Category: Alternative Football

In my perfect football world, the Canadian Football League would be 10 franchises strong (hello, Atlantic Schooners) and all 10 would be financially sound with full stadiums on any given Thursday, Friday, and Saturday in the summer and fall.

The XFL, under the direction of Dany Garcia and Dwayne Johnson (and with the financial muscle of RedBird Capital), would be an innovative circuit willing to play the long game in terms of finding out which markets spring football works in and which markets it doesn’t, ultimately creating a sustainable second tier league.

Scott Adamson writes stuff. Follow him on Twitter @adamsonsl

And as for a collaboration between the CFL and XFL, it would involve shared resources (a combined global draft, for example) as well as player loans, which are common in international soccer. The CFL would maintain its traditional rules (three downs, 12 players to a side, etc.) while the XFL would develop its own unique style of competition.

(I’m not including the NFL in this fever dream because it’s a league that occupies its own planet with a separate ecosystem). Of course, my perfect football world doesn’t exist – nor does anyone else’s. And what we’re left with is one league (the CFL) with major financial issues and another (the XFL) that has to figure out the best way to spend the money it has in what will be the brand’s third reboot.

I’m not an insider so I have no idea what’s going to happen, but everyone who’s interested has something to say about it. Many of those who are much closer to the situation than me seem to think a merger is imminent, with a “new” league emerging sometime after the CFL completes its 2021 season.

A hybrid circuit would involve some major compromises of rules considering the significant differences between the American and Canadian games.

If I was a younger fan who wasn’t emotionally invested in the CFL, that’d be kind of exciting. Before the pandemic ended XFL 2.0 in 2020, I was completely on board with its rule innovations and thought the quality of play was solid.

It was a vast improvement over the original XFL (2001) by every standard of measure, and laid out a fine template for how to reimagine the game. Throw in some CFL style wrinkles and you’d have a game different enough from the NFL and American college football to possibly create a brand new fan base.

But as someone who has followed the CFL since the 1970s, the thought of it losing its identity depresses me. Beyond that, a full merger means a combined CFL/XFL would either live together or die together.

This is much different than American expansion in the 1990s. When the Lower 48 experiment failed, the United States franchises simply became footnotes to CFL history (except for the Baltimore Stallions, which moved to Montreal and became the “new” Alouettes) while the remaining Canadian-based clubs went about their merry way.

But a CFL/XFL blended league would be a new organization with an infrastructure all its own. And that means traditional CFL teams might play in it, but they’d be playing in something other than the CFL. I’m the first to admit I tend to see the glass as half empty, but when I do I’m reminded by those bullish on this potential football marriage of how much money RedBird Capital has to spend. The company manages $4.5 billion in assets and is involved with the likes of Liverpool FC, the Boston Red Sox and LeBron James through Fenway Sports Group.

By taking on the XFL and trying to meld that league’s new ideas with Canadian tradition, it aims to create a new business model for football.

On the other hand, The Canadian Press reports that the CFL lost between $60 and $80 million last year when the 2020 season was canceled due to the pandemic. That did tremendous damage to the bottom line and it’s hard to tell how much recovery is possible this year. Earlier today the CFL announced a return to play plan that involves a 14-game regular season beginning on August 5 with the Grey Cup set for December 12 in Hamilton. But commissioner Randy Ambrosie cautions that it all hinges on “the state of COVID-19 across the country” and whether or not a significant number of fans are allowed in stadiums.

Ambrosie adds that all clubs are expected to suffer “substantial financial losses” again in 2021, so one can see how a future merger might be born of necessity.

But again, it’s not something I want to see in my perfect (yet nonexistent) football world.

Look, I don’t doubt the combined business and entertainment acumen of Garcia and Johnson, and obviously RedBird Capital has the seed money to make a new kind of league sprout.

But regardless of how much money you have to invest, you want to know that eventually that investment will pay off. And fans of alternative football might not want to hear it, but the next North American-based professional spring football league to last longer than three seasons will be the first.

When I last saw the Hamburg Sea Devils, they were defeating the Frankfurt Galaxy, 37-28, in World Bowl XV – which happened to be the final game in NFL Europa/NFL Europe/World League of American Football history back in 2007.

When I see them again, they’ll be competing in the new European League of Football – and I’ll be cheering them every step of the way.

Scott Adamson writes stuff. Follow him on Twitter @adamsonsl

Yep, I am now a die-hard Sea Devils fan, and one day I hope to tell you that I’m a long-time Sea Devils fan.

I can’t tell you that now, though, because I didn’t start rooting for them until Wednesday. That means I’m going on my second day as a fanatical supporter.

How did it happen?

Well, I sent out a tweet directed at all ELF teams and decided the first one to respond would have my loyalty.

Thanks to the club’s social media crew, Hamburg wooed me before any other ELF member and – therefore – is now my favorite team. (The Wroclaw Panthers were second to respond and the Barcelona Dragons took the bronze, so those are my second and third favorite teams, respectively).

As random as it all seems, though, there are a few reasons why my pledge of allegiance to the Sea Devils makes perfect sense.

Being of Scottish ancestry (the name “Scott” and “Adamson” provide solid clues there) I was a fan of the Scottish Claymores during their WLAF/NFLE days. But after a 10-year run the franchise was folded in favor of – that’s right – the Hamburg Sea Devils. Jack Bicknell was the coach of the Claymores during their final season and guided the Sea Devils in their first two, so that provided a natural bridge for me.

But it’s not just the past that has me all hyped up for the Deepwater Demons, but the present.

Ted Daisher is the head coach, and he used to hold that post with the Hartford Colonials of the United Football League. The Colonials were originally the New York Sentinels before relocating, and the Sentinels were my favored team in the UFL.

Not only that, Daisher went on to become defensive coordinator of the Alabama State Hornets, a Football Championship Subdivision school located in Montgomery, Alabama. I grew up in Birmingham, Alabama, and used to stop at the Shoney’s restaurant in Montgomery for an all-you-care-to-eat breakfast buffet on my way to Florida for annual beach vacations.

Of course a beach is located near a sea, and some seas contain anglerfish, which are known as sea devils.

Boom.

And if those aren’t reasons enough for me to become a Hamburglar (that’s what I’m calling myself on game days … I plan to wear a mask, black hat and cape while watching), the club recently signed Xavier Johnson, who played at the University of South Alabama in Mobile.

I have relatives in Mobile, so it’s almost like I have a family member on the Sea Devils’ roster.

OK, I’ve had some fun with this, but I’m not making fun at all. I really am honored that Hamburg sought me out as a fan, and they have my support – all kidding aside.

It doesn’t hurt that they have a great logo – even better, I think, than the cool one they rocked in their first incarnation.

But I’ll be rooting for the league as a whole. I want all eight members to be successful, and I’m happy guys who’ve dreamed of playing for pay but might not get a chance otherwise are getting a chance now.

I’ll be interested to see how many guys I recognize, and how many international players become stars.

Simply put, the European League of Football has my attention and I’m truly looking forward to kickoff.

And the Hamburg Sea Devils?

Stadion Hoheluft is 4,415 miles from my current home in Greenville, South Carolina, so I probably won’t be there to cheer them on in person this summer. But who knows? If you work in the ticket office there and “Hamburglar” calls requesting a general admission seat, it means I’m on my way.