Category: Alternative Football

Guys, I’m starting to think the Freedom Football League won’t be getting off the ground in May.

It doesn’t look like Major League Football will tee it up then, either.

And the Pacific Pro Football League, slated for a July launch, has been deathly quiet for quite a while.

So much for the Summer of (alternative football) Love.

Fans who can’t get enough gridiron action will be able to watch the XFL reboot starting on February 8 and follow it until the championship game on April 26. But the FFL and MLF promised to kick off in May, ensuring that those of you with a tackle football addiction could always get a fix.

I just don’t see it happening – at least not this year.

If my calendar is correct (and I’m pretty sure it is) today is January 18. That means if the FFL and MLF are to start in early May, they need to get cracking in securing stadium and media deals and hiring players, coaches and staff.

To the best of my knowledge, none of those things have happened.

The Freedom Football League, in fact, has worked backward.

Instead of putting together franchises and then giving them nicknames, the FFL branded teams without actually forming them.

Take the Birmingham Kings, for example. As a native of the Magic City I’d certainly root for them. But unless I missed something, this team doesn’t even exist. And I’d assume if they wanted to play at Legion Field in May, the Birmingham Park and Recreation Board would probably have gotten a heads-up by now.

I messaged the league a few weeks back and asked if the May 2020 start was still planned but haven’t heard anything.

Their website hasn’t been updated in months, and the FFL’s last tweet seeking employees was sent on Oct. 8, 2019.

In this case, no news is bad news.

As for MLF, that enterprise continues to get flagged for false starts.

Founded in 2014, it has threatened to play every season but never comes close to reaching the starting gate.

In July, 2019, the league announced on its Facebook page that it would commence play in six cities in 2020 with training camp set for April in Florida.

And last October MLF revealed it had purchased football equipment, video equipment, and medical supplies from the defunct Alliance of American Football.

That was the last transmission from the league. However, if you happen to see some dude running around wearing a San Diego Fleet helmet with a roving end zone camera in one hand and ankle tape in the other, you might be able to get some intel from him.

So, yeah, not really counting on Major League Football to ever be anything more than a minor footnote.

I guess Pac Pro still has a puncher’s chance since it will primarily target prep graduates who don’t want to go to college. With many high schools wrapping up in May or early June, that would be the time when the bulk of players are made available.

Still, this is another league that has developed a habit of pushing back its start date. It was originally supposed to take the field in 2018, then 2019, and here we are still waiting for any news about the four Southern California-based teams set to serve as inaugural franchises.

The Pac Pro website hasn’t had fresh content in almost a year, and that suggests to me it might be finished before it ever begins.

So what happened?

Well, there are many pro football ventures that never got beyond the planning stages.

Remember the “new” United States Football League?

Or the All-American Football League?

Or the United National Gridiron League?

Or the North American Football League?

For all that have come and gone, many never showed up at all.

But who knows? Perhaps we’ll hear exciting news about the Freedom Football League, Major League Football and the Pacific Pro Football League any day now.

Regardless, all you alternative football league fans are just three weeks away from the sport’s latest spring fling – courtesy of the XFL.

But if you’re really jonesing for summer pro football, you don’t need to wait for the FFL, MLF or Pac Pro.

A new Canadian Football League season kicks off on June 11.

The rebooted XFL vows to “reimagine the game of football,” and that means the league will play by its own rules when it hits the field next month.

Today XFL Commissioner Oliver Luck and Head of Officiating Dean Blandino unveiled the official rules and gameplay innovations for the eight team circuit, alterations designed to offer a unique twist to a familiar game.

A 3-point conversion?

It’s possible.

Multiple forward passes behind the line of scrimmage?

Yep.

A “soccer style” overtime?

It’s a go.

If you’re a pro football league that isn’t the NFL you need to give fans something different, and the XFL promises to do that when it kicks off on February 8.

“We’re super excited about giving our fans a true fan-first league and one built for the 21^st century,” Luck said. “We’ve designed a fast, up tempo game. Our tagline ‘less stall, more ball’ describes very much what we’re aiming for.”

Offenses will be allowed to throw up to two forward passes behind the line of scrimmage, which is sure to create new deceptions in a team’s bag of trick plays.

There are more scoring options as well, thanks to tiered conversions. The extra point kick has become passé in spring football – the original XFL spurned it as did the short-lived Alliance of American Football last year.

That being the case, a team that scores a touchdown in XFL 2.0 has the option of running a play from the two, five, or 10-yard line, worth 1, 2, or 3 points, respectively. Should the defense run back a fumbled ball or take an interception to the house on the try, it’ll score the same amount of points the offense was aiming for.

Thus, a contest that features a nine point differential is still potentially a one score game.

“The innovation that had the most interest from fans was the extra point because of the strategy involved,” Luck said. “Anything that brings strategy into the game of football is welcome. Fans get to think along with the coach in wondering, ‘What would I do in this situation?’ and of course everyone likes to second-guess coaches.

“The high risk really caught the attention of our fans.”

Kickoffs will also look much different than they do in the NFL – or any other league, for that matter.

