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An alternative (football) reality

If you’re a fan of alternative football leagues, this has been a heckuva week. Not only did XFL 3.0 rosters start to take shape with Tuesday’s selection of quarterbacks (followed by a two-day position draft), but the USFL announced it was moving into a new market – and expanding its hub model.

The fact that not one but two pro circuits outside the NFL and CFL were vying for the spotlight in mid-November is something of an early alt-football holiday present.

**Scott Adamson writes stuff. Follow him on Twitter @adamsonsl**

The USFL will start its second season next April, and that in itself is significant; no domestic play-for-pay spring outdoor league with teams in the United States has done that since the World League of American Football (1991-92). And now the Memphis Showboats have joined the league, taking the place of the Tampa Bay Bandits.

Yet while the Bandits never made it to Tampa (the entire league played its regular season in Birmingham in 2022), the Showboats will actually play their home games at home – in Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium (formerly the Liberty Bowl). Memphis will serve as the second South Division hub and will also house the Houston Gamblers in 2023.

The USFL champion Stallions will return to Protective Stadium next spring and summer, sharing space with the New Orleans Breakers.

A North Division hub hosting the Michigan Panthers, New Jersey Generals, Philadelphia Stars and Pittsburgh Maulers is rumored to be headed for the Detroit area, although the USFL has yet to make an official announcement.

“Completing a remarkably successful inaugural season and preparing for a second season shows the USFL is a stable and professional league run by people with football experience,” Daryl Johnston, USFL Executive Vice President of Football Operations, said on Tuesday during a news conference in Memphis. “In 2022, we accomplished every goal we set – high-quality, exciting, and competitive football, establishing a fan-friendly affordable and fun stadium experience, being a catalyst for the evolution of football through innovative rules, and achieving ratings success that gave viewers unprecedented access and the best football production on television. We showed our fans, our players and coaches, our communities, and our public and corporate partners that the USFL is here to stay.”

The XFL, meanwhile, signed a bunch of quarterbacks on opening day of its draft week, including one of my favorite players – Luis Perez – and Kyle Sloter, who both called signals in the USFL last season.

Perez is becoming an alt-football legend, having played in the Alliance of American Football, 2020 XFL, The Spring League and USFL. I cheered for him when he led the Birmingham Iron in the ill-fated AAF in 2019, and got to watch him help lift the lid on the new United States Football League last April when he took snaps for the Generals.

He was signed by the Vegas Vipers on Tuesday.

Sloter, who quarterbacked the Breakers last summer, also jumped leagues and joined the Arlington Renegades.

Other names of note (or at least guys who made me go, “Hey, I know him!”) include Troy product Brandon Silvers, who played in the AAF and XFL 2.0 and is now with the Houston Roughnecks, and former Alabama QB A.J. McCarron, who has been on the roster of five NFL teams and will now try to win the starting job for the St. Louis Battlehawks.

Arguably the top player signed on Wednesday was former NFL wideout Martavis Bryant, who averaged 21 yards per catch during his rookie season with the Pittsburgh Steelers back in 2014.

Like USFL teams, XFL rosters will have a mix of players trying to get back in the NFL and those looking for their first shot.

“Congratulations to all the players selected in the inaugural XFL Draft,” XFL Senior Vice President of Player Personnel Doug Whaley said in a statement released on Thursday. “Together they will serve as the backbone of our league and be the center of the dynamic football our fans will experience when teams take the field in February. For our teams, this week represents the first step in building their rosters and another step closer to kickoff.

“Over the next two months, the league will hold a supplemental draft and claiming period for players who were not eligible for this week’s draft, including players currently under contract with other professional football leagues and graduates of the NFL Alumni Academy. With 442 players selected over the last two days, and 528 spots to fill in training camp, there are still opportunities for players looking to take the field for the XFL in 2023.”

The rebooted XFL’s season starts on February 18 while the USFL’s second campaign kicks off on April 15. The eight teams in both leagues will play 10 regular season games each followed by the playoffs.

