Sam I Am
July 26th, 2006, 07:44 PM
[NEW YORK (AP) -- Former NCAA president Cedric Dempsey is ready to give a new pro football league that ol' college try.
Dempsey and 12 other people from the worlds of sports, education and business have teamed up to form the All American Football League, which is scheduled to start play next spring. The league plans to field eight teams based in college towns, playing in stadiums on campus or nearby.
Though Dempsey declined to say where the teams will play, he said the cities will feature colleges from the Atlantic Coast Conference, Southeastern Conference and Big Ten. The league already has stadium usage agreements in place, he said, and now needs to find investors willing to spend between $2-3 million to buy franchise rights.
Perhaps the most interesting part of the league: a player must have graduated to participate.]
Full Article: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/football/more/07/26/new.league.ap/
They have a website: http://www.allamericanfootballleague.com
Will this work when the player must graduate to play? This will probably eliminate some good players. They won't be using NFL rules, instead, the AAFL, which will play under college rules. Will folks be willing to pay $30 for tickets to games?
I see that I-AA teams aren't eligible to host a team. "Any university with a Division IA football program will be eligible to apply to host a League team." http://www.allamericanfootballleague.com/universities.html
Will I-AA get any players in the league? "The League teams will feature grads of their host university with other roster spots reserved for grads of conference schools which are not currently hosting a team"
Dempsey and 12 other people from the worlds of sports, education and business have teamed up to form the All American Football League, which is scheduled to start play next spring. The league plans to field eight teams based in college towns, playing in stadiums on campus or nearby.
Though Dempsey declined to say where the teams will play, he said the cities will feature colleges from the Atlantic Coast Conference, Southeastern Conference and Big Ten. The league already has stadium usage agreements in place, he said, and now needs to find investors willing to spend between $2-3 million to buy franchise rights.
Perhaps the most interesting part of the league: a player must have graduated to participate.]
Full Article: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/football/more/07/26/new.league.ap/
They have a website: http://www.allamericanfootballleague.com
Will this work when the player must graduate to play? This will probably eliminate some good players. They won't be using NFL rules, instead, the AAFL, which will play under college rules. Will folks be willing to pay $30 for tickets to games?
I see that I-AA teams aren't eligible to host a team. "Any university with a Division IA football program will be eligible to apply to host a League team." http://www.allamericanfootballleague.com/universities.html
Will I-AA get any players in the league? "The League teams will feature grads of their host university with other roster spots reserved for grads of conference schools which are not currently hosting a team"