Death of the Alliance of American Football

[GDAWG]

The AAF has had some really good games during it's 8 weeks.

 

Speaking of which, they are already hyping up next week as if it's business as usual.  Also still gloating about the App being #1

[Ferdinand Cesarano]

14 minutes ago, GDAWG said:

The AAF has had some really good games during it's 8 weeks.

 

Speaking of which, they are already hyping up next week as if it's business as usual.  Also still gloating about the App being #1

 

Next week there will be a game on CBS — not CBS Sports, but regular CBS.

[Quillz]

16 minutes ago, GDAWG said:

Also still gloating about the App being #1

It is, indeed, the #1 app dedicated to the AAF.

[GDAWG]

3 minutes ago, Ferdinand Cesarano said:

 

Next week there will be a game on CBS — not CBS Sports, but regular CBS.

 

If they get to next week, which seems unlikely right now. 

[mkg74]

1 minute ago, Ferdinand Cesarano said:

 

Next week there will be a game on CBS — not CBS Sports, but regular CBS.

It’s The Memphis @ SA game right? 

[Ferdinand Cesarano]

5 minutes ago, mkg74 said:

8 minutes ago, Ferdinand Cesarano said:

Next week there will be a game on CBS — not CBS Sports, but regular CBS.

It’s The Memphis @ SA game right? 

 

Yes.

 

I don't know whether this is a reaction to Manziel, or whether it had been scheduled before his signing.

[GDAWG]

I am of the belief that if this is the only season of the AAF, the league will not fold until after the Championship game. 

[Sykotyk]

1 hour ago, Ferdinand Cesarano said:

 

Yes.

 

I don't know whether this is a reaction to Manziel, or whether it had been scheduled before his signing.

It was scheduled for CBS before Manziel news even happened. Just wanted to get Orlando and San Antonio on CBS when it could fit. 

[mkg74]

17,328 @ Birmingham game

[GDAWG]

5 minutes ago, mkg74 said:

17,328 @ Birmingham game

 

It hosts 71,000 too.  They should have not gone to Birmingham. 

[mkg74]

Birmingham is one of the main football graveyard cities.  More leagues been there than the amount of different underwear people wear a week. WFL AFA USFL WLAF CFL-USA XFL Arena2 and now AAF.  

[dfwabel]

Florio this afternoon:

Quote

Per a source with knowledge of the situation, there has been no movement regarding efforts to persuade the NFL Players Association to agree to a program that would result in NFL teams loaning certain back-of-roster players to the AAF (and the XFL).

 

Which means that the supposed Hail Mary for the AAF could be landing flat, enhancing the chances of dissolution by the start of the 2020 season — and possibly resulting in the plug being pulled before next weekend.

 

While it’s unclear whether the availability of, essentially, NFL practice-squad players would keep the AAF afloat (some think it won’t matter), the unavailability of players falling somewhere between 53 and 90 on the pecking order of NFL rosters makes the end of the AAF more likely.

 

Also, the Apollo's radio lead PBP announcer spoke with the Orlando Sentinel's Mike Bianchi Friday morning herself. As she describes it, she and the crew wasn't fired, rather "radio broadcasts are suspended". I guess it has something to do with missing payments, but she talks Apollo's at around the 5:20 mark.

https://969thegame.iheart.com/content/2019-03-29-jamie-seh-joins-open-mike-and-sets-the-record-straight-on-the-aaf/

[tp49]

Birmingham was a mistake market for them to enter.  The only football they care about in that region is either Alabama or Auburn.  I was in school down there at the same time the CFL was.  Attendance was semi-decent until college football started up then it tanked.  Alabama will fill Bryant Denny for their spring A-Day game in a few weeks while the Iron can't draw enough to pay the light bill.  When will the powers that be in these leagues ever learn...

[Red Comet]

21 minutes ago, mkg74 said:

Birmingham is one of the main football graveyard cities.  More leagues been there than the amount of different underwear people wear a week. WFL AFA USFL WLAF CFL-USA XFL Arena2 and now AAF.  

 

Yes, all of those football leagues failed, but spring football is awesome in theory, it's just that it never has been implemented properly yet. / s

 

 

[Gothamite]

2 hours ago, oldschoolvikings said:

Fair enough, but I really don't know if that qualified as "taking a shot"... It just seems from reading this thread that the complete and utter destruction of this league is some sort of lifelong dream of his, and I was just hoping, for his sake, that it might soon come to fruition.