And that begs the question; if the two spring/summer leagues can survive, can they also coexist?

Sure, they can … whether they will or not is another question.

It’s hard for me to imagine them operating separately over the long haul if for no other reason than one will continually try to outspend the other for players. Supposedly the XFL is offering more money than the USFL (this will be key when it comes to signing the best available quarterbacks), so one would assume the USFL will have to upgrade its salaries to keep up.

History suggests that when sports leagues engage in bidding wars, there’s only one winner. But that’s one of those “if and when questions” that need not be answered for a while.

For now, all fans need to know – and something we should be happy about – is that there is plenty of talent to stock both leagues.

The USFL has joined forces with the HUB Football scouting service, while the XFL has partnered with both the NFL Academy and Indoor Football League to cull players.

And consider this … there are 131 programs in the Football Bowl Subdivision, 130 in the Football Championship Subdivision, and 169 in Division II. Throw in NAIA schools (96), JUCOs (65) and even Division III (242), and there is no shortage of young, talented players good enough to play a fan-pleasing brand of football.

In addition, the USFL is owned by FOX with NBC as an additional TV partner, while the XFL has the Disney media empire (i.e., ESPN and ABC) behind it. That’s some impressive reach.

So, we can spend our time bemoaning the history of failed spring football leagues – and goodness knows I have – or we can view them in their present state.

And if you do that, there’s a lot to look forward to in 2023.

Remembering NFL Europa

History will be made on Sunday when the Seattle Seahawks and Tampa Bay Buccaneers tangle at Allianz Arena in Munich.

For the National Football League, it’ll mark its first regular season game played on German soil.

And for German fans, it’ll be a chance to ask, “What took you so long?”

While tackle football’s most prestigious league has made England its primary international stop for several years, a strong German fan base has been there for decades. All you have to do is look back at NFL Europe, which began as the World League of American Football but spent its final season as NFL Europa – with five of its six franchises located in Germany.

“It’s ubiquitous in Germany,” Brett Gosper, NFL Head of United Kingdom and Europe, told the Daily Mail in September. “When I visit, I always get the feeling you talk to the taxi drivers about NFL – but here (London) not quite. As a sport maybe it scratches an itch that other sports don’t in that market. Rugby is not a big game in that market – there is not another contact sport. There’s a lot of professional sports kicking around in England, from cricket, to rugby, to football, and so on. And NFL still finds its way in that competitive landscape.

“But in Germany, there just seems to be a wider possibility to come in and occupy a space that maybe is not occupied by someone else.”

Alexander Steinforth of NFL Germany was interviewed by the Ran sports website in July and said there had been more than three million ticket requests for the game set for the 75,024-seat venue. He knew tickets would be in high demand, he just couldn’t imagine how high.

“Based on the roughly 600,000 registrations for this pre-sale in the past few weeks, we could already guess a bit in advance,” he said. “At the peak, however, there were around 800,000 people in the virtual queue at the same time. Ticketmaster informed us afterwards that they could have sold around three million tickets. There would be such a demand worldwide – whether at sporting events or concerts – otherwise only at the Super Bowl.

“Thus, this advance sale for the NFL Germany game has once again exceeded all expectations.”

So, where did this passion for the gridiron game begin?

The WLAF, which hit the field in the spring of 1991, featured three European teams – the Barcelona Dragons, Frankfurt Galaxy and London Monarchs. Eight of the nine other franchises were located in the United States with one in Canada.

The Monarchs drew 40,483 fans per game during the inaugural season, followed by Frankfurt (29,856) and Barcelona (29,002). By year two London’s attendance slipped to 21,909 per home outing while Frankfurt’s grew to 36,293. Barcelona played before 30,756 during home dates.

However, poor TV ratings, subpar attendance in North American markets and mounting financial losses convinced the NFL to suspend the World League after the 1992 campaign and examine what options were left for a developmental circuit.

