Alliance of American Football - season begins Feb 9

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im rooting for birmingham iron, best uniforms
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CB Bausby is back.

San Antonio.
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AAF Needed $250 Million Investment to Avoid Missing Payroll
The Alliance of American Football is only a few weeks old and already it has encountered the biggest problem that plagues most startup leagues.

According to a report from The Athletic, the AAF despite a good ratings debut, was running low on cash with the possiblity of missing payroll before its second weekend of play.

But then Carolina Hurricanes owner Tom Dundon stepped up and made a $250 million investment in the league. With the new infusion of funds on hand, Dundon will reportedly be named the league's new chairman on Tuesday.

Dundon paid $420 million for the Hurricanes in January 2018.

“Without a new, nine-figure investor, nobody is sure what would have happened,” a source told the Athletic. “You can always tell people their checks are going to be a little late, but how many are going to show up on the weekend for games when they don’t see anything hit their bank accounts on Friday?”

The AAF, which has been billed as a way for former NFL players and coaches to get another shot in the game, has eight teams in Atlanta, Birmingham, Memphis, Orlando, Salt Lake City, San Antonio, San Diego and Tempe. The league is scheduled to have a 10-week regular season before it has its championship game on April 27.

The stories before the season began indicated NFL support for this league, but apparently that is not fully correct?

Missing payroll and bounced paychecks is what doomed the WFL, so is the AAF going to be following that failed path in spite of the NFL "endorsing" the first 3 seasons?
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Otis Day
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Just think of the startup costs for any new league.

-uniforms
-equipment
-practice facility rent
-staff

That shit if before you even think about paying the players. I have never heard what they are getting paid, but damn I really don't know how any of these leagues make it.
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Otis Day wrote:I have never heard what they are getting paid, but damn I really don't know how any of these leagues make it.

Players in new league to get 3-year, $250K contracts
Less than eight months before the scheduled start of its new pro league, the Alliance of American Football has rolled out details about player allocation, a combine, a draft and salary expectations.

League co-founder Bill Polian, an ESPN NFL analyst, said the league will give players three-year, non-guaranteed contracts worth $250,000 each.

Players can leave the league, which is set to kick off Feb. 9, to go to the NFL. Polian said it's currently unclear whether a player's rights will revert back to the AAF after a three-year period expires or if the clock stops ticking on a team's three-year rights when a player gets "called up" to the big time.

alaries will be in line with AAF competitor the XFL, which has said it will pay players an average of $75,000 per season. That league launches in 2020.

Polian said a contract will include state-of-the-industry health insurance and an education stipend to any player who completes a year in the league.
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standings and stats after week 3 :

AAF Standings and Results
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AAF’s Sky Judge makes first key call, throwing a flag that had been missed
As the NFL contemplates whether to add a video official who would be responsible for correcting certain obvious blunders in real time, the Alliance of American Football already is using this approach. And, for the first time during the AAF’s inaugural season, the Sky Judge made a call that the officials on the field had missed.

It happened in the third quarter of Sunday’s game between the San Antonio Commanders and the Birmingham Iron. Commanders defensive back Duke Thomas applied a big hit to Birmingham receiver Tobias Palmer on a pass that fell incomplete. No flag was thrown on the field, but the Sky Judge intervened, ordering a penalty of Thomas for targeting a defenseless receiver.

“The Alliance added the Sky Judge to correct obvious and egregious officiating errors without going to replay and unnecessarily delaying the game,” AAF officiating consultant Dean Blandino said in a statement. “We place an emphasis on player safety, and want to ensure a win or loss doesn’t come down to a missed call.

“In this instance, the Sky Judge observed the hit on . . . Palmer and determined it was a violation of the defenseless player rule and put him at risk, so the decision was made to enforce a penalty. It was the first time the Sky Judge has come into play this season, and player safety is certainly a trigger for such a ruling.”

With the annual league meetings only three weeks away, here’s hoping the NFL is paying very close attention to what the AAF is doing when it comes to quick and easy ways to fix mistakes, to promote player safety, and, ultimately, to preserve the integrity of the game.
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Talks ‘ramping up’ between AAF and NFL
Could the Tampa Bay Buccaneers one day identify or tag certain players to an Alliance of American Football (AAF) affiliate for developmental play in the NFL off-season? If AAF co-founder Bill Polian has his way, it certainly seems possible.

Talking with USA Today recently, Polian commented about the possibility of the two leagues partnering in some fashion, saying,

“The talk is ramping up - I’ll say that.”

While those words alone may not seem all that impactful, the fact the two leagues are talking, and that talks are ‘ramping up’ is big by itself.

Right now, the idea seems to be centered around players who don’t take a whole lot of physical abuse in the regular season. Guys like third-string quarterbacks and practice squad players.
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I could see anyone who wasn't active for X number of games or were on NFL practice squads being eligible to play in the development league.
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Manziel gets his next (and possibly last) second chance :

Manziel to play for Singletary on AAF's Express
Johnny Manziel is headed back to the United States to play football, and it will be in Memphis, Tennessee.

