Bowl content. 

 

Regardless, I’m not really talking about the AAF’s chances. As I’ve said? I’ve watched a fair bit of it and I’m seeing a lot of potential. The football is fine for what the league aspires to be, and it’ll only get better as teams gel together. I wouldn’t mind watching the AAF, or even heading to Orlando to catch a game live on a slow weekend. I’m concerned that bad attendance will sink them before they have a chance to stabilize and find a niche though. Only time will tell. 

 

My major point, however, is that there has been a subsection of this community that has been craving an alternative football league that hedged its bets by aspiring to supplement rather than supplant the NFL. 

And now we have one that’s made it onto network tv and seems at least semi-competent. 

 

So of course it’ll get traction here.

 

I’m fond of the AAF so far, I’m just a bit more guarded in my optimism compared to people who are willing to go all out after only two weeks. 

 

The AAF is good football.  They end their season right around the time of the NFL draft in time for the post-draft minicamps in which NFL teams bring in a bunch of players for tryouts as the veterans sit out until June. The AAF is a good way to keep those players in game shape.  Attendance at these games could be an issue.  We'll see if San Diego sees an increase in attendance at their next home game as it was reportedly raining yesterday.  We don't know how well Salt Lake City and Atlanta will do attendance wise, but it's not going to look good for the league if the Atlanta Legends don't at least get half of Georgia State Stadium filled and that stadium is the smallest in the league at 24,000.

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2 hours ago, Ice_Cap said:

Regardless? There’s always been this desire for something like this to work. So much so that we even have people championing the XFL 2.0 despite the first XFL (run by the same guy!) failing spectacularly. 

So it doesn’t surprise me that when we get a league that 1) plays in the NFL offseason 2) provides a different brand of football and 3) desires to compliment the NFL rather than supplant it and manages to not be a total embarrassment? People latch onto it. It hits the trifecta of what a subsection of the CCSLC has always wanted while seeing semi-competent to boot. 

I bet a lot of the desire for a new non-NFL spring league has a lot to do with how short the football season is compared to other sports. The NFL runs for roughly six months from beginning to end compared to eight or nine months for the other leagues. Football also runs games once a week which also leads to people being left wanting more when the season comes to an end. Soccer also runs games weekly for the most part, but goes for a lot longer and there's something going on year-round.

 

There are a lot of people out there who just don't care at all about hockey, basketball, soccer, or baseball so having more football is something they're really into. Really they should just get into pro wrestling since that never stops, for better or worse.

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1 hour ago, Ice_Cap said:

I mean you’ve been pretty hard on AEW in the pro wrestling subforum.

 

I don't think that's the case.  I'm hard on marks that I think go overboard and think that it's going to be #1 right away just because, but I'm certainly supportive.

"The views expressed here are mine and do not reflect the official opinion of my employer or the organization through which the Internet was accessed."

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On 2/16/2019 at 9:40 PM, mkg74 said:

This is credibility ruining. Now. I’m out on the AAF. 

 

11908!  My ass!!  

 

Football in the spring is dead forever. Xfl will fail. So will the freedom football league.  

 

Thank god for college football. Because the nfl is so pathetic. 

 

 

Good news news for you guys. I won’t be posting in this thread anymore. 

 

Rip AAF

 

Adios, might want to change that Stallions helmet avatar on your way out.

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Appears that the Athletic is the only source of this so far. If it's true that the league almost missed payroll and Tom Dundon decided to give this league a quarter billion dollars then I wonder how the XFL is going to get any appreciable support.

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1 hour ago, Red Comet said:

Appears that the Athletic is the only source of this so far. If it's true that the league almost missed payroll and Tom Dundon decided to give this league a quarter billion dollars then I wonder how the XFL is going to get any appreciable support.

Is Dundon buying in for the football, or just for the technology to use for the Hurricanes and his affiliates? You guys where Dundon has made a lot of his cash, right?

 

Top Golf

 

They've got all the technology to track your golf ball and club speed and like. They license that technology to the PGA Tour.

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Dundon came in last week to keep the league from folding mid-season. Someone screwed up badly on the financials. The checks almost didn't clear. This league's done. It's Dundon.

 

https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2019/02/19/nhl-owner-saves-the-aaf/amp/?__twitter_impression=true

On 1/25/2013 at 1:53 PM, 'Atom said:

For all the bird de lis haters I think the bird de lis isnt supposed to be a pelican and a fleur de lis I think its just a fleur de lis with a pelicans head. Thats what it looks like to me. Also the flair around the tip of the beak is just flair that fleur de lis have sometimes source I am from NOLA.

PotD: 10/19/07, 08/25/08, 07/22/10, 08/13/10, 04/15/11, 05/19/11, 01/02/12, and 01/05/12.

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15 minutes ago, dfwabel said:

Is Dundon buying in for the football, or just for the technology to use for the Hurricanes and his affiliates?

Who knows? Unless there's some tech the AAF hasn't showed us yet, then why would anyone spend a quarter, much less a quarter billion for the craptastic tech the AAF possesses? I don't think it's the football either unless he's planning on using this team to get a soccer-specific stadium for this AAF team and MLS (and boy does that league have issues) and a new arena for the Hurricanes, both taxpayer-funded of course. If that's the angle then Dundon is playing this like a virtuoso.

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16 minutes ago, Red Comet said:

Who knows? Unless there's some tech the AAF hasn't showed us yet, then why would anyone spend a quarter, much less a quarter billion for the craptastic tech the AAF possesses? I don't think it's the football either unless he's planning on using this team to get a soccer-specific stadium for this AAF team and MLS (and boy does that league have issues) and a new arena for the Hurricanes, both taxpayer-funded of course. If that's the angle then Dundon is playing this like a virtuoso.

He needed to see the app work in real time.

Again since owns Topgolf, the tracking tech is similar but can be used by his other businesses.  I'm thinking more for his relationship with NBC for the PGA Tour.  His Toptracer technology which follows the player's shot is on every NBC telecast.  Since the Tour now allows spectators to have phones on the course, having a golf version of the AAF app could be a boon for him. 

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This league is toast. (XFL, are you paying attention? Don't bother with 2020.)

MofnV2z.png

The CCSLC's resident Geelong Cats fan.

Viva La Vida or Death And All His Friends. Sounds like something from a Rocky & Bullwinkle story arc.

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6 minutes ago, buzzcut said:

This league is toast. (XFL, are you paying attention? Don't bother with 2020.)

 

Yeah that was my thought too. XFL only has $500 million. So they’ll last til week what, four, before they’re out of cash? And we know they’ll be more of a joke from the start so maybe sooner. 

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