The option was to go across the pond, and the WLAF returned in 1995 with an all-European lineup. Frankfurt, Barcelona and London resumed operations, and were joined by the Amsterdam Admirals, Rhein Fire and Scottish Claymores.

By 1998 the NFL’s spring gridiron experiment had changed its name to NFL Europe, and the London Monarchs were renamed the England Monarchs (playing in Birmingham and Bristol as well as London).

Yet while the novelty of minor league American football began to fade in England, Spain and Scotland, German clubs continued to have plenty of support.

The England team folded in 1998, Barcelona called it quits in 2003, and Scotland’s last year in NFL Europe was in 2004.

The lineup in 2005 featured Amsterdam, Berlin, Cologne, Frankfurt, Hamburg and Rhein, meaning NFL Europe was – for all practical purposes – NFL Germany Plus One.

Rebranded as NFL Europa for its final season in 2007, the six teams averaged 20,24 fans per game – the highest per game attendance since the league was rebooted in 1995.

The farewell year saw Frankfurt draw 33,043 each game, followed by Rhein (24,473), Hamburg (20,874), Berlin (15,710), Cologne (14,352) and Amsterdam (11,668).

Despite the strong support from German fans, the NFL was losing $30 million per year on the league and decided to dramatically alter its European presence and fold NFL Europa on June 29, 2007.

“A foundation of American football fans in key European markets has been created and the time is right to shift our strategy,” NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said. “The next phase of our international growth is to focus on initiatives with global impact, including taking advantage of developing technologies that make the NFL more accessible on a global scale and ensuring the success of our new international series of regular-season games.”

The Galaxy was the only franchise in WLAF/NFL Europe/NFL Europa to compete in all 15 seasons and had the most titles with four.

“NFL Europa has created thousands of passionate fans who have supported that league and our sport for many years,” Mark Waller, senior vice president of NFL International, said. “And we look forward to building on this foundation as we begin this new phase of our international development.” And part of that new phase means that 15 years after NFL Europa showcased Germany, the NFL is finally showcasing a regular season clash there.

Canadian Football Day

Saturday was American Football Day, and millions of gridiron enthusiasts across the globe celebrated by watching college teams compete in the four-down game.

Of course, those of us in Birmingham who remember the Barracudas understand that November 5 is also a solemn occasion; it was that day in 1995 our Canadian Football League team played its final game, which resulted in a 52-9 spanking at the hands of the San Antonio Texans.

Speaking of which (and I’m speaking of the CFL, not spanking … how you spend your leisure time is none of my business) today is opening day of the 2022 Grey Cup playoffs. At noon my favorite team, the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, tangle with my second favorite team, the Montreal Alouettes, in the Eastern Semi-Final, followed by the BC Lions versus the Calgary Stampeders at 3:30 p.m. in the Western Semi-Final.

For that reason – and because I was in the mood to write a CFL-centric column – I’m proclaiming today, November 6, 2022, as Canadian Football Day.

It’s a day to celebrate fields that are 110 yards long and 65 yards wide with end zones that are 20 yards deep.

It’s a time to revel in a league that doesn’t throw a flag if a team has 12 players on the field because that’s the correct number.

It’s an occasion to laud the sense of urgency required to make 10 yards in only three downs.

And it gives us the opportunity to praise the single point, or rouge, which is awarded when the receiving team doesn’t return (or kick) the ball out of its end zone following a punt or missed field goal, or if a kick goes out of bounds in the end zone without being touched.

Do I have the authority to do such a thing? I certainly think so. I mean, who can stop me? (It reminds me of an old George Carlin quote: “I have as much authority as the Pope. I just don’t have as many people who believe it.”)

Admittedly, I’m having to wedge it in among several other recognized days. November 6 is “International Day for Preventing the Exploitation of the Environment in War and Armed Conflict.” That’s certainly a noble cause, but not one conducive to a festive atmosphere.

