Are You Ready For Some Football?

Imagine sitting in your living room and you turn on the TV. Channel 2 has a football game on. So does channel 5. Channels 7 and 8 have games on too. Now picture this being any month of the year, not just September through December, the traditional football season. No, this isn't a football fan's fantasy. Instead, it could soon be a reality.

As many as six new football leagues are attempting to start up by 1999 and one of those leagues plans to start this summer. This is in additions to the National Football League, NFL Europe (formerly the World League of American Football), the Canadian Football League, the Arena Football League, and its new rival the Professional Indoor Football League.

Fans could have the choice of 11 different leagues, and with this much football, competition for fans among the leagues will be fierce. Some of the leagues welcome the competition with not only each other, but the NFL as well. "If we present to similar communities a similar product, an equal product, maybe a superior product in some respects, at a lower cost what will the fans do? Our predictions are they will come to the lower cost equal or better quality product and they'll support it. That's our gamble, that's our bet, that's our prediction," said Eric Parton of All Star Football, a league looking to start in the fall of 1999.

Despite a hopefull outlook by the new leagues, there are critics of the new leagues. Jeff Knapple is the managing director of ProServe, an Arlington, Virginia based company and was a former quarterback for the New Jersey Generals of the USFL. "I think that the NFL with the television impact that they have and the audiences that they reach, galvinate the football fan marketplace, if you will, and if the leagues decide to go head to head in that same time period its going to be very difficult even on an alternative network. I don't think they will make it. I think it's pretty difficult to have a minor league version of a major league sport compete even if it's an off time."

This is not the first time other leagues have attempted to capture the football audience. New leagues have started up about every ten years. One of the most successful leagues was the American Football League that began in 1960. In 1970, the AFL merged with the NFL.

Other leagues since have tried and failed. The World Football League started in 1974 and it folded during the 1975 season. "When the WFL came in to being, its timing was horrendous," said Shea Dixon, chief operating officer of the FanOwnership Football League, a league looking to start this July. "The NFL had already locked up all three networks, and there were only three broadcast networks. Syndication was in its infancy at that point, there was little to no cable television and the WFL had no distribution. Without television you're dead. You cannot survive."

In the spring of 1983, the United States Football League kicked off its inaugural season. The USFL had interest from both fans and networks. An average of about 25,000 fans attended league games, and the league had broadcast agreements with ABC and ESPN.

Part of the reason the USFL was so successful was the caliber of players it attracted. The league had superstars like Jim Kelly, Steve Young, Herschel Walker, and Reggie White, but these players also helped contribute to the league's downfall. High contracts forced the league to attempt to move to the fall. "The league basically priced itself out of the spring and summer," said Paul Reeths, a football historian who is writing a book on the USFL's legacy.

In 1985 the USFL made two very important decisions. The USFL filed an anti-trust lawsuit against the NFL and announced that it would be playing in the fall. The league would play its season in the spring that year, but it would be its last. In July of 1986, the USFL won its lawsuit against the NFL and was awarded $1 by the jury. The league, already over $160 million in debt, would fold before it played in the fall.

"The problem with the USFL wasn't the concept, it wasn't the timing, it was the execution," said Dixon whose father David was one of the USFL's founders and is also a co-founder of the FFL. "I don't consider the USFL a failure, I consider it a missed opportunity."

The NFL introduced its own spring league in 1991 with the World League of American Football. The WLAF started with ten teams, seven in North America. After the 1992 season, the WLAF suspended operations. In 1995, the WLAF made a comeback after major changes. In 1998, the league changed its name to NFL Europe.

The WLAF was successful in Europe, but not nearly as successful in the US. Attendance was small, and many people did not take the league seriously. "The problem with the WLAF is the concept," said Dixon. "They intend to be a minor league. They intended it when they started, they intended it when they transformed themselves, and they intend it for tomorrow. How can you be a major league if your intent is to be a minor league?"