The placekicker kicks off from his 25-yard line and the ball must be in the air and in play between the opponent’s 20-yard line and the end zone. The coverage team, on the other hand, will line up on the receiving team’s 35-yard line with the return team stationed five yards away on the 30. Each team must have three players outside the hash marks on both sides of the ball and cannot move until the ball is caught by the returner.

Out of bounds kicks and kicks that fail to reach the 20-yard line will result in an illegal procedure penalty, taking the ball to the kicking team’s 45 yard line.

This rule keeps kickoffs in the game while all but eliminating the “big collision” aspect.

As for onside kicks, teams must alert officials beforehand and the kickoff will be traditional, with the kicking and receiving teams lined up 10 yards apart.

Punts have been tweaked, too; members of the kicking team can’t advance past the line of scrimmage until the ball has been booted away, although “gunners” can move laterally after the snap.

Tie games will be settled in “penalty shootout” style. A round will consist of one offensive play per team at the opponent’s 5-yard line, with a successful run or pass into the end zone worth two points. The team with more points after five rounds is the winner.

Although not as sexy, the rule that might have the biggest impact involves timing. Games will feature a 25-second play clock and a running clock will be used except in the final two minutes in each half. Only then will the clock stop on incomplete passes and out of bounds plays, meaning games should finish well under three hours.

“We’re focusing on the three Cs – clarity, consistency and credibility for all our stakeholders,” said Blandino, who will oversee officiating crews drawn from the Football Bowl Subdivision ranks. “We want to make sure our games are administered efficiently. What frustrates fans is when we have a lot of stops and starts.”

The inaugural XFL season opens on February 8 with two games.

The DC Defenders host the Seattle Dragons at 2 p.m. on ABC, while the Los Angeles Wildcats travel to Texas to take on the Houston Roughnecks at 5 p.m. on Fox.

Sunday, February 9, Fox will feature the Tampa Bay Vipers at New York Guardians at 2 p.m., and the Dallas Renegades welcome the St. Louis BattleHawks to town at 5 p.m. on ESPN, capping off week one action.

For a complete breakdown of XFL rules as well as the season schedule, go to xfl.com.

In the week leading up to the Super Bowl – any Super Bowl – I can walk into my local supermarket and find a wide variety of party items geared toward the big game.

Super Bowl cakes and Super Bowl cookies are already baked and decorated in team colors, meaning I can grab them and go.

I’ll let you in on a little secret, though – by the time most of you celebrate your Super Sunday, mine will have already come and gone. And any cakes to mark the occasion will have long since been eaten (and special ordered).

When it comes to tackle football, the Grey Cup has become my favorite single event, and this weekend it’ll be played for the 107th time when the Hamilton Tiger-Cats – the team I root for – meet the Winnipeg Blue Bombers at Calgary’s McMahon Stadium.

I’m quite sure there won’t be any premade goodies to snatch up at the nearest grocer. In fact, I’m guessing many of the people who work there have no idea the Grey Cup is even going on.

But that’s OK. For me, the championship of the Canadian Football League has almost always been a party for one.

It’s especially festive this season because the Ticats haven’t won the league crown since 1999 and are favored to break their 20-year drought.

I won’t bore you with my CFL back story – I’ve shared it more times than I can count and if you care, you already know it. I will say, though, that with each passing year I grow to like it much more than the NFL. I find it – for lack of a better word – cozy.

There are only nine CFL franchises and except for the ill-fated “American experiment” (which peaked at 13 teams in 1995), that’s as large as it’s ever gotten.

By NFL and Power 5 college standards, attendance is modest – and that’s a generous description.

The single game high in 2019 was 40,113 for a clash between Calgary and Edmonton at Edmonton’s Commonwealth Stadium on September 7, and the average per game attendance was 22,917.

Bottom line, if you want a ticket to a CFL regular season game, you won’t have much trouble getting one.

But the fans who do show up show off, and I see them as my kindred spirits even though our relationship is through social media more than social interaction.

I love how they love their teams, and the players on those teams seem to truly appreciate them. The CFL gives off a working class vibe and part of that reason is because guys don’t pull down NFL money.

People relate to that.

I like that Canadian kids can grow up to star in a league that’s very much part of their culture, and American kids can make their pro dreams come true even if those dreams blossom in another country.

There’s plenty of brawn on either side of the line in any given game, but there is also a place for small, fast guys.

As someone who is small (and used to be fast), this makes me very happy.

And while some might scoff at rules that feature three downs to make 10 yards, conceded points and end zones that are 20 yards deep, I fully embrace them.

For me, the Canadian Football League isn’t a novelty – it’s grown into my favorite version of the gridiron game.

So while most of the football fans around me will be watching the end of the Dallas Cowboys-New England Patriots game at 6:30 p.m. on Sunday and gearing up for the upcoming showdown between the Green Bay Packers and San Francisco 49ers, I’ll be tuned into ESPN2 for the Grey Cup.

Shoot, I might even order a cake.

I’ll be the only one at the party, but hopefully I can party like it’s 1999.