Spring Football Concept: AAFL Project

[WideRight]

Hey Sportslogos.net fans,

 

With the recent news about the merger of the USFL and XFL into the new United Football League, I got to thinking about what works and what doesn't work about spring football.  We all know the obvious stuff, that it would take tens of billions of dollars to do what the AFL did in the 70's or what the USFL tried back in the 80's, to go head to head against the NFL for top talent, so any spring league is going to be a de facto feeder league for the NFL (officially like WLAF or not like XFL/AAF).    Basically a AAA level football league. 

 

The second big issue, if you are building a AAA football league in the spring, is the issue of markets.  This is where what I call the Spring Football Catch 22 comes in.  Any AAA league for football is going to want to do what the G-League in basketball or AAA baseball don't do, get national TV coverage.  Football is an expensive sport and you need that sweet, sweet TV money to make it work, but...  if you go for the big markets  like NYC, LA, Chicago, Dallas, Bay Area that the networks will want for viewership, you are likely paying for huge stadiums that will be 1/4 filled at best, especially for those teams that inevitably end up being the worst in the league, and that is horrible if you want to project that this is a winning and potentially long-lasting league.  You also have almost no chance of being taken seriously by local media in your cities.  No NY TV station is going to go gaga for a AAA football team when they have to cover the Yankees, Mets, Knicks, Nets, Rangers, Islanders and all the offseason Jets and Giants news.   NY may be the toughest market, but the same is true in most Top 20 cities that have multiple major league teams.  Why cover AAA football if there are 3-4 major league teams to focus on?

 

But, if you go the other route, picking smaller cities with smaller stadiums that may get local media attention and fill pretty well, you end up with Boise v. Omaha on TV, which will get worse national TV ratings than professional cricket or women's golf.  So, what can be done if a spring league wants to succeed.  You may need to mix the two to get enough viewership, good spring markets, and decent stadium sizes to show filled stands each week.  

 

That is where this "fantasy" or "concept" league comes in.   I am going to work on a concept league, starting with 8 markets, growing to 10, 12 and maybe 16.   I have done the research, looking at the Top 60 markets in the USA, determining what pro sport competition (particularly MLB and NFL) exist in the market, and what stadiums are available in the AAA sweet spot of 20k-50k capacity.  No playing in huge NFL stadiums or 100,000 seat college bowls.  No converted minor league baseball fields with 9,000 capacity either (looking at you Las Vegas Vipers).  And while there will be no cities outside top 60, the only current  NFL or MLB cities that are eligible are ones with a stadium in the 20k-50k range that will work for them to actually look somewhat full on gameday.  No Meadowlands, SoFi, or Soldier Field. 

 

And along the way I am going to be asking for you, the folks who bother to stick with this concept, to help me make decisions, on everything, from cities to team identities.   My hope is that this is a fun, interactive activity durign what I expect will be a long NFL offseason for me (I am having trouble being UFL excited.).  It may take a while since I am not abandoning my alt history of the USFL (3 years of real time and 29 simulated seasons deserves to keep going for sure) so I think a few months of polls and posts at the least.   i hope this sounds interesting for all the logo/uniform geeks like me. 

 

OK, so here is the first post, and, in keeping with website rules, it involves a concept logo.  I have made the one initial choice, the name for this fictional league, but most future choices you will get a say in. 

 

I went with "All-American Football League",  which I think serves three potential purposes, it evokes the classic AAFC that brought us the Browns and 49ers, a touchpoint to the past, it emphasizes Football as the All-American sport, and it highlights that while the players in the league may not be NFL 1st round draft picks, many will be highly touted college players, including All-Americans (as well as all-conference, and the best of the FCS and lower divisions). 

 

So, we need a logo for this new 8-team league.  I have made 4 options, and I want you to give me your preference.   As a starting point, my concept for this league is that the UFL has failed, it is about 2030 or so and the combination of ESPN, ABC, and Amazon Prime (the streaming service) have decided to try again, which provides the financial base.  They will start with 8 teams, centrally funded, but sell ownership in clubs in year 3.  They will play in each city's home stadiums, with a season that begins the 3rd week of March (with a schedule favoring dome and southern teams in weeks 1-2) and runs for 12 weeks, leading to a 4-team playoff and a title game on July 4th (or the closest Sunday to July 4th if it is not on a Fri-Mon date). 