During the 1992 season, there were very few indications that the league would go on hiatus for two years. During the 1992 World Bowl, there was a commercial during the third quarter that talked briefly about the league's future. It never mentioned that the league would leave North America. Many wondered about the league's abrupt end, but others think there may have been more to the league's intent that meets the eye. "I think the NFL's plan for WLAF was it was intended to, I believe, to block any other pro football from coming into being," said Dixon.

Dixon is not the only person that supports the theory. "The WLAF was going to be around as long as the NFL wanted it around. I think it served its purpose in crushing competition in the early 90s in the US and that's why they eventually pulled the teams out of the US. They just didn't have a reason to have them here anymore," said Reeths.

Officials from the NFL and NFLE deny those claims.

Fueling the WLAF conspiracy theory is the demise of the Professional Spring Football League. The PSFL was slated to kick off in the spring of 1992, but never did. The league folded during training camp. The cause of the league's demise was it did not have the money it thought it did.

Another league, the International Football League never got out of the planning phase. It was originally scheduled to kick off in the late 1970s, but was postponed due to the recession. The league later announced it would start in 1984, but again the league would be postponed. The league never did get off the ground.

In the wake of the failure of the other leagues, Dixon believes there are three key factors in starting a new league. "First, the concept is critical. If you don't have the right concept, then you're in trouble. Second, if your timing is not right, then you stand no chance at all. And third, you have to execute your plan."

One of the most important components in a new league is a television contract. Television not only generates money for league operating expenses, it also gives leagues much needed exposure. "That's the key ingredient in any new league. It's just a concept until you have television, and once you have television, you have a league," Dixon said.

Some people feel that the television needs to be defined as more than just broadcast networks. Cable networks and syndication could also play a part in television negotiations for the new leagues. "Without TV, there is not going to be another league, and we're talking about a substantial contract. Not only a network, but a good cable contract," Reeths said.

As Dixon said, concept is one of the keys to a new league. One common concept among several leagues is the idea of being fan friendly. Two leagues, the FanOwnership Football League and the United States Fan Ownership League, plan to have fans own parts of teams to help generate money for operations.

the FFL, there will be an initial group of owners who will then have an initial public offering of stock in their teams. Fans could purchase stock for their favorite teams. "Our goal would be to have the stock reasonably priced so that people could buy it. The average fan could buy it, and to me that means somewhere between 25 and 75 dollars," Dixon said.

The USFOL has a similar concept. The league has a goal to sell 20,000 shares of stock per team at $4,000 per share. This would generate $80 million for each of the proposed ten teams. Each fan will get two free tickets with the stock, but there are other benefits according to league founder Tony Capozzola. "The fans have a vested interest in the outcome of the game. A vested interest meaning the team goes to the playoffs, they get more money because each franchise will generate different amounts of money just like different McDonald's franchise generates different amounts of profit for the owners."

Capozzola's idea comes from fans being taken advantage of by owners that look for public funding to keep their team in town. He said that the league will not rely on public funds to do their business. He also thinks his plan will keep fans loyal. "I think if you share the wealth among 20,000 people instead of one, you're going to find fan loyalty rewarded instead of being absolutely scorned like it is all over the NFL at the present time."

Other leagues have their own ways to attract fans. The RFL plans to use its regional concept to keep the fans' interest. Their plan is to stock their teams with local talent. "The theory is that they [local talent] develop some fan identification and they bring fans to the stadium. Everybody wants to see the local kid playing," said Ron Floridia, assistant commissioner of the RFL.

The idea behind All Star Football is to give fans a cheaper alternative to the NFL. The league will recruit the best available talent and play Saturday nights and Sunday afternoons in the fall. The league has no plans to sign high-priced talent at first in an effort to keep ticket prices down. "Fans will choose. They will choose economically," said Eric Parton president and chief executive officer of Team Dynamics Inc., the firm that developed the All Star Football League.

A concept behind three of the leagues trying to start is to play in either the spring or summer, the traditional off-season of the NFL. This does not mean that there is no other football during this time. The Arena Football League runs its season in the spring and summer. The Canadian Football League has a summer schedule. NFLE plays a spring season.

