Category: Alternative Football

One of the nice surprises of this summer’s sportscape has been the Premier Lacrosse League, which hit the field the first of June and will wrap up its inaugural season September 21.

If you like top-tier lacrosse the PLL has provided it, thanks to some of the best players in the world. I’ve enjoyed the handful of matches I’ve watched.

But, frankly, if you’re a legitimate fan of lacrosse you probably know more about the stats and stars than I do. Instead, I’m intrigued by the structural setup of the league and how its template might apply to football because – as you know – I’m almost always thinking about football-related gimmicks.

Founded by lacrosse superstar Paul Rabil and his brother, Mike, the PLL a touring, tournament-style circuit. However, the teams don’t represent cities and the players are free to market themselves however they choose.

This year the PLL features clubs named Archers, Atlas, Chaos, Chrome, Redwoods and Whipsnakes. There is no state or regional identity; basically, you either cheer for a team stocked with players you like or you root for a uniform.

I wound up getting behind Chrome because, well, I sent out a random tweet asking who I should follow, and Chrome was the only team to respond.

This touched me, so I now feel a sense of loyalty to them.

The schedule features 14 stops in major cities, and the events have been styled as weekend “festivals” with contests spread out over a couple of days.

There are clinics, activities and plenty of fan interaction to frame the actual games, making it about more than just the competition.

The crowds have been good and the games, which are telecast primarily on NBCSN, have given the league excellent exposure.

So here’s my idea; since people can’t seem to stop creating alternative pro football leagues, why not create one in the image of the PLL?

The obvious name would be the Premier Football League, but since there’s already the Premier League (which, cleverly enough, plays a brand of football in which feet play a significant role), we’ll go with another name.

Let’s call it the Premier Gridiron League.

My plan would feature eight teams, and for the purposes of this column we’ll call them the Chupacabras, Tasmanian Devils, Zombies, Sales Associates, Werewolves, Entrails, Telemarketers and Chiropractors.

(My favorite team would be the Werewolves because lycanthropy is of great interest to me.)

As is the case with the PLL, players in the PGL will be drafted and divvied up among the teams in an effort to create parity.

Of course asking fans to watch a doubleheader on Saturday and another on Sunday is a bit much, so we’ll break from the PLL in that we’ll have two separate sites during a tour weekend.

For example, Birmingham might host the Chupacabras vs. Tasmanian Devils on Saturday, March 7 and Zombies vs. Sales Associates on March 8, while Orlando would feature the Werewolves vs. Entrails on March 7 and follow with the Telemarketers vs. the Chiropractors on the following day.

The PGL regular season would run 14 weekends at a total of 28 different sites, with each team playing the other twice. The postseason would consist of two semi-finals and a championship game with the matchups taking place in the cities that drew the biggest crowds during the tour. It’s a way to reward the fans who showed the most interest in the product.

It all sounds cool, doesn’t it? (Why yes, Scott, it does).

I wonder, though, if perhaps it’s just a bit too innovative.

I think the touring model was a great idea for the first season of PLL, and having a team you can call your own no matter where you live is unique. But it seems like at some point fans in lacrosse hotbeds are going to want a club to put down roots – one they can see several times at home during the course of a season instead of just once a year.

Then again, maybe that’s what this season has been all about.

Identify which cities want the PLL the most, and then gradually migrate franchises there.

Pro lacrosse is largely working with a blank canvas. Yes, there are other leagues, but the PLL is the first to offer living wages, health insurance and ownership options for its players. Done right, it could be the gold standard for the sport going forward.

And while I like the thought of applying this model to my league, there are some major issues to work through.

First, football is already pretty well established. It needs no grand introduction.

And with the best professional players already making millions of dollars in the NFL, it would take many more millions to convince them to jump ship.

Anyway, it was just something I thought I’d throw out because I like throwing things. And if you’re an eccentric billionaire interested in funding my venture and luring away the NFL’s top stars with your endless fountain of cash, I’ll be happy to talk with you at your earliest convenience.

Thanks, and “Go Werewolves!”

