A11 Football League

[dfwabel]

As long as they don't have to pay for it. You're ignoring the cardinal lesson of the Arlington-sized graveyard of deal spring leagues.

I don't know if that's necessarily 100% true, but it does seem at the very least that it's difficult to generate sufficient ticket revenue to allow a new spring league to survive long-term. I would think that this sort of league is more for TV audiences, which makes getting a good TV deal (in term of financials, not in terms of the network exposure) even more critical.

Looking at the last two new league attempts, that is about $30MM/year. And that is for a league with no history of delivering a product in terms of an audience, less an actual game.

[kwmoore]

Just read the commisioner's latest article.

I'm not sure where he's at but.....

[buzzcut]

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that this league DOESN'T even make it to the showcase games, let alone a season.

[dfwabel]

Just read the commisioner's latest article.

I'm not sure where he's at but.....

Well, you ask for spring football and these are the knuckleheads who are listening and trying to do just that.

[Brian in Boston]

I laughed out loud when I read Commissioner McKibben's comments about the indiegogo campaigns each of the league's teams are conducting.

“The crowdfunding initiative was launched at midnight after the announcement,” McKibben said. “It gives the league the opportunity the chance to engage with its fan base. It isn’t as much about raising money as it is about engaging fans in the six markets we’ve already announced.”

Well, commissioner, given that the indiegogo campaigns which four A11FL teams are currently running have managed to "engage" a total of just 15 fans in metropolitan areas with a combined population of 26,373,685 people, I'd say that crowdfunding might not be the most effective way to generate fan support for your league.

[dfwabel]

I laughed out loud when I read Commissioner McKibben's comments about the indiegogo campaigns each of the league's teams are conducting.

“The crowdfunding initiative was launched at midnight after the announcement,” McKibben said. “It gives the league the opportunity the chance to engage with its fan base. It isn’t as much about raising money as it is about engaging fans in the six markets we’ve already announced.”

Well, commissioner, given that the indiegogo campaigns which four A11FL teams are currently running have managed to "engage" a total of just 15 fans in metropolitan areas with a combined population of 26,373,685 people, I'd say that crowdfunding might not be the most effective way to generate fan support for your league.

It must have been more successful than when they first tried that in 2012.

Come on, this part was much more comical...

“We had a terrific national announcement and media day. The reaction from the fan base has exceeded our expectations. We’ve had a great deal of follow-up from team investors and team owners. The markets we’re going to, the stadiums we are playing in and our broadcast partner has resonated with the fan base.”

Can't wait for the eight head coaches are named.

[Soarindude]

If ESPN does have a backing on this, I can see them packing some sort of marketing scheme out soon on their channels and over here in Tampa Bay. Haven't seen anything yet, but why would ESPN give it a TV contract and not put together a strong marketing strategy.

[buckeye]

The video is a pretty good interview with the commissioner of the A11FL, not posted for the Tebow reference...

http://www.denverpost.com/paige/ci_25209145/paige-tim-tebow-could-return-denver-play-new

[kwmoore]

The league just tweeted that tickets are now on sale for the Tampa Bay showcase game. Its also on facebook.

[Soarindude]

My question is why this league is still targeting big sports markets with NFL teams already in place. Philly? Denver? Especially with a team in Tampa Bay and a team in Los Angeles, this league is obviously not concerned with travel costs, I am surprised they haven't reached out to big Non NFL markets other than LA, which is already a very dicey minor league market anyway.

[BrandMooreArt]

My question is why this league is still targeting big sports markets with NFL teams already in place. Philly? Denver? Especially with a team in Tampa Bay and a team in Los Angeles, this league is obviously not concerned with travel costs, I am surprised they haven't reached out to big Non NFL markets other than LA, which is already a very dicey minor league market anyway.

This league is going to be played in the spring right? If so, the the NFL is not their competition, but arena league, baseball, and maybe basketball is. Im guessing the markets chosen are based on population. I dont know if opening one of these teams up in Butte, Montana would be a wiser move than Chicago or LA

[TrueYankee26]

Hopefully it does not go the way of the XFL or UFL. A real competitor league to the NFL would be nice.

[Burkell007]

Still places like Orlando, Memphis, San Antonino, Las Vegas, Columbus and Birmingham all have decent football stadiums, with no NFL teams.

[Gothamite]

Hopefully it does not go the way of the XFL or UFL. A real competitor league to the NFL would be nice.

I don't see any reason to believe that this could possibly be a "real competitor league to the NFL". If anything, they'll feed off the scraps, counting on being able to pick up viewership and sales when the NFL's season is over but there's still interest in the sport.

Nothing wrong with that, but it is what it is.

[Soarindude]

Hopefully it does not go the way of the XFL or UFL. A real competitor league to the NFL would be nice.

I don't see any reason to believe that this could possibly be a "real competitor league to the NFL". If anything, they'll feed off the scraps, counting on being able to pick up viewership and sales when the NFL's season is over but there's still interest in the sport.

Nothing wrong with that, but it is what it is.