The RFL plans to run the season from March through June and plans to kick off in 1999. Originally the league was scheduled to start this year, but postponed a year when some of the franchises were not as strong as they should have been according to Floridia. The league plans to have eight to ten teams when it starts. The goal of the league will be to have two cities in eight regions in the country. Cities that the RFL is targeting are: Houston, Shreveport, Mobile, Raleigh, Tucson and Akron. Shreveport has given the league a solid commitment. That team will be called the Southern Knights and has already hired a head coach.

The RFL wants to use the best talent available. One of the players that had committed to league for the 1998 season was former Heisman Trophy winner Andre Ware. Part of the RFL's business plan is to adhere to a strict salary cap of $1.5 million per team. The average RFL player will make between $35,000 and $60,000. The league also allows for a cornerstone player that will make $200,000. "It's just a chance for a lot of the players, a lot of the kids to pursue their dream of playing pro football and being able to make a living at it," Floridia said.

Low salary caps will keep ticket prices low, another goal of the league. Ticket prices for the league will range from $8 to $20. The goal of the league is for the average family to be able to attend a game.

The RFL realizes that it will not be able to compete with the NFL, but they have no plans to do so. "We want to be the major league of spring football," said Floridia.

The FFL originally planned to start this June, but recently announced that it would wait until 1999. The league may not play at all if NBC and Turner follow though with their proposed league. The season will end in November during Thanksgiving. The league plans on having teams in ten to 16 cities and already has teams in the top 11 television markets in the country. Those include cities like New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago.

The FFL would like to go after the best talent it can get out of college, but Dixon realizes that they cannot compete for players with the NFL. "I think it's too expensive to go after some of the pros that are out there, so were not really interested in competing for Dana Stubblefield for instance." Stubblefield recently signed a six-year contract with the Washington Redskins for reportedly $36 million.

Dixon said that his league has been in negotiations with television networks, but he could not give any details. He believes that there is a marketplace for spring football, and he remains confident that his league will succeed despite three other spring leagues trying to start up. "It means were certainly in the right area. If you're afraid of competition, you should stay home every day. We welcome it, it's part of life, you might as well get used to it. We believe we have the best concept, the best owners, and we think we have the best chance of making it."

The All American Football League is the third league that plans on operating in the spring. Like the RFL, the AAFL had plans to start in the spring of this year, but was forced to postpone until 1999. The league is headed by Bernard Glieberman who has been involved with CFL teams in Ottawa and Shreveport and Randy Vataha who was involved with Boston of the USFL.

The AAFL plans to have 12 teams in major cities. Those cities are: Dallas, New York, Los Angeles, Detroit, Chicago, Philadelphia, Houston, San Francisco, Miami, Boston, Washington, D.C. and Tampa. The Detroit team has named Forrest Gregg as head coach. AAFL teams will not have a single owner. Instead, different investors will own the teams and have a president in charge of the business operations. Eventually, Vataha hopes to sell stock for the league.

AAFL players will sign with the league instead of with individual teams. Contracts are expected to range from $35,000 to $50,000. After a player signs with the league, teams will draft those players. Vataha said the players will be the best available players, and that could include NFL talent stuck in backup roles. "If you looked at the quality of football, and you looked at college football as a five and NFL football as a ten, we would be a nine," Vataha said.

Spring is not the only season with new leagues starting. Three of the six leagues plan on playing in the fall which has been traditionally dominated by the NFL and college football.

After NBC and TNT lost the rights to broadcast NFL games, they began researching the possibility of starting a new league to go head to head with the NFL. Currently both NBC and Time Warner, TNT's parent company, are researching the feasibility of the league. Their findings are due in April, but could come later according to NBC spokesperson Ed Markey. "We're going to take our time and investigate the feasibility of the league. That entails doing developmental analysis and extensive research to determine whether or not it is something we want to go forward."

