All-American Football League: Blending College and Professional Football
"The new All-American Football League® is a for-profit professional football league that takes the traditions, passion and pageantry of college football to the level of a major American professional sports league. One of the AAFL's key twists on professional and college football is that AAFL's games are played in the spring and summer, filling a huge void in football fans' schedules and complementing the college and professional leagues that play in the fall and winter. The AAFL harnesses the pent-up demand for football in markets that are also home to major Division-I football universities by establishing teams in states such as Florida, Tennessee, Alabama, Michigan, Texas and Arkansas. In several cases, the AAFL teams' home stadiums are in major Division-I football stadiums. Each AAFL team may reserve a certain number of local players for its roster. Agreements with Host Universities could require the universities to provide the universities' marching band and cheerleaders for home games to re-create the atmosphere of a major Division-1A college football game."Having the AAFL's professional teams establish working relationships and affiliations with their local Host Universities establishes a foundation and framework where hybrid "pro-NCAA" leagues and teams can emerge and develop.
In the early days of THE GAME, the founders discussed at various times adding a component to THE GAME; a football league (or any other athletic league for that matter) that would be an extension of the NCAA and NAIA's football programs--a "4-plus" league (a league for student-athletes who have graduated after four years--or even those who have not), if you will. While maintaining the independent rules and operations of the NCAA and NAIA's member programs and the independent rules and operations of professional leagues (past and present) such as the NFL, CFL, USFL, WLAF/World League/NFL Europe/NFL Europa, XFL, UFL, WFL, etc., the "pro-NCAA" or "4-plus" league would be a hybrid of the two levels. In a "4-plus" league, one could find, for example:
- Pro players, while still being paid by their professional teams, rejoining and representing their alma mater in the "4-plus" league.
- Players who excelled in college (who are not currently with a pro team)--continuing to excel in the "4-plus" league on the "4-plus" team of their Host University (or possibly another Host University).
- "4-plus" teams wearing the exact uniforms of their Host University (maybe even having pro players simultaneously wear the jerseys of their alma mater while wearing the helmets of their pro team) or "4-plus" teams wearing the uniforms of their Host Pro teams while representing their Host University.
- "4-plus" teams playing in their Host University and/or Host Pro team stadiums with all the traditions, passion and pageantry of the Host University.
- "4-plus" Host Universities fielding multiple teams or vice versa for Host Pro teams.
- Graduate and professional students playing for their Host University or their alma mater in "4-plus" leagues.
- "4-plus" teams facing amateur, semi-professional, professional and other "4-plus" teams.
- "4-plus" players being compensated. Details of the pay scale, considering there will be a tier of very well compensated professional players in the league, would have to be worked out.
Some foreseeable obstacles to the formation of such a league are obvious:
- Why would professional players, who are paid very well, want to participate in such a league and risk injury?
- Who would finance the league? NCAA? NAIA? The professional leagues? A joint venture?
- What kind of system could/should be constructed which would allow the flow of players in and out of the "4-plus" leagues to/from professional teams and so on?
The primary obstacle to the formation of a "4-plus" league would be a financial one; specifically financing the league and the salaries/insurance that would be required for the injection of professional players into the league. Since the "4-plus" league would be open and extensible for all football leagues that are currently in operation or will be in operation in the future, sharing the risk of starting the league would perhaps be the best course of financing the enterprise.