 

I think any time you make it about another poster personally, rather than addressing the substance of his argument, it’s taking a shot.

 

We’re on much firmer ground when we deal with opposing arguments instead of trying to pretend to psychoanalyze another poster’s motivations.

 

I don’t mean that as a criticism of you specifically; we all do it from time to time, but it’s rarely our finest hour. 

[Gothamite]

2 hours ago, Quillz said:

While I don't think this league was ever going to be successful, at least they tried. And they did it right. They didn't seem to take "cheap shots" at the NFL, it was just "here's a springtime league." It's the XFL I want to see fail. With its smug, "our players are 'Real Americans'(TM)" image and the idea that it's going to be "real" football. It's going to be hilarious watching it fail for the second time.

 

Yeah, this.  

 

I have no ill will towards the AAF.  I even love some of their designs.  I just think their business model was fatally flawed. I won’t be surprised when they fold, but neither will I celebrate it.

 

The XFL?  I’m actively cheering for that one to go down.  Again.  Preferably taking as much of McMahon’s money as possible with it. 

[Red Comet]

10 minutes ago, Gothamite said:

 

Yeah, this.  

 

I have no ill will towards the AAF.  I even love some of their designs.  I think their business model was fatally flawed. I won’t be surprised when they fold, but neither will I celebrate it.

 

 

The XFL?  I’m actively cheering for that one to go down.  Again.  Preferably taking as much of McMahon’s money as possible with it. 

 

I believe the AAF will finish this season but no further games. This league's presumed failure only reinforces the idea that for any NFL minor league to work, it would have to be directly supported by the NFL itself and probably take place in the fall so that players can be called up/sent down during the season. This would have to follow an agreement with the player's union of a bigger NFL roster in return to work though. And even that would probably require the AAA teams to be the "family-friendly budget" version of the NFL teams in the same market (for most of the teams. The AAF is indicating that San Antonio might be a viable market for future AAA teams) to maybe work. Maybe.

 

Of course, the only way such a system really could work is if college football suffers a fatal deathblow in the student-athlete business model via requiring fiscal compensation of players.

[mkg74]

Poor attendance is what will bury the league. 

 

Not This Dundon BS of we need 3rd stringers from the NFL that’s just a lousy cover up pointing the finger at the NFL excuse for their failure. The average AAFer and a 3rd stringer in the NFL is prettty much interchangeable. 

 

If the AAF had 7 other San Antonio’s then the general public would be singing a different tune towards this league. They worked hard in San Antonio to pull fans in the other 7 cities didn’t do :censored:!!  And now it’s come to this. Possible closing down of shop. Poor attendance could kill the AAF. 

 

It’s like this league said. “We just signed Trent Richardson,buy tickets” doesn’t work that way. (I borrowed the Richardson quote from someone else btw. But we get the idea here). 

[IceCap]

1 hour ago, Gothamite said:

 

I think any time you make it about another poster personally, rather than addressing the substance of his argument, it’s taking a shot.

 

We’re on much firmer ground when we deal with opposing arguments instead of trying to pretend to psychoanalyze another poster’s motivations.

 

I don’t mean that as a criticism of you specifically; we all do it from time to time, but it’s rarely our finest hour. 

Well I’ll echo @oldschoolvikings

@dfwabel ? You’re a great poster but jeeze, you’ve had a hate-on for this league since day one. 

 

It’s kind of remarkable that a spring time football league has garnered the traffic it has, but still? I don’t think an “AAF Anti-thread” is necessary.

Still? As someone who’s grown to enjoy this league’s product more and more as the season has gone on? It’s been immensely frustrating to have the thread dedicated to game action being overrun by one guy determined to rain on the parade.

I don’t even need to open this thread to know what it’ll look like- you predicting doom and gloom as people argue with you, with maybe occasional game-relevant discussion. 

 

Is this league going to die? I don’t know. I’m more optimistic than some of you are, but if it fails? It’ll fail. If it manages to succeede? It’ll succeede. 

 

So as both a moderator whose job it is to consider potential thread disruptions and as a fan of a team in this league? I’m going to ask to hold back your urge to proclaim the end is near at every opertunity.

 

If we only have a few weeks of AAF action left? Let’s let the actual fans of this league have some space to talk about it. 

[MJWalker45]

Ran into a guy visiting from Dallas for tonight's game. He was just in town for the week but decided, "What the heck I'll see what this league is about". San Antonio probably got less than 30,000 but still pulled in a pretty good crowd. Now we'll see if Marquise Williams can throw.