Remember when you were young and would go to the beach (or the mountains or the desert or maybe just a cheap hotel with an ice machine and swimming pool) on summer vacation? If you were lucky, you might meet someone while you were there, and you’d think they’re cute and they’d think you’re cute, and the next you know, you’re holding hands.

It turns into a fling, you have a great time, and then when vacation comes to an end you seal things with a kiss and promise to call.

But you don’t call.

A new school year begins, you fall into your regular routine, and with each passing day that sweet summer romance fades from memory.

That’s how I imagine many of my American sisters and brothers feel about the Canadian Football League right now.

School (college football) and work (the NFL) is back in session, so you forget all about that fun in the sun.

Look, I’m not judging you … some of my best friends pretend to love the CFL before leaving it.

For me, though, the summer romance doesn’t end with the end of summer. It just sets up a ménage à trois.

Now before you think I’m getting all pervy please note that the literal translation of ménage à trois is “household of three.” That being the case, for the next several months my gridiron household of three will include the CFL, NFL and college football. It’s not all that hard to manage as long as you learn to prioritize.

Friday night, for example, Montreal played BC in a CFL game. It started at 7:30 p.m. EDT, while Marshall at Boise State began at 9 p.m.

I watched the Alouettes edge the Lions, 21-16, but didn’t see any of the NCAA contest because I was ready for nite-nite by then.

Today if you want to watch college football, you can start at noon and keep going until around 2 a.m. on Sunday. The CFL, on the other hand, has a tripleheader, with games at 1 p.m., 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. I’m just not that committed, especially since I got up early to catch an English Football League One match.

My Saturday tackle football plan includes two college clashes and a CFL showdown.

I’m a UAB fan and the Blazers take on Akron at noon, EDT. That means I’ll be tuning in to the CBS Sports Network for that one.

Having been in the Upstate of South Carolina for almost 12 years (and covering Clemson athletics for much of that time), one would think I’d watch the Tigers host Texas A&M at 3:30 p.m.

The scheduling, however, doesn’t work out. Not for me, anyway.

The UAB game will likely run until at least 3:45, and then the Banjo Bowl takes place in Winnipeg, Manitoba, starting at 4 p.m. Featuring the Winnipeg Blue Bombers (8-3) and Saskatchewan Roughriders (7-3), this is a battle for supremacy in the CFL West Division, and I’m gonna lock in to ESPN+ for that one.

(And if you don’t know what the “Banjo Bowl” is, it’s a pretty cool modern tradition. You should look it up … that’s what Wikipedia is for).

As for my night football screening, Texas and LSU will most likely win out over Calgary at Edmonton, although I might end up switching back and forth. If nothing else, I hope to hear Tiger boss Ed Orgeron spit out words in his gravel-infused Cajun accent during the pregame interviews.

There are no CFL conflicts with the NFL this Sunday, so my viewing schedule is set. I don’t have a comprehensive NFL package like the cool kids, so I’ll have to settle for my “in-market” games.

I’ll go with the Los Angeles Rams vs. the Carolina Panthers at 1 p.m. (the Rams are my second favorite NFL team), and then maybe check out the New York Giants at Dallas Cowboys at 4 p.m.

I’ll skip the nightcap featuring the Pittsburgh Steelers and New England Patriots because, frankly, I dislike both teams.

Obviously, what I watch and why I watch will change from week to week, and sometimes it gets convoluted.

The New York Jets are my favorite pro football team, but the CFL is my favorite pro football league.

The Hamilton Tiger-Cats are my favorite CFL team, but will almost always lose a head-to-head TV matchup with the Jets as long as the Fly Boys are in playoff contention. Sadly, that dream usually dies in October.

Early October.

Point being, I enjoy all three styles of tackle football and it’s fun trying to figure out what to pick and choose on any given Saturday and Sunday.

So instead of sacrificing a summer romance for fall and winter relationships, I just continue to play the field.

I guess when it comes to football, I’m just not ready to settle down.

As much as I pride myself on having a pretty good memory when it comes to Birmingham sports history, details sometimes get fuzzy.