The Alliance of American Football announced Saturday night that it signed the quarterback and that he was claimed on waivers by the Memphis Express after the San Antonio Commanders relinquished his rights.
interesting that the AAF team that had his signing rights declined to sign him
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@ProFootballTalk

All @TheAAF football operations will be suspended in the next few hours, per source with knowledge of situation. League is not folding, yet. But it's heading that way.
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A developmental league will never make it long term without being able to tap into the NFL's financial might.
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I must have mis-read those articles before their season started, because I was pretty sure they did have some sort of NFL sponsorship going for them

I know they were negotiating being allowed to draft players from NFL practice squads, so that would seem to indicate at least an affiliation of some sort

not surprised the NFL would talk nice about a new development league but then have their shitbag greedy owners not want to actually pony up for any real support
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AAF’s status mired in confusion, uncertainty
The Alliance of American Football may or may not be in its final days.

Per a source with knowledge of the situation, the AAF currently is mired in confusion and uncertainty. And Monday’s comments from majority owner Tom Dundon, who rescued the league from potential implosion early in its inaugural season, have served only to make a confusing situation even more confusing for those operating the league.

Broadcast partners, including CBS, NFL Network, and TNT, are concerned that they’ll suddenly have gaping holes in their programming. CBS, for example, plans to televise a game between Memphis and San Antonio as the lead-in to its final four coverage on Saturday. There’s a chance there will be no game to televise.

Other partners of the AAF are concerned based on Dundon’s comments that the league will go belly up, leaving plenty of people holding the bag, financially and otherwise.

Still, Dundon has the power to walk away, if he chooses. Per the source, the current power structure of the league founded by Charlie Ebersol and Bill Polian doesn’t know what will happen if Dundon chooses to pull any ongoing funding.

It would be unfortunate to see the AAF disappear so close to the end of its first season. Apparently, it will take $20 million to push the league over the finish line for 2019. Ideally, the AAF would get through its championship game and then decide what to do for 2020.

Through it all, discussions continue between the AAF, the NFL, and the NFL Players Association regarding an arrangement that would result in bottom-of-roster NFL players being loaned to AAF franchises. Dundon believes this could save the league; others wonder whether having access to NFL players with low name recognition will be the silver bullet that Dundon seems to believe it will be.
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Hmm. I doubt name recognition is what Dundon is going for on this.

Such an arrangement would give the NFL automatic buy-in to the AAF because it can help develop their players. Speculating, it seems like the league has relied on the NFLPA to sell that angle to the NFL rather than trying to sell it themselves. That appears to be a tactical error.
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dplank wrote:I agree with Rich here
RichH55 wrote: Dplank is correct
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interesting that the week after Johnny Manziel makes his AAF debut, the league folds :-P

AAF Week 7 scores, updates, highlights: Johnny Manziel debuts, but other Express QB wins it in OT
Week 7 of the AAF has come and gone, and Johnny Manziel has seen his first action for the Memphis Express. With the crowd in Memphis growing louder, Manziel had a decent debut ... but it was a different Express quarterback who ended up being the hero.

Meanwhile, some teams are separating from the pack. The Orlando Apollos got back on the winning track a week after their stunning first loss, and they acted like a team with something to prove Saturday. Steve Spurrier's bunch thumped the Atlanta Legends to improve to 6-1, becoming the first team in the Alliance to clinch a playoff spot. Then, the San Antonio Commanders won a thriller over the Salt Lake Stallions to improve to 5-2.

On Sunday, the Arizona Hotshots beat the San Diego Fleet to take sole possession of second place in the West, before the Express kept their playoff hopes alive with a comeback victory.

AAF Week 8 scores, highlights, updates: Hotshots win to grab share of West lead; Iron earn playoff berth
Saturday's action in the AAF had a little bit of everything. Orlando-Memphis went down to the final minute and the Apollos needed to stave off an upset bid to get their seventh win of the year. That was followed by San Diego-Salt Lake, an ugly Stallions win that had a combined six turnovers and 11 points.

Sunday's schedule had two important games in the playoff race. The Birmingham Iron secured the second playoff spot in the East with a win over the Atlanta Legends. The nightcap between the Arizona Hotshots and San Antonio Commanders was a dominating performance by the Hotshots to emerge as the top team in the West -- at least for the time being.

CBS Sports was with you every step of the way, so check below for the all the scores, highlights and updates from Sunday's games.
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The needs to be some type of development league. Hell the NBA has it. I don't know what these players make, but it doesn't have to be a lot. There just has to be a huge expense with payroll, rent for where they are playing, uniforms, trainers, not something someone can take on by themselves.
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Otis Day wrote:The needs to be some type of development league. Hell the NBA has it. I don't know what these players make, but it doesn't have to be a lot. There just has to be a huge expense with payroll, rent for where they are playing, uniforms, trainers, not something someone can take on by themselves.
from what i read all AAF players had the same contracts if they made a roster, $70k a year in year 1 in the league, $80k year 2, $100k if they were still on a team year 3 in the league. Saw it on twitter, so take that as you will.
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it is now official

AAF suspends operations; Polian 'disappointed'
After eight weeks of games and less than one season into Alliance of American Football's existence, league owner Tom Dundon has decided to suspend all operations, league co-founder Bill Polian confirmed to ESPN's Chris Mortensen on Tuesday.

"I am extremely disappointed to learn Tom Dundon has decided to suspend all football operations of the Alliance of American Football," Polian said in a statement Tuesday. "When Mr. Dundon took over, it was the belief of my co-founder, Charlie Ebersol, and myself that we would finish the season, pay our creditors, and make the necessary adjustments to move forward in a manner that made economic sense for all.

"The momentum generated by our players, coaches and football staff had us well positioned for future success. Regrettably, we will not have that opportunity."
"Don't sweat the petty things and don't pet the sweaty things."
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