Alliance of American Football (AAF)

[Zipmlady]

Tonight on CBS, Alliance of American Football (AAF)

Jovann Letuli (Zips) and Logan Woodside (Toledo) representing the MAC.

[GJGood]

Jude Adjei-Barimah from Bowling Green is playing in that game as well but from the other sideline

[akzipper]

I remember a few years back one of these secondary pro leagues wanted to put a team in Akron. I wonder if the AAF will ever make it's way to InfoCision? The way the league is structured if a team were placed in Ohio it would pull from OSU, Akron, and Kent alumni. The AAF has said they want to become the official farm system for the NFL. So add a Browns affiliation to the team and you have to think they could get some good crowds, and unfortunately better crowds than the Zips typically get. That is IF the weather is okay. I watched 3 of the games this weekend and they were surprisingly entertaining.

Edited February 11, 2019 by akzipper

[LZIp]

Being that there isn't a team north of the mason-dixon line, I think they've already determined that weather isn't okay up here. Salt Lake is the only one somewhat comparable to our weather, but there is really not a comparison.

[kreed5120]

There are only 8 teams and outside of the commanders each conference is bunched. I imagine a lot of this has to do with them limiting travel costs. I wouldn't be surprised is they eventually expand into Ohio as (if) the league grows. The city they would add a team would be Columbus and the stadium they would play in would be the new Columbus Crew stadium once it's built. Akron is too small of a city and Jimmy Haslam owns the Columbus Crew and many speculate the reason he bought the Crew is because he wants to grow the Browns presence in the area, including maybe moving spring training there. Having a Browns affiliate in Columbus for him is a no brainer.

[Let'sGoZips94]

22 minutes ago, kreed5120 said:

There are only 8 teams and outside of the commanders each conference is bunched. I imagine a lot of this has to do with them limiting travel costs. I wouldn't be surprised is they eventually expand into Ohio as (if) the league grows. The city they would add a team would be Columbus and the stadium they would play in would be the new Columbus Crew stadium once it's built. Akron is too small of a city and Jimmy Haslam owns the Columbus Crew and many speculate the reason he bought the Crew is because he wants to grow the Browns presence in the area, including maybe moving spring training there. Having a Browns affiliate in Columbus for him is a no brainer.

 

Roll Tribe!  

 

Totally agree with everything you said, and I thought it was genius of Haslam to buy the Crew for the Browns-growth reason as well. Not to mention growing further CBus/NEO connections with hiring a GM that's from Columbus and Porter (Akron). 

 

The only argument to having a team in Akron would be its proximity to Canton with the Pro Football HOF, but I'm not sure the Info would the preferred stadium over Tom Benson's HOF Stadium. 

[kreed5120]

It was good PR for him too. His reputation got drug through the mud do to that rebate scandal his company faced and his meddling reputation as a Browns owner. Buying the Crew to keep them in Ohio helped establish him as a person who cares about Ohio even though he's not from the area. Much like how Dan Gilbert has been adopted by the city for helping the revitalization of downtown.

[zippyfan34]

Waddell President of Orlando's team.  Interesting to learn that Mike Waddell is president of the Orlando team.

[Kangaroo Craig]

On 2/11/2019 at 7:39 AM, Let'sGoZips94 said:

 

Roll Tribe!  

 

Totally agree with everything you said, and I thought it was genius of Haslam to buy the Crew for the Browns-growth reason as well. Not to mention growing further CBus/NEO connections with hiring a GM that's from Columbus and Porter (Akron). 

 

The only argument to having a team in Akron would be its proximity to Canton with the Pro Football HOF, but I'm not sure the Info would the preferred stadium over Tom Benson's HOF Stadium. 

I would think they would have to consider a dome if they came up north. The only thing close to Akron would be Detroit. Its a large market with no weather issues.

[kreed5120]

http://www.espn.com/espn/story/_/id/26372845/aaf-jeopardy-folding-says-majority-owner

[Spin]

OK who here is surprised?

 

There are rumors that they're going to rename the league the American Polytechnic League.

 

So the league (sorry, "association") runs out of money. IN WEEK TWO. This Dumdum guy offers to invest $250,000,000 in the league over a period of time, if he had a say in the league operations. The league gave him a "say", they made him majority owner of the whole league. Now, he threatens (promises?) to shut it down if the players union doesn't sign a contract with the AAF. 

 

In the next two days.

 

You can't make this crap up.

[kreed5120]

The league in itself seemed completely rushed. The league was announced in the spring of last year then 10 months later they're playing actual games. In those 10 months they had to pick cities, find venues, organize/negotiate tv deals, get corporate sponsors, build rosters, get coaching staffs, and sell season tickets. I'm sure there is plenty of other things I'm missing.

 

I don't know if a spring football league will ever work, but this league was way too rushed and obviously lacked a large financer from the start. It's honestly no surprise this league is on the verge of failing.

[Spin]

I don't think so. The USFL, WLAF/NFL-E, Arena Football, all have tried it. Next up XFL2. 

 

Football s just so expensive. The teams have to pay 40-50 players, equip them, fly them to games, put them in hotels, charter buses, training equipment, they have to pull a serious gate from the start to stay afloat. There's an alphabet soup of failed minor and major league football leagues that didn't have to sell spring-time football. 

[Spin]

[lance99]

On 4/3/2019 at 2:42 PM, Spin said:

 

That was quick!  From what I have read, everyone was left out to dry....

[Spin]

There was what, three weeks left in the season?

[Zipmeister]

So does this mean the Akron Vulcans definitely aren't making a comeback in the AAF?