First and foremost I am a football fan. I hate the BS that goes along with the NFL but still love watching the games, even though I think they're fixed. When I was a teenager I watched the original USFL. I watched NFL Europe, later WLAF or maybe they were World League of American Football first, idrk. Original XFL, AAF, if it's football I'm watching.

The NFL needs some kind of system that would allow backup QBs to play so they're actually ready if they have to play on Sunday. Nothing worse than watching a QB2 come in with no practice time to get in sync with his receivers and keep throwing the ball into the ground.

I'm watching. At first at least.

Absolutely. Everything Greg said, I echo. Loved the USFL & WLAF when I was younger. I had just settled on Birmingham in the AAF and Houston in the XFL when they folded. Became a fan of Luis Perez (Birm) and PJ Walker (Hou).

These leagues struggle because there aren't known stars the average fan knows playing. The AFL and original USFL knew that and worked to get big name players. These new-ish secondary leagues obviously can't compete, so they have to develop their own star players. Harder to do when the leagues can't stay operating. I believe there is a niche for spring ball, but it'll have to last for 3+ years to have any kind of staying power. That's a big $$ commitment. But nce NFL fans start seeing players filter up to their favorite teams, it'll turn more eyes to the league (think Kurt Warner, Jake Delhomme).

The WLAF was able to last and filter players up, but let's face it: that league needed to be state-side to garner American TV eyeballs.

I wish the multi-billionaire NFL would put their clout and money behind any spring football development league.

The NFL clearly needs QBs to develop along with offensive line, kickers and special teamers.

An 8 team league where every NFL team can send players to the development league