Non-Road Boards > Sports
Football (North America: NFL, CFL, Arena Football, minor leagues)
Stephane Dumas:
I taught of starting a general topic about the football in North America who talk about the NFL, CFL, Arena Football and minor leagues.
I spotted this news via City-Data forums http://www.city-data.com/forum/cleveland/1650217-cleveland-browns-being-sold.html who mentionned then the current Cleveland Browns are sold to a new owner. http://tracking.si.com/2012/07/27/browns-owner-randy-lerner-sell-team-negotiations/?section=si_latest
Will the Cleveland Browns end their curse?
And there a new attempt to revive the USFL, this time as a developmental minor league for Spring 2013. http://espn.go.com/nfl/conversations/_/id/7916459/usfl-return-fred-biletnikoff-advisers
mgk920:
With the chaos that the NCAA seems to be steadily turning into, perhaps we'll ultimately see a baseball-style minor league system for the NFL.
Mike
golden eagle:
I doubt it. The NFL uses the NCAA as a de facto minor league system. Look at all the money the save by not having their own developmental league. They did have NFL Europe, but it went by the wayside.
nexus73:
My idea for NFL Spring Football would be a 16 team affair. An AFC team would be paired with an NFC team to stock the roster and provide the coaches. Since there are 32 teams, getting to 16 for NFL Spring Football is workable.
Four divisions. Four division champs plus two wild cards for playoffs, which makes for three weeks of playoffs. Have the championship game on the weekend closest to the 4th of July. That way the players have time to rest up a bit before heading off to the regular season training camp.
Move the NFL Draft to the week after the Super Bowl. Start the NFL spring season two weeks later, which is enough time to get the majority of drafted players signed. No pre-season games, just regular season and the playoffs. That gives enough time to play a 16 game spring season. Play the divisional opponents twice for 6 of those games. Play 10 of the other 12 teams for the balance of the schedule.
Good locations abound. LA has wanted pro football for so long! San Antonio and Syracuse have domed stadiums. Birmingham and Orlando have had non-NFL pro football. Honolulu would be nice, especially in the first month, as a hosting team while the winter recedes. Las Vegas, Portland, Sacramento...all would be encouraged to come up with pro-grade stadiums and whoever ponies up gets the NFL Spring team as well as a good look when the NFL chooses to expand. Orlando has a nice stadium and is the former home of a non-NFL pro team. Memphis was the original Tennessee Titans location.
Major cities with an NFL team like NYC, Chicago, Philly and Houston will likely make good candidates for a spring team. There's already stadiums in place in those cities, which makes these cities good places to look at.
The NFL's name recognition is so high that there will be no problem with them getting network contracts and they would have the NFL Network to fill in the broadcast schedule. TV money is what makes the sports world go 'round after all and the NFL can get plenty for their product!
Year-round football. Three cheers for that!
Rick
1995hoo:
Spring football existed for three years in the early 1980s under the name "USFL." The NFL tried it in the early 1990s with the WLAF, but it only lasted two years before they shut it down and relaunched it later as an all-European league.
San Antonio had a USFL team (the Gunslingers) and it proved disastrous due to a lack of financing. The new stadium is a lot nicer than the old one was and their CFL team was slightly more successful than the Gunslingers were, although they only lasted one season before all the American teams folded (except the Baltimore Stallions, who moved to Montreal).
In terms of non-NFL cities in the USA–other than Los Angeles–that have had teams in major pro leagues since 1970: Birmingham (WFL, USFL, WLAF, CFL, XFL); Columbus (WLAF); Honolulu (WFL); Las Vegas (CFL, XFL); Memphis (WFL, USFL, CFL, XFL); Orlando (WFL, USFL, WLAF, XFL); Portland (WFL, USFL); Raleigh-Durham (WLAF); Sacramento (WLAF; CFL); San Antonio (WFL, USFL, WLAF, CFL); Shreveport (WFL); Tulsa (USFL)
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