Here in the States, it’s also “National Nachos Day” as well as “National Saxophone Day.” Nachos go great with football, so the occasions mesh. And if you eat enough of them, you won’t even need a saxophone to create your own melancholy sounds. (I was going to throw in a line about breaking woodwind, but that would’ve been pushing it).

Anyway, this is one of those rare late Fall Sundays when I shove the NFL in the backseat. Throughout most of the regular season the CFL avoids Sunday games so as not to clash with the Billionaire’s Club, but I’m always going to take a Canadian playoff game over an American regular season affair – every single time.

Plus, the Jets-Bills game at noon isn’t televised in my market, so the only decision I had to make was whether to watch the Ti-Cats-Alouettes over the Packers-Lions or Dolphins-Bears.

And honestly, it was an easy call.

Having said that (and then written it because I doubt you could hear me), I once thought by the time this weekend rolled around I’d be an innocent bystander when it came to the CFL playoffs. Hamilton appeared dead and buried at one point – standing at 3-9 through 12 games – but somehow managed to sneak into the playoffs with an 8-10 record.

How great is that?

Pretty great for me, because I get to keep all my Hamilton caps and T-shirts in the “season in progress” pile for at least one more day.

I know there are those who think it’s ridiculous that a team with a losing record gets a shot at a championship, but I don’t hang around with those people so I don’t particularly care what they think.

And besides, anybody remember the 2000 Lions, 2001 Stampeders and 2016 Ottawa Redblacks?

All had sub-.500 records during the regular season … all won Grey Cups.

That’s one of the beauties of postseason sports; championships aren’t necessarily won by the best overall team, but by the hottest team in the tournament.

And today’s matchups could translate into a couple of terrific games.

Hamilton (8-10) at Montreal (9-9) will be the fourth meeting between the two in 2022, with the Alouettes holding a 2-1 edge.

Montreal won 29-28 and 23-16 at Percival Molson Memorial Stadium, while Hamilton earned a 24-17 victory in the friendly confines of Tim Hortons Field.

As a former wide receiver myself (I don’t like to brag, but I caught both a TD pass and 2-point conversion toss while playing for the L.M. Smith Elementary School Cougars in 1974), I’m looking most forward to seeing Ti-Cat All-Stars Tim White and Steven Dunbar Jr. haul in Dane Evans aerials.

But Trevor Harris can be scary good behind center for the Als, and comes into the clash having passed for more than 4,000 yards this year (Eugene Lewis has 1,303 receiving yards). The only other Montreal QBs to reach that number in a season are Sam Etcheverry and Anthony Calvillo, and they’re both in the Canadian Football Hall of Fame.

Obviously, I’m hoping the Tabbies prevail, but all is not lost if they come up short. When I’m not cheering for them, I’m pulling for the Larks, and since I have a pair of Montreal dad caps, I’m fully prepared for the East finals at BMO Field on November 13.

From a pure entertainment standpoint, the West semi between BC (12-6) and Calgary (12-6) should be a dandy.

The Vancouver hosts have taken two of the three meetings and the Lion victories were wild – 41-40 and 30-29 in overtime. And aide from two great teams squaring off, there are a couple of terrific sidebars.

BC’s Nathan Rourke makes his first playoff start after coming back from an injury that derailed what was shaping up as a phenomenal season. In just 10 games behind center the Victoria, British Columbia, native has thrown for 3,349 yards and 28 touchdowns in his second year in the league.

On the other side of the field is Jake Maier, another CFL sophomore hotshot who won the signal calling job from future Hall of Famer Bo Levi Mitchell. Maier replaced Mitchell as starter in Week 11 and has come on to toss 14 TD passes against seven picks and rack up 2,389 yards.

If the teams don’t combine for at least 60 points I’ll be a little disappointed.

At any rate, today I’m rocking my gold Ti-Cats shirt and black Ti-Cats cap and settling in for a full day of CFL-style entertainment.

Hell, I might even color my cheeks with some rouge to honor that single point.

It is, after all, Canadian Football Day.