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Alliance of American Football 2019

124

Comments

  • #92
    Guffy
    Registered Users Posts: 8,033 ✭✭✭Guffy


    Deco99 wrote: »
    Can I stream these games somewhere in Ireland?

    They're free on the website.

    https://aaf.com


  • #93
    OldMrBrennan83
    Closed Accounts Posts: 26,658 ✭✭✭✭OldMrBrennan83


    Guffy wrote: »
    They're free on the website.

    https://aaf.com

    No commentary and a weird Madden camera angle though. I'd to give up on it last week.


  • #94
    Salt Lake Stallion
    Closed Accounts Posts: 89 ✭✭Salt Lake Stallion


    OldMrBrennan83 wrote: »
    No commentary and a weird Madden camera angle though. I'd to give up on it last week.

    They had a normal tv feed on there last night for the Stallions game, I think it depends which broadcaster is showing the game in the US as to what stream the AAF can put on their website.

    'AAF All Access' channel on youtube streams each game live too.


  • #95
    Deco99
    Registered Users Posts: 1,642 ✭✭✭Deco99


    No chat about this weekend. Has the honeymoon ended?


  • #96
    OldMrBrennan83
    Closed Accounts Posts: 26,658 ✭✭✭✭OldMrBrennan83


    No game I tried to watch had decent coverage with commentary and a proper camera angle so I gave up.


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  • #97
    mooreman09
    Registered Users Posts: 582 ✭✭✭mooreman09


    I plan on watching this Saturday. House to myself!


  • #98
    Realt Dearg Sec
    Registered Users Posts: 10,822 ✭✭✭✭Realt Dearg Sec


    mooreman09 wrote: »
    I plan on watching this Saturday. House to myself!

    You might have the whole league to yourself. Although I see there are talks afoot to make the league effectively a minor league for the NFL, with players being farmed out to the AAF to get more practice and game reps, players like 3rd string QBs and stuff who don't get enough practice under the current collective bargaining agreement. I think the ratings are unlikely to sustain the AAF alone, but if they had the kind of links to NFL teams that minor league baseball has to the MLB then it would be serve a slightly different purpose and could thrive in the same way. I remember going to see the South Bend Cubs when I lived there; I don't really know a damn thing about baseball, but it was a really lovely atmosphere and a great local experience to go to it. It was understated and unpretentious, not trying to sell itself as an incredible spectacle, because it wasn't one.

    I also wonder if a league like this would work better in the run up to a new NFL season rather than at the tail end of one. The week after the super bowl you might want to watch games but that thirst passes on because the quality is lower. I wonder if people would be more into it if it was to whet your appetite for a new NFL season.


  • #99
    Fr Tod Umptious
    Registered Users Posts: 15,001 ✭✭✭✭Fr Tod Umptious


    Realt Dearg Sec wrote: »
    You might have the whole league to yourself. Although I see there are talks afoot to make the league effectively a minor league for the NFL, with players being farmed out to the AAF to get more practice and game reps, players like 3rd string QBs and stuff who don't get enough practice under the current collective bargaining agreement. I think the ratings are unlikely to sustain the AAF alone, but if they had the kind of links to NFL teams that minor league baseball has to the MLB then it would be serve a slightly different purpose and could thrive in the same way. I remember going to see the South Bend Cubs when I lived there; I don't really know a damn thing about baseball, but it was a really lovely atmosphere and a great local experience to go to it. It was understated and unpretentious, not trying to sell itself as an incredible spectacle, because it wasn't one.

    I also wonder if a league like this would work better in the run up to a new NFL season rather than at the tail end of one. The week after the super bowl you might want to watch games but that thirst passes on because the quality is lower. I wonder if people would be more into it if it was to whet your appetite for a new NFL season.


    I've thought of this myself.

    The notion seems to be that people are still hungry for football after the Superbowl, and you also have this gap between the end of football and Opening Day at the beginning of April.

    But what they are getting is an inferior product that loses interest quickly.

    Would a better option be to start later and run up to the start of training camp ?

    Obviously those in the know know better than I but it's just an observation.

    The ill fated XFL also started right after the Superbowl.


  • #100
    jack presley
    Closed Accounts Posts: 13,687 ✭✭✭✭jack presley


    The chairman of the league’s threatening that they might fold unless the NFLPA allows practice squad players signed to future contracts to sign with their teams.


  • #101
    Realt Dearg Sec
    Registered Users Posts: 10,822 ✭✭✭✭Realt Dearg Sec


    jack presley wrote: »
    The chairman of the league’s threatening that they might fold unless the NFLPA allows practice squad players signed to future contracts to sign with their teams.

