Column: Couch’s Corner

This past weekend I watched the newest startup professional football league, the Alliance of American Football (AAF). 

The league is comprised of eight teams with the majority of them residing in cities that do not have a professional football team such as Orlando and San Antonio. AAF rules are similar to the NFL except for a couple of small tweaks such as no kickoffs and only five defensive players being allowed to rush the passer.

Over the last several decades there have been multiple professional football leagues that either attempted to compete with the National Football League (NFL) or at least try to generate enough excitement to attract a sizable following. NFL Europe, the United Football League and the United States Football League are some of them. 

All of these leagues have one thing in common: failure. The NFL’s dominating presence was the primary reason for their extinction, but I believe there were other factors that played in as well. 

Football fans generally want to feel as if they are watching something that carries a rich history and is strong enough to continue without their support. A league has to prove itself before it can begin to demand hundreds of dollars for tickets and jerseys. A league must stand the test of time.

The only other football league in the world that is legitimately secure in its future status is the Canadian Football League (CFL). Canada football’s championship game (the Grey Cup) has been played for over 100 years. Even though the NFL is recognized as the highest tier of professional football due to the population size of the United States, football in Canada has been going for a longer period of time and is recognized as having players who are just as talented as the NFL’s.

The CFL is a league that has it’s own country behind it without the threat of another Canadian league attempting to overtake it.

The AAF will have the pressure of one of the world’s most successful professional sporting leagues (NFL) overshadowing its efforts.

Whether or not the AAF is going to display longevity and defy the path that other United States startup leagues have attempted will be interesting. Overall, I think the AAF does have a fighting chance. 

Without the sizable crowds that the NFL boasts, less than $80,000 per year for the players salaries’ and low team store sales, the chances of longevity look bleak. 

But with the teams primarily starting up in NFL vacant markets, the season being played in the NFL offseason and the players having high caliber talent, the future begins to brighten.

Time is the only legitimate answer that can be given as to whether or not the AAF will last. If it does last, then it will be the first 11 vs. 11-man professional football league in the United States to withstand the overwhelming dominance of the NFL.