A11FL (2015 version) ?

[oldecapecod11]

Has anyone heard when this exciting "Spring 2015" venture will be starting to roll?
We had one of their advance people here a while back but, like Charlie, "...He never returned..."
The link in this message has pictures of some snazzy uniforms including Home and Away helmets
but no information?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A-11_Football_League

Time out / folding
The league announced via Twitter on March 28, 2014 that it would be redirecting efforts towards a "new opportunity" that would "secure the formation of the league for many years". On April 11, 2014, the league announced via Facebook that "things are coming together just as we said in our announcement. No need to read between the lines. Big news ahead." Later that same April, the A11FL canceled its two showcase games and announced that previously introduced franchises in San Francisco and Los Angeles would not be included in the league due to the cost of workers' compensation insurance in California. However, commissioner McKibben stated at the time that the A11FL still planned on fielding eight teams for its inaugural season, which was still planned for the spring of 2015.
On July 9, 2014, the league announced via Facebook that it was dropping the A11FL name and the A-11 offense would attempt to "rebrand" as a "new league", effectively folding the A11FL.
On December 28, 2014, they posted new Denver Gold logos on their Facebook page. They don't add much info but it appears to be another planned team.

https://www.behance.net/gallery/2077669 ... 11FL-Brand

He also has "official" logos for the Bay Area Invaders, Chicago Staggs, Chicago Swarm, Dallas Wranglers, Denver Miners, LA Bombers, LA Express, Michigan Panthers, and the Philadephia Stars.

[Mark L. Ford]

I was more surprised to learn that they still haven't gone away. They had a more promising start than most, including a contract with ESPN. Their Spring 2014 launch gave way to Spring 2015, and now, no surprise that if there was a news item at all, it would be a second "wait 'til next year"... this actually hit the news a month ago, February 24. Yes, now it's set for "Spring 2016"

http://www.pleasantonweekly.com/blogs/p ... land-teams

I'm not aware of a case where a sports league has successfully launched after one premature announcement, let alone two. A few years ago, there was the All-American League that was geared up for April 2008 with college football rules and teams in several SEC stadiums, as well as Michigan. At the last minute, they canceled the season and pledged to launch in 2009, then 2010...

Lamar Hunt wouldn't have dreamed about making an announcement that the AFL would kickoff in 1960, then delaying it until 1961 and again until 1962. I'll have to hand it to the folks who put on the United Football League for four seasons (ending in 2012)-- they got laughed at, but they actually played in the autumn and gave jobs to players, and they had a decent following in cities like Omaha. It's easy to call a press conference, design some logos and announce a pro football league. It's gratifying on the rare occasion where one makes it off the drawing board and onto the gridiron.

[single wing]

And lets not forget The "NEWUSFL" which is now in its 9th year of wait till next year.
The President of The "NEWUSFL" was on the radio in Orlando a month ago. Same story
they have told for 8 years. We are working on funding. We have not yet decided on the
team locations although Orlando is certainly on our radar. Currently we plan to kick off
next year! They must now own the record for longest startup effort ever.

[Reaser]

All these 'leagues' have followed roughly the same formula for the last 15 or so years.

Step 1 - Announce league, with no other details.
Step 2 - Hire the same people that are part of all these failures and have them spam football sites hyping up the league and arguing with anyone who is realistic about their chances.
Step 3 - 'Leak' logos and uniforms for teams that will never play, and do this before planning or putting together anything actually a part of the league structure.
Step 4 - Announce cities, then later change the cities that will be in the mythical league.
Step 5 - Repeat yearly - while repeatedly telling people "next year" - until it finally fades away and the slot (of 2-3 slots) gets filled by the next 'league' . . .

[single wing]

Another was a Gridiron league which planned to play in the WINTER of 2010.
Yep the WINTER from January thru April ! Talk about weird. They limited
signing to players to those who in college played below division 1. They announced
they were close to completing TV deal. Had the players report to camps in
preparation for a draft then suddenly like the college based league named
earlier in the thread closed down. The players were sent home and told
next year ! A month later they took down their website and disappeared
forever.

[Mark L. Ford]

Another was a Gridiron league which planned to play in the WINTER of 2010.
Yep the WINTER from January thru April ! Talk about weird. They limited
signing to players to those who in college played below division 1. They announced
they were close to completing TV deal. Had the players report to camps in
preparation for a draft then suddenly like the college based league named
earlier in the thread closed down. The players were sent home and told
next year ! A month later they took down their website and disappeared
forever.

I missed that one. The Internet added Steps 2 and 3 in the process that Reaser describes, but the concept is the same. It doesn't take much to call a press conference or create a website. Before the Web, came about, the main way to keep the media's attention was to do some namedropping. Get a retired football celebrity to agree be associated with the project (like Red Grange or Frank Leahy) or say you're going to offer a big contract to a quarterback who was well-known and might be available, like Roman Gabriel or Bert Jones.

[rockhawk]

Does anybody remember back in the late '90s when Ted Turner and NBC were going to start a new football league? Based on NBC's ownership of the XFL, I'm guessing it was Turner that backed out of the idea.

[single wing]

Mark your right. That gridiron league had somebody as Commish who
was a former NFL player. Sorry i can't remember who it was but
it was a name player.The players were brought to 4 camps
so the scouts of the teams could judge the players since the were
Division 1AA or below level. While the camps were going on the league
kept saying a TV deal in the works. Something i found hard to believe
because the players were basically unknown unless you followed division
2 type football. Then suddenly a statement the league season would be
suspended to the 2011 season. The players left camp then the website
disappeared never to show itself again.

[single wing]

I found the Commish was Joe Cribbs.

Just for the record
The teams planned for the 2010 season were:

Alabama Blackbirds (Birmingham, Alabama)
Dallas Bluestorm (Dallas, Texas)
Georgia Slashers (Columbus, Georgia)
Louisiana Lancers (Shreveport, Louisiana)
Miami Scorchers (Miami, Florida)
North Carolina Comets (Winston-Salem, North Carolina)
Ohio Marauders (Massillon, Ohio)
Virginia Swarm (Salem, Virginia) (This was a late change as originally it was Norfolk but that owner went into the UFL)

[Mark L. Ford]

The players were brought to 4 camps
so the scouts of the teams could judge the players since the were
Division 1AA or below level. While the camps were going on the league
kept saying a TV deal in the works. Something i found hard to believe
because the players were basically unknown unless you followed division
2 type football. Then suddenly a statement the league season would be
suspended to the 2011 season. The players left camp then the website
disappeared never to show itself again.

Most announced leagues never even get to that level. People might remember how, right after the USFL kicked off its' spring season, a group called the "International Football League" announced that it, too, would play in the spring. I was surprised to learn that they actually had tryouts and a camp for their Miami franchise in the fall of '83. There was the SFL around 2000 that played some demonstration games (which was one thing that the A11FL had said it would do, but didn't). Then that AAFL -- the 2008 league that would play in college stadiums with college graduates, and the most unimaginative team names of all time. It had a draft and a full schedule that was cancelled at the last minute because of insurance issues. I would think that the teams would have camps if they were that close to a launch.