Markey said that the league would play Sunday afternoons in the fall starting in 1999, and there would be no chance that the league would shift to a spring league. "We have a heavy commitment to this year plus four to the NBA. The NBA playoff and finals dominate the second quarter." The second quarter runs from April through June.

Early print and broadcast reports said the league planned on having teams in the following cities: New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Boston, Washington, Philadelphia, Miami, Columbus, Raleigh, San Diego, Birmingham and Providence. Markey denied this rumor saying that the only thing these cities have in common is they have NBC owned and operated stations. Markey also denied that the Fan Appreciation League would be the name of the league. He said there is no working title. He also denied that they were in negotiations with Joe Kapp and All Star Football.

The NBC-Turner venture would also go after the best available players. "There are a lot of players whether they are players who are cut by NFL teams or college players coming out who are undrafted or unsigned, wherever you might think of where the leftover players are," Markey said.

Two other leagues, All Star Football and the United States Fan Ownership Football League also plan to start in the fall of 1999.

All Star Football has been in the idea phase since CBS lost the rights to broadcast NFC games to Fox four and a half years ago. Former NFL players Joe Kapp, Craig Morton, and Jim Marshall are the brain trust behind the league. All Star Football is also working with Team Dynamics, Inc.

All Star Football plans to use a business plan similar to that of Major League Soccer, the Women's National Basketball Association, and the American Basketball League. The league will own all the teams and those 16 teams will report operating expenses and revenue back to the league. "This is really the wave of how new league structures will be structured because of the economic environment we're in and the opportunity these leagues have to compete singularly rather than as a group of individuals," Parton said.

All Star Football will use syndication as a part of their television strategy. The league would be able to essentially create their own network of TV stations throughout the country to show off their product.

All Star Football wants the best players they can get for the league. Parton is confident that the league can get very good players. "There's only 1,590 jobs in the NFL, that's all. There are 3,000 plus NCAA graduates, or eligibility expiring athletes each year. So for the past five years, 21 to 26 year old, college trained, high level Division I football players have not been employed in their profession that they were trained to do because there's only about 140 rookies that are hired each year," Parton said.

The USFOL will have ten teams in the top television markets in the country. The league plans to use the best players it can get as well. The USFOL was designed with the fan in mind. "The philosophy is a fan revolution ­ 20,000 owners are stronger than any one NFL owner," Capozzola said. "Its time for fan ownership of professional sports. Instead of getting ripped off every time you buy a ticket, you get a percentage back, your stock goes up, you make money while you're attending the game."

The USFOL is scheduled to begin its season in August of 1999 and the season will end by Christmas. Capozzola said there will be no exhibition games because he feels that they are a rip off.

The fan ownership approach of the USFOL doesn't allow for an owner to get rich off the fans. Fans that purchase stock will have the opportunity to have a say in the operation of the team. This is the goal of the league. This concept, according to Capozzola, will keep "rich man, poor fan" out of his league.

The NFL has no official comment on the new leagues, however spokesperson Leslie Hammond did give this statement: "We are anxious to see football succeed at all levels. We support high school football. We support the NCAA. We have a partnership with the CFL. I think it's important for the NFL and any fan of football to make sure that the game is healthy and that there's growth of the game itself on all levels."

There are critics of the new leagues. Jeff Knapple is the managing director of ProServe, an Arlington, Virginia based company and was a former quarterback for the New Jersey Generals of the USFL. "I think that the NFL with the television impact that they have and the audiences that they reach, galvinate the football fan marketplace, if you will, and if the leagues decide to go head to head in that same time period its going to be very difficult even on an alternative network. I don't think they will make it. I think it's pretty difficult to have a minor league version of a major league sport compete even if it's an off time."

Reeths thinks that a league could have a chance, especially a spring league. "I believe spring football can succeed, but it's a tough market out there." Reeths added that any new league should expect to take a financial beating for the first few years and will need to have strong ownership as well as a good TV contract for the exposure. He doesn't think all six of the leagues will make it. "There is going to be one, if any. There is not room for more than one."