 

So, AAFL,  we kick off with the league logo and then I will start providing lists of approved cities for the two divisions (East/West).   I am going to say right now, many cities that you may like will not appear as options simply because they lack a stadium within the 20k-50k range.   I will also say that this new league will absolutely need to cut a deal with Major League Soccer, because so many cities in the top 20-30 metro areas only  have 1 stadium in the right size and it is the MLS stadium.   No baseball stadiums will be used because they stink for football and because this league is during the baseball season. 

 

OK, get your votes in on these 4 options and let's get the AAFL Project rolling:

 

 

[OchentaYOcho88]

I love option 2! It looks glossy and a simplified shield would look great on the collar of the jerseys.

[jbird669]

I'm digging option 1.

[MJWalker45]

I'd go with Option2. It works the best of the four when placed on the neckline of the collar. 

[Dozap17]

My vote is for Option 1

[CLEFAN94]

Option 1 gets my vote!

[BengalErnst]

I’m an option 1 vote 

[maxwasson]

Option 2 vote

[WideRight]

Looks like 1 v. 2 right now.  Have to say I am a bit surprised, but we will go another day and see what the final count is. 

 

Meanwhile a sneak peek into how we will pick teams for this league, starting with 8 Season One clubs.

 

Round one will be non-NFL cities, where we will pick 1 city for the West and 1 for the East from 8 viable options. 

Round two will be one major market city (NFL market) for each of the 2 divisions with cities from the top 20 MSA that have viable 20k-50k stadiums available.

Round three returns to non-NFL cities for the 3rd club in each division. 

Round four is the Wild Card with all unselected cities now in play for the final spot in each division.  Balance of regions and potential rivalries will be added as factors for this round. 

 

We will kick this off tomorrow morning with the competition for non-NFL cities in the West.  When one city is chosen, we will then look at 4 designs for 4 possible nicknames for the club, and once that is chosen I will mock up full uniforms.  Then we will move to the East, then into round two, etc, building each club identity as we go. 

 

So, about 16-18 hours left to get votes in on the league logo. 

 

[SpidersReorg]

Put me down for Option 2.

[zoads82]

I going with option 2

[Vinny0930]

Option 1 for me. Has a more classy feel that I like.

[Blindsay]

Option 2

[JayHawk786]

Option 2

[raz]

Option 2.

[BengalErnst]

San Antonio in the west and Columbus in the east .. casting my vote early haha 

[raz]

25 minutes ago, BengalErnst said:

San Antonio in the west and Columbus in the east .. casting my vote early haha 

SA doesn't have a smaller stadium - Alamodome is 65000+. 

 

I have my ideas but I don't want to intrude on WideRight's story! 

[zoads82]

Juarez In the West and Columbus in the East for my vote.

 

Surprised with all this spring football talk that no one has done a timeline where the CFL tries to make a pushback in the US

[BengalErnst]

Someone has haha.. just not on this board 

3 hours ago, zoads82 said:

Juarez In the West and Columbus in the East for my vote.

 

Surprised with all this spring football talk that no one has done a timeline where the CFL tries to make a pushback in the US

 

[WideRight]

We have our winner for the league logo.  Thanks to all who voted these past couple of days.  The new logo will be used on all designs for the league.  And the winner is… OPTION #2

Here is your AAFL Logo, including a simplified version which will appear on the right chest (not collar line) of each club, opposite the jersey producer brand (UA, Russell, Adidas,etc.) and

a "minimalist" version that we will see from time to time: 

 

  

 

So, now we get on to the business of selecting the 8 franchises that will serve as the inaugural team lineup.  Here is how it is going to work.  I will provide a category and as many options as pass muster based on population and stadium options.  I will give a brief synopsis of each bid, you vote, we pick a city, and then I will provide 3-4 identity options (logos & helmets) to vote on.  Once we select the team name/colors/design, I will finalize the whole uniform, and we will move on to the next team to be selected until we have our 8 founders.  Then 2 more for the 2^nd season (10 teams), and 2 more for the third (12 teams).  We will see if we get larger than that as we get to that phase.