I guess this A11 league just needs to aim for the stars a bit. While it's important to have a "realistic" mentality, you also need to go in with a positive one. Everybody knows this league won't be anywhere close to NFL talent for the first few years, but going in with the mindset that it's a league full of players that "just aren't good enough or else they'd be in the NFL", the league will fail. Selling an entertaining game is what this league needs to do, but they also need to have realistic expectations.

They need to stretch their limits, go after 1 or 2 solid NFL players per NFL roster instead of a team full of practice squad players. Having 1 or 2 NFL capable players in the league make the league far more enticing.

[rams80]

Hopefully it does not go the way of the XFL or UFL. A real competitor league to the NFL would be nice.

I don't see any reason to believe that this could possibly be a "real competitor league to the NFL". If anything, they'll feed off the scraps, counting on being able to pick up viewership and sales when the NFL's season is over but there's still interest in the sport.

Nothing wrong with that, but it is what it is.

I guess this A11 league just needs to aim for the stars a bit. While it's important to have a "realistic" mentality, you also need to go in with a positive one. Everybody knows this league won't be anywhere close to NFL talent for the first few years, but going in with the mindset that it's a league full of players that "just aren't good enough or else they'd be in the NFL", the league will fail. Selling an entertaining game is what this league needs to do, but they also need to have realistic expectations.

They need to stretch their limits, go after 1 or 2 solid NFL players per NFL roster instead of a team full of practice squad players. Having 1 or 2 NFL capable players in the league make the league far more enticing.

And far more likely to go bankrupt.

[Soarindude]

Hopefully it does not go the way of the XFL or UFL. A real competitor league to the NFL would be nice.

I don't see any reason to believe that this could possibly be a "real competitor league to the NFL". If anything, they'll feed off the scraps, counting on being able to pick up viewership and sales when the NFL's season is over but there's still interest in the sport.

Nothing wrong with that, but it is what it is.

I guess this A11 league just needs to aim for the stars a bit. While it's important to have a "realistic" mentality, you also need to go in with a positive one. Everybody knows this league won't be anywhere close to NFL talent for the first few years, but going in with the mindset that it's a league full of players that "just aren't good enough or else they'd be in the NFL", the league will fail. Selling an entertaining game is what this league needs to do, but they also need to have realistic expectations.

They need to stretch their limits, go after 1 or 2 solid NFL players per NFL roster instead of a team full of practice squad players. Having 1 or 2 NFL capable players in the league make the league far more enticing.

And far more likely to go bankrupt.

Not necessarily. The UFL owners that were involved had plenty of money. They just spent it incorrectly. I read earlier about a UFL team that conducted massive stadium renovations, probably costing a few million. That could've been put towards signing one or two NFL players that were wanting a big money contract and didn't really care about playing in an upstart league. I'm sure there's plenty of um'

[NCCoachArete]

I don't think there are. Most grow up wanting to play in the NFL. No way they pass that up for something less.

[BBTV]

What a league (football or basketball) needs to do is NOT compete with the NFL (NBA)... but compete with the NCAA.

Start a league, and draft / pay kids who aren't NFL draft eligible and just want to be paid NOW, or aren't academically eligible for college, or are just out of high school and want to get paid during their 1-and-done year.

Work "out" clauses in the contracts, so that they can still go to the NFL or NBA after some period of time (it doesn't even have to be any longer than the minimum amount of time that they would have had to wait at first - until a league really takes off, it needs to cater to it's players so that they get a good rep and other players see it as a viable alternative.)

Who was that guy from Ohio State that tried to get in to the NFL early but couldn't then robbed people and threw his life away? Well he was good, right? You think he would have played in this league if they offered him 500K while the NFL was offering 0 and whatever he was getting "under the table" from OSU boosters couldn't have been that much.

[dfwabel]

Hopefully it does not go the way of the XFL or UFL. A real competitor league to the NFL would be nice.

I don't see any reason to believe that this could possibly be a "real competitor league to the NFL". If anything, they'll feed off the scraps, counting on being able to pick up viewership and sales when the NFL's season is over but there's still interest in the sport.

Nothing wrong with that, but it is what it is.

I guess this A11 league just needs to aim for the stars a bit. While it's important to have a "realistic" mentality, you also need to go in with a positive one. Everybody knows this league won't be anywhere close to NFL talent for the first few years, but going in with the mindset that it's a league full of players that "just aren't good enough or else they'd be in the NFL", the league will fail. Selling an entertaining game is what this league needs to do, but they also need to have realistic expectations.

They need to stretch their limits, go after 1 or 2 solid NFL players per NFL roster instead of a team full of practice squad players. Having 1 or 2 NFL capable players in the league make the league far more enticing.

And far more likely to go bankrupt.

Not necessarily. The UFL owners that were involved had plenty of money. They just spent it incorrectly. I read earlier about a UFL team that conducted massive stadium renovations, probably costing a few million. That could've been put towards signing one or two NFL players that were wanting a big money contract and didn't really care about playing in an upstart league. I'm sure there's plenty of um'

The UFL and the California franchise paid for half of the cost to install FieldTurf at Sacramento State. The $1 million project was going to occur regardless if the UFL played a down there.