For example, back in the late 1960s or early 1970s, my dad took me to the local YMCA to see a semi-pro football game. The home team, I think, was called either the Birmingham (or possibly Fairfield) Steelers, and the opposition was a club from Kenner City, Louisiana.

We arrived early to watch warm-ups, and I got to see the Steelers stretch and run and pitch and catch. If I recall, they were decked out in orange jerseys and plain white helmets.

What I didn’t get to see was the other team.

The Kenner City Whatevers were no-shows, and there was no explanation why.

Roughly a half hour after the scheduled kickoff, the public address announcer let the crowd (30 people, tops) know that the game had been canceled due to unforeseen circumstances.

I never found out what happened to those guys, but I hope they’re OK.

Anyway, while searching through old news archives to see if there was any information about the game that never was (unsurprisingly, I found none), I stumbled across something much more interesting.

Seems Birmingham – very briefly – had a club in the late, great Continental Football League back in 1969 when the Huntsville-based Alabama Hawks decided to relocate.

Known as the COFL to differentiate it from the Canadian Football League (CFL), this circuit lasted from 1965 through 1969. Formed by a combination of clubs from the existing Atlantic Coast Football League and recently folded United Football League, it originally set its sights on joining the NFL and AFL at the top of the pro food chain.

“This will not be a minor league, this will be a major league,” Alex Schoenbaum, owner of the Charleston, West Virginia, franchise, told the Associated Press in February, 1965. “Ours will be a league stretching from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico. We are throwing away salary restrictions and plan to go big time all the way.

“We are dealing with men able to finance big budgets, such as those in the National and American leagues. We’ll bid for top player talent. We’ll go for big crowds and national television.”

That didn’t happen, of course, so by 1966 COFL officials were angling to make it the next best league outside the NFL and AFL and develop working relationship with the big leagues.

Such arrangements had already proved successful for the ACFL, which was formed in 1963 and became what you might call a “major” minor league, even after four of its charter franchises (Newark, Richmond, Springfield and Hartford) defected to the new organization.

As for the Hawks, they were founded in 1963 and competed in three other minor leagues before making the Continental move in 1968.

As a member of the Professional Football League of America in 1967, they became one of five PFLA teams to develop an official deal with the NFL, serving as a farm club for the Atlanta Falcons.

Two years later – its second in the COFL – Alabama made a bit of history when it hosted a team made up primarily of Atlanta rookies. The Hawks’ 55-0 loss to the Falcons on August 2, 1969, played before 9,300 fans at Milton Frank Stadium, is the last time a team playing under the NFL banner squared off against minor league competition.

But the big crowd for the exhibition was an anomaly. Alabama had trouble putting fans in the stands, so midway through the season general manager Earl Dotson announced that the team was moving two of its final three scheduled home games to Birmingham. The other would be played in Orlando, where the Panthers always drew well at the Tangerine Bowl.

“We had hoped to retain the franchise in North Alabama but there seems to be no one interested in football here,” Dotson told the Associated Press in a story that appeared on October 12, 1969.

Although the team still practiced in Huntsville and never formally changed its identity, the Hawks made their Magic City debut on October 25 with a 21-7 victory over the Arkansas Diamonds at Fair Park.

However, only 1,661 people showed up for the game.

They tried once more to woo Birmingham fans on November 8 when they hosted the Omaha Mustangs. The home team came away with an impressive 32-10 win, but a crowd of 2,004 was underwhelming.

Turns out, that was the final Continental Football League game ever played in the state of Alabama. (For the record, the Hawks finished 6-6 and missed the playoffs).

By the summer of 1970 the league had fallen apart, with some teams folding outright and others moving back to the ACFL. In August the COFL suspended operations with the promise to return, but since operations remain suspended 49 years later, that return appears unlikely.

By 1969 football consumed most of my thoughts, and the fact that I don’t remember Birmingham kinda/sorta had a COFL team part of that year makes me disappointed in myself.

Then again, if I can’t recall the name of a team I actually went to see (was it the Birmingham or Fairfield Steelers?), maybe I should give myself a break.