    That chairman is the same guy who put 250 million quid into the league a couple of weeks back. It sounds like it's done.


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  • #102
    Fr Tod Umptious
    Registered Users Posts: 15,001 ✭✭✭✭Fr Tod Umptious


    jack presley wrote: »
    The chairman of the league’s threatening that they might fold unless the NFLPA allows practice squad players signed to future contracts to sign with their teams.

    Read a New York Post piece about this.

    Seems like participation time is very much part of the CBA and getting practice squad players to play in the AAF would be in some sort of violation of the CBA

    So even though the majority owner can just come out and paint it that the NFLPA are being the problem here, it's not that simple as it's tied to the CBA.


  • #103
    Realt Dearg Sec
    Registered Users Posts: 10,822 ✭✭✭✭Realt Dearg Sec


    Fr Tod Umptious wrote: »
    Read a New York Post piece about this.

    Seems like participation time is very much part of the CBA and getting practice squad players to play in the AAF would be in some sort of violation of the CBA

    So even though the majority owner can just come out and paint it that the NFLPA are being the problem here, it's not that simple as it's tied to the CBA.

    It's also not clear why the NFLPA should feel under any pressure to help them. It's not their job to keep a private, for profit business like the AAF afloat, it's their job to protect their players' interests. If the AAF needed those players on board in order to stay afloat, they should have made damn sure that they would be able to get them, rather than whining about it now, and trying to blame it on the NFLPA for doing their job.


  • #104
    eagle eye
    Registered Users Posts: 37,495 ✭✭✭✭eagle eye


    Realt Dearg Sec wrote:
    It's also not clear why the NFLPA should feel under any pressure to help them. It's not their job to keep a private, for profit business like the AAF afloat, it's their job to protect their players' interests. If the AAF needed those players on board in order to stay afloat, they should have made damn sure that they would be able to get them, rather than whining about it now, and trying to blame it on the NFLPA for doing their job.
    Are the NFLPA representing the players in the AAF?


  • #105
    Realt Dearg Sec
    Registered Users Posts: 10,822 ✭✭✭✭Realt Dearg Sec


    eagle eye wrote: »
    Are the NFLPA representing the players in the AAF?

    Not that I can tell, but I stand to be corrected.

    This article doesn't actually answer your question, but it does say pretty much what I said above, that the NFLPA's duty of care to its members is not served in any way by having them play in the AAF right now. Nobody has articulated why they should, but there are a bunch of very good reasons why they shouldn't (what happens to your NFL contract if and when you are injured playing in the AAF? How exactly does playing in the AAF help a player already on an NFL practice squad? It seems to be a chance for them to get injured or maybe play their way off one). As the article notes, it COULD be something that might be addressed in the next CBA, but only if the AAF were an official minor league of the NFL, and even then it would not be some obligation on the NFLPA to help out, it would be serious leverage for them in any negotiation.

    https://touchdownwire.usatoday.com/2019/03/27/nflpa-aaf-players-on-loan-practice-squad/


  • #106
    Oat23
    Registered Users Posts: 15,169 ✭✭✭✭Oat23


    Rumoured to be suspending operations today. Disappointing.


  • #107
    LuckyLloyd
    Registered Users Posts: 36,101 ✭✭✭✭LuckyLloyd


    That is disappointing, this was the right way to build another league in terms of its structure and timing


  • #108
    jack presley
    Closed Accounts Posts: 13,687 ✭✭✭✭jack presley


    Oat23 wrote: »
    Rumoured to be suspending operations today. Disappointing.

    Well that was $250m well spent by yer man a couple of weeks ago.

    Seriously though, surely they had a budget set out at the start of the year to see them through the season. I know attendance has been poor but they would have known that would have been the case. I doubt their financial model was based on sold out games.


  • #109
    OldMrBrennan83
    Closed Accounts Posts: 26,658 ✭✭✭✭OldMrBrennan83


    jack presley wrote: »
    Well that was $250m well spent by yer man a couple of weeks ago.

    Seriously though, surely they had a budget set out at the start of the year to see them through the season. I know attendance has been poor but they would have known that would have been the case. I doubt their financial model was based on sold out games.

    Seen a few reports he bought it for a related gambling app and never had any intention of keeping it alive.


  • #110
    Itssoeasy
    Registered Users Posts: 39,437 ✭✭✭✭Itssoeasy


    I wonder will vince McMahon who is relaunching the XFL next year think twice given what's happened to the AAF ? I mean presumably the issue with the NFLPA will be the same with the XFL ?


