Guess what we have a new league with a CBS contract.

[single wing]

https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/spri ... 19-on-cbs/

I think the link will work. Called Alliance of American Football or AAF...
Has CBS contact run by Dick Ebersol (former CBS sports head) and Bill Polian from the NFL.

Plans to beat the XFL to the punch by starting in 2019.

[Rupert Patrick]

I think it has a better chance of succeeding than the Vince FL.

[TodMaher]

Too bad the NFL still owns the rights to the "American Football League" and we have to suffer through all these awful league names.

[L.C. Greenwood]

I don't think any new league(or the NFL for that matter), should be eliminating conventional kickoffs. Yes, injuries occur on kickoffs, but players also get hurt in practice. Violent collisions will always be part of the essence of the sport, and there are other alternatives to make the game safer. For instance, coaches can do a better job of pulling starters when games are already decided.

[single wing]

L.C.


Agree with you. Think the idea of removing kickoffs is bad. Plus they give you that alternative of 1 play for 10 yards instead of a onside kick. Suspect the % of getting 10 yards on 1 play far exceeds a onside kick. A really good offense could go for that quite often in a game.

I am okay with getting rid of extra point kick but then i think they should have used the old WFL idea of 7 points for a touchdown and 1 point run or pass extra point. Instead they are using 6 for a touchdown and 2 point run or pass for the extra point. The difference is on a missed extra point 2 field goals equal a touchdown while under the old WFL rule a touchdown offsets more then 2 field goals

[Mark L. Ford]

Happy days again for those "always-the-bridesmaid, never the bride" pro football cities like Birmingham, Portland and Orlando.... I'm all in favor of anything that gives players some jobs and experience after college.

[sluggermatt15]

I don't think any new league(or the NFL for that matter), should be eliminating conventional kickoffs. Yes, injuries occur on kickoffs, but players also get hurt in practice. Violent collisions will always be part of the essence of the sport, and there are other alternatives to make the game safer. For instance, coaches can do a better job of pulling starters when games are already decided.

The nature of football is organized violence. Can't take that away from the game, unless we want to play touch or flag football. Thus, injuries will never leave the game, neither will concussions, hits to the head, broken bones, etc.

[Throwin_Samoan]

Suspect the % of getting 10 yards on 1 play far exceeds a onside kick. A really good offense could go for that quite often in a game.

But not 10 yards on what is essentially 4th-and-10, where the defense knows pretty much what you're going to do and where you have to go. You can't take all 10+ yard plays divided by all plays and think that will be the same percentage of a 4th-and-10 play with the game on the line.

Last data I saw showed onside kicks successful about 14% of the time. (Some of that is because the ball bounces funny, surely.) I've also seen a figure of "expected" onside kicks being successful about 20% of the time.

The last season I have meaningful, parsable PBP data from is 2011 and 30 4th-and-10 plays gained 10 or more yards seven times. That's 23%, which is higher, but it's a small sample of just one season. (FWIW, near as I can tell - PBP accounts are a little inconsistent, 10 of 55 onside kicks in 2011 were recovered by the kicking team, which is 18%.)

In any case, for all the kvetching there was over the years about overtimes being "decided by a coin flip" (they weren't, that was people whining), you'd think they'd be willing to have a real football play determine possession rather than the crapshoot of a ball bouncing off someone and then someone else and did it go ten yards and did the kickers touch it first and who got hurt at the bottom of the pile, wouldn't you?

[JuggernautJ]

And Steve Spurrier will be one of the coaches...

https://www.sbnation.com/college-footba ... all-league

[single wing]

Now the NCAA has gotten in the kickoff subject. They just passed a new rule for next season where on kickoffs the receiving team can call for a fair catch and take possession at the 25 yard line. The NCAA says its to reduce kickoff returns which causes injury.