Alliance of American Football league to debut in 2019

By Kevin Kelley -

Another new American football league is coming, and this one will start the Sunday after the Super Bowl in 2019.

The American Alliance of Football league was officially unveiled on Tuesday by Co-Founder and CEO Charlie Ebersol and Co-Founder and Head of Football Bill Polian.

Last year, Ebersol directed a documentary on the XFL for the ESPN series “30 for 30.” Polian is a former NFL general manager of the Buffalo Bills (1986-92), Carolina Panthers (1995-97), and Indianapolis Colts (1997-2009) and was Team President of the Colts from 1998 through 2011.

Former Pittsburgh Steeler Troy Polamalu is the Head of Player Relations for the AAF. J.K. McKay, who played on two USC national championship teams, serves as the Head of Football Operations. Other staff members include former players Hines Ward, Jared Allen, and Justin Tuck.

The AAF will consist of eight teams owned by the league. The league will begin a 12-week season on February 9, 2019 on CBS and will conclude with the championship game during the weekend of April 26-28, 2019, also on CBS.

One game per week will also air on CBS Sports Network, while the remaining games will be available to stream through the league’s app. Live fantasy play will also be integrated into the broadcasts.

The draft for the AAF will be conducted in the Fall after the conclusion of the college football season. It will reportedly start with regional drafts to protect “…eligible players who played in the local community for their college days.”

Rule changes from the NFL include no kickoffs and all extra points are 2-point conversions from the 2-yard line. There will also be an alternative to onside kicks, “…with the team wanting to try one instead taking possession at its 35 yard-line on a fourth-and-10 to try one play to keep the ball.”

Today’s announcement comes roughly two months after Vince McMahon announced that the XFL is set to return in 2020.

You can view the composite AAF Schedule at the link below. Individual team schedules will be added to the site soon.

AAF Schedule

Comments (27)

Glad to see they adopted the Greg Schiano proposal to remove kickoffs. This change will make the game safer and more exciting (4th and 10 is better than an onside kick).

Wow, in two years we get two new Pro football leagues, wonder if this one will fold like the others do before it can even get on its feet. I also wonder will it be competing with the XFL on getting the cities it wants or will this become a lawsuit waiting to happen. I can’t see a city say like Columbus,Oh getting an XFL & AAF team but I could be wrong. I have heard nothing yet about the XFL adding teams but while the NFL is hurting a little, might as well jump on the bang wagon & see what sticks.

Removing the kickoff is a stupid idea it takes away from the game of football. it is supposed to be a surprise element Putting the ball on the 35 is no surprise it just another normal play. If you want to make the game safer put a weight limit on players that can be on kickoff teams say no one over 165 lbs can participate on a kickoff play. Get the game back to the normal people Makes as much sense as changeing the game

The Cleveland Browns should withdraw from the NFL and join this league. They have struggled in the NFL for years and most players in this league will be unable to make it onto an NFL roster.

Weekly game on CBS from mid February to end of April. How will network balance this with March Madness and Masters Golf?

What is surprising about a kickoff? 90% of the time it’s just a touchback anyway. The problem is, by the time the returner has taken a knee, the lead blockers have hit each other at far higher speeds than a regular play, which makes it dangerous. When it’s not a touchback, sure there are some exciting returns, but punt returns are better, and Schiano’s original “ball on the 35” proposal was that you would normally punt. This article is ambiguous about whether this league has adopted that proposal, but it preserves the ability to do a surprise onside with a fake punt. Kickoffs are dangerous, add little to the game compared with punts, and are best off being eliminated from football

A bigger question: how does the National Football League feel about this development? Will it affect CBS in negotiations when their contract to broadcast AFC games expires in 2022?

CBS and Turner should be uncomfortable broadcasting and making money off of March Madness when college athletes aren’t allowed to see a dime. So they should threaten to walk away from the contract if changes aren’t made.

@Keowee, the game will be on CBSSN, not CBS. Having the league start play the week after the Super Bowl is just dumb.

Z Man, maybe we should start paying high school players too.

College players do get paid. It’s called free tuition and other perks.

Don’t support this garbage folks, it’s just a more greedy bastardized form of football that only is being made for money, has nothing to do with “sport”.

Makes sense to follow after NFL and SB! We all go thru withdrawls. It would be nice to see the two AAF & XFL complete against each other. The game needs to get faster-too many commerical breaks! Keep the ownership with no Free Agency & give the college players another chance to play. The NFL has gotten too big, too bueracractic, and now too slow too watch. “is it a catch, isn’t a catch? Is it over the line, or isn’t over the line, lets get the card out and check, was it a throw or wasn’t it, lets say it was a tuck..?” Too much $$..Billions…

College players “get paid”, but not at market value. There’s a deliberate conspiracy (the NCAA) to keep the wages of college athletes down, and it ought to be illegal (employers aren’t allowed to conspire together like that).

CBS owns the rights apparently. They will air the games on their CBSSN and streaming service. The article does not say any games will air on the parent network.

Where to get players for new league and the XFL? Each NFL Team cuts 27 players from the 90 invited to camps until the 53 man final roster and 10 person practice squad. That is 864 players to pull from just at the end of 2018 training camps. Are Practice Squad players available? Would the NFL even want certain players to play in another league, MLB encourages some players to play winter league baseball. What about High School graduates and early withdraw from college players, or those banned from the NFL for “Behavior related offenses” Will they pay more than the CFL? Will players be able to play both the CFL July through November and this new league? Will players be allowed to try out for the NFL the next year?

Get players to want to play will not be the problem. Getting people to pay to watch could be a challenge.

This start up and the XFL should join forces and pool their capital. They could launch with 12-16 teams spread across non-NFL markets and the biggest NFL cities.

March Madness is mostly in the evening so a Noon kickoff would likely be the norm. During the Masters you can easily broadcast an evening game. Plus, these games will air on the CBS Sport Network so you’ve not going to be cutting one broadcast short to begin airing the other on the same station.

If a college education and free room and board for four years he’s not good enough let these 18 year olds get a regular job

So, a team in the North and a team in the South of each Time Zone? D-League (or E-League) for the NFL? Sure, all that makes sense, but I’m not sure that’s what the article is saying, lol.

I would hope some new league will depose the nfl! Wishful thinking and should it ever happen, it would just be the nfl under a new name!

Stupid? The smartest rule change
BECAUSE it’s plays to the single biggest football issue, concussions! So what’s so
stupid?