  • #111
    Loughc
    Moderators, Business & Finance Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators Posts: 24,727 Mod ✭✭✭✭Loughc


    Itssoeasy wrote: »
    I wonder will vince McMahon who is relaunching the XFL next year think twice given what's happened to the AAF ? I mean presumably the issue with the NFLPA will be the same with the XFL ?

    I think he’s too far the road to pull out now. But yeah it’ll go the same way. It’ll ok my last one season max. What a waste of WWE Stock.


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  • #112
    jack presley
    Closed Accounts Posts: 13,687 ✭✭✭✭jack presley


    Or could he learn from their mistakes (whatever they might be)?

    Although there being no interest in a second tier league is going to be the same for whoever decides to throw away their money.


  • #113
    eagle eye
    Registered Users Posts: 37,495 ✭✭✭✭eagle eye


    You have to go like college football to have any chance of succeeding. Nobody wants to watch pro football with bad players.
    They need to all go to the spread offense and run up the scores. People love high scoring games, it's why redzone has gotten so big, and they'll sit down and watch the AAF if it's entertaining.


  • #114
    Salt Lake Stallion
    Closed Accounts Posts: 89 ✭✭Salt Lake Stallion


    Sad that the Alliance has suspended operations, enjoyed it very much while it lasted. We will always have that one weekend in February where it was the talk of the football world. And I will always have this username!


  • #115
    Blut2
    Registered Users Posts: 2,904 ✭✭✭Blut2


    eagle eye wrote: »
    You have to go like college football to have any chance of succeeding. Nobody wants to watch pro football with bad players.
    They need to all go to the spread offense and run up the scores. People love high scoring games, it's why redzone has gotten so big, and they'll sit down and watch the AAF if it's entertaining.


    XFL 2.0 will probably be trying to go for the high scoring model I'd imagine. Whether they actually have good quality players to back it up with will be the question.


  • #116
    Realt Dearg Sec
    Registered Users Posts: 10,822 ✭✭✭✭Realt Dearg Sec


    Blut2 wrote: »
    XFL 2.0 will probably be trying to go for the high scoring model I'd imagine. Whether they actually have good quality players to back it up with will be the question.

    They'll be fishing in the same pond as this league was, so no.


  • #117
    Weepsie
    Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 19,817 Mod ✭✭✭✭Weepsie


    OldMrBrennan83 wrote: »
    Seen a few reports he bought it for a related gambling app and never had any intention of keeping it alive.

    Yeah, something in the guardian about it alright. They provide really detailed, and very quick stats that would be a very big deal if used for fantasy sports apparently. As rules on gambling are slowly loosening, it could make quite a bit.


    Also was reading that people don't really need the football fix after the Superbowl. There's so much news from the NFL, All-Star game, Combines, Pro-Days and Draft etc that very much keeps people engaged.

    Plus the NBA and NHL pretty much take over and get into their busy periods from Feb-May by when the Baseball season is well and truly going and is the summer focus.

    Also look at how much Arena Football as dwindled in recent years.

    Can always try and watch the CFL?


  • #118
    jack presley
    Closed Accounts Posts: 13,687 ✭✭✭✭jack presley


    Weepsie wrote: »
    Yeah, something in the guardian about it alright. They provide really detailed, and very quick stats that would be a very big deal if used for fantasy sports apparently.

    I read somewhere yesterday that legally he wouldn’t be able to shut down a business to strip one part out of it. Although I’m sure he has some highly paid legal team to get around that little inconvenience.


  • #119
    jack presley
    Closed Accounts Posts: 13,687 ✭✭✭✭jack presley


    Weepsie wrote: »
    Also was reading that people don't really need the football fix after the Superbowl. There's so much news from the NFL, All-Star game, Combines, Pro-Days and Draft etc that very much keeps people engaged.

    Plus the NBA and NHL pretty much take over and get into their busy periods from Feb-May by when the Baseball season is well and truly going and is the summer focus.

    Also look at how much Arena Football as dwindled in recent years.

    Can always try and watch the CFL?

    I think there’s a lot of truth in what you say there. College Basketball basically owns March/early April, then baseball kicks in and the NBA playoffs take over then. There’s only so much people can watch.

    Don’t like the CFL myself, pitch is too bloody big!


  • #120
    jack presley
    Closed Accounts Posts: 13,687 ✭✭✭✭jack presley


    Classy, eh?

    https://twitter.com/NBCSports/status/1113902327897968640


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  • #121
    neris
    Registered Users Posts: 20,036 ✭✭✭✭neris


    Didnt they try early spring football back in the 80s and that flopped with attendances coz of the rain. Though its demise seems to have a lot to with the some fella called Trump


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