So, this week, here is our category:  Non-NFL city for the Western Division.  Based on the MSA population and stadium options we have 8 contenders and we will select one.  All others will return to the pool for later consideration. 

 

Eight teams, pick your favorite and maybe give a bit of a rationale as to why.  I will pick the winner in 2-3 days, depending on vote tallies.   I have given you my assessment of positives, negatives and an overall assessment, but you vote the way you wish.   These are listed in order of MSA Size, largest to smallest:

 

 

SAN DIEGO, CA

Metro: #18 – 3.28 million

Stadium: Snapdragon Stadium (35,000 capacity)

Positives: Weather, jilted NFL fanbase, ideal stadium size, new facility

Negatives: MLB Padres as sports $ competition, famously fickle SoCal sports fandom

My thoughts:  The likely frontrunner due to market size, a new and well-sized facility, and the anti-NFL sentiment. 

 

SAN ANTONIO, TX

Metro: #24 – 2.66 million

Stadium: Alamo Stadium (18,900)

Positives: No NFL/MLB, Solid weather, good track record of fan support, Texas as football region

Negatives: Alamodome too big, Stadium is old and has few amenities

My thoughts: Would be a great option but 2011 renovation to Alamo Stadium put it under 20,000.  I envision them adding another 3,000 seats via temporary bleachers at one endzone.

                                  I just did not want to leave them out (and they could use the Alamodome if popularity warranted a bigger facility.

 

PORTLAND, OR

Metro: #25 – 2.43 million

Stadium: Providence Park (25,218)

Positives: No MLB/NFL, high individual & corporate wealth region

Negatives: Stadium shared with MLS team, possible issues with rain games, distance from other cities

My thoughts: Early spring weather and ongoing rain could be a concern for turnout.  Would need to share with MLS Timbers, but in this reality that is something MLS and AAFL have worked out for  many venues. 

 

AUSTIN, TX

Metro: 27^th – 2.42 million

Stadium: Q2 Stadium (20,738)

Positives: No MLB/NFL, Football crazed region, growing & affluent city

Negatives: Stadium is smallish and shared with MLS

My thoughts: As a growing metro area with none of the Big 4 sports, this could be a prime market.  Stadium is a bit smallish. 

 

SACRAMENTO, CA

Metro: 28^th – 2.42 million

Stadium: Hornet Stadium (21,195)

Positives: No MLB/NFL, Affluent region, decent weather in early spring

Negatives: Could hinder possible Bay Area team, Stadium lacks amenities

My thoughts:  A bigger market than I had in my head, and the stadium is decent. 

 

SAN JOSE, CA

Metro: 36^th – 1.94 million

Stadium: CEFCU Stadium (30,456)

Positives: Affluent region, stadium recently renovated, could draw from rest of bay area

Negatives: 49ers play somewhat close by, MLB in nearby SF, cost of housing players

My thoughts: Stadium size is ideal, but will they draw from the whole bay area or just the south bay?

 

SALT LAKE CITY, UT

Metro: 46^th – 1.26 million

Stadium: America First Field (20,213)

Positives: No NFL/MLB, Could be a regional team, solid option for bigger stadium at U. Utah if needed

Negatives: Smaller market, smallish stadium and shared with MLS

My thoughts: Did not draw all that well in AAF (2019), and weather late into spring can be dicey. 

 

HONOLULU, HI

Metro: 55^th – 995k

Stadium: Aloha Stadium (50,000)

Positives: Great weather, possible regional draw, large stadium

Negatives: flight distance from other clubs, smallest market of the 8 here, cost of housing players

My thoughts:  Big stadium, untapped market, but the travel and player lodging costs will be high. 

 

 

There you go, 8 choices from non-NFL cities.  Pick your favorite in the next 2 days and we will get started on team identities.  Only 1 please.  Remember that those not chosen go back in the pool for possible selection later.  We will have 1 round of non-NFL cities in each division, then 1 round of large market NFL cities, then two more rounds, likely 1 more non-NFL and 1 wide open Wild Card for the 4^th team in each division.

 

Let’s see where the AAFL is headed first!  I will tally the votes on Tuesday morning and go with the top votegetter.