AAFL

[openSkies]

So you may have heard by now about the All-American Football League. It's a new professional league that requires players to hold a Bachelor's degree, and caps salaries at $100,000. Numerous college football greats are expected to play (e.g. Eric Crouch, Chris Leak). Universities benefit from the league by pulling in concessions and possibly stadium rent during months that the stadiums usually sits idle. If you don't know about the league, please reference the Wikipedia page.

My question to you is... if CollegeFootballPoll.com covers this league in the off-season, will it keep you coming back to the site at all?

[Eric]

I probably would.

This league is going to fold. I think they're rushing the development of it and it just doesn't seem like it's ready.

Plus, they're going to need a TV outlet if they want to succeed. The only thing I could think of is Versus, but they're going to be busy with the NHL by next spring.

[donovan]

1. No..not interested

2. I suspect the league will never get off the ground. If it does, will fold as Eric indicated.

3. The regionalism of the initial teams has no interest to the rest of the country.

4. Arena football without walls.

[Spence]

I'll probably watch if it is on and I am home. It isn't something that I will make a point to watch.

[Dossenator]

I have never heard of this...until now. I am intrigued. I am like Spence...if I am at home and it is on then I will watch. If former Razorback players are envolved then I would more then likely follow them and their progress. That is what I do with the NFL.

[Dossenator]

Ok...I just checked out their official website and one of the teams is Arkansas. The teams are going by state names...no nicknames. The Ark squad is made up of ex Razorbacks.....a couple who had short stints in the NFL. Ex Hog QB Clinto Stoener who holds Ark shcool records in completions, attempts, TD passes, and 3rd in yards. 4 of the 5 players who have signed are ex Razorbacks. Ok...I am a little excited about this.

Only 6 teams right now....5 from the South (Arkansas, Alabama, Texas, Florida, Tennessee) and Michigan.

Here is a link to the Arkansas team:
http://www.allamericanfootballleague.co ... layers.php

You can click on the other teams and the league home page at the top of the link I gave.

[..fanatic]

Beats the heck out of watching baseball, NBA basketball or hockey. I enjoyed the XFL, the USFL , the WFL and the CFL when they used to show that on ESPN back when Vince Ferragamo was the QB for Montreal. Like most of you, I won't go out of my way to watch it, but I'll choose it over the other spring sports on TV.

[openSkies]

Regarding the team structure, yes, right now most of the teams are SEC. Their structure calls for SEC, ACC and Big 10 teams at the start, and then expanding to include all BCS conferences.

I think it'll probably fold, too. There's just no room. The XFL was awesome, in my book, and I absolutely loved watching the games... but even that didn't hold up. But, hey, I'm all for some spring football.

The market research they did seems to fall in line with our little poll here. Most people would watch the games if they catch it, but most won't make it a point to clear their schedules.

One plus they have over the XFL is that they're using these stadiums, for the most part, free of charge. And they're playing in places that have awesome fan bases that will more likely follow the teams because, like Doss pointed out, the teams are stacked with former I-A stars.

[donovan]

Beats the heck out of watching baseball.

....I am without words....blasphemy is all that comes to mind...

[Spence]

I used to have weekend season tickets to the Cincinnati Reds. My father and I went to games every other weekend when the Reds were home. I loved to watch baseball games...........until the strike......after that I just quit going and I have only been to a couple of games since. I'm not much for watching the games on TV. Football is my main television sport, next is golf. Most people don't like golf on television, but I do. I watch some arena ball as well, although just in passing. I like college basketball games, hate the NBA.

[Eric]

I like the NHL (try it someday, Billybud, you'll love it! ).

I'm not a big fan of Arena Football, maybe that's because the Rampage are terrible. I never caught much of the XFL before that disappeared into oblivion.

I'll tell you what might work though and that's the UFL that Mark Cuban and a few other billionaires are going to potentially be investing in. They're going to be playing on Friday nights so they avoid the collision with college football and the NFL. They'll be operating in markets that currently don't have NFL teams (like Orlando, San Antonio, Utah, Las Vegas, etc.). And, they might be able to pump enough money into this thing to work. I think they're laying the groundwork for it right now.

The bottom line is though, most players would rather be on the Chicago Bears practice squad than starting for the Chicago Rush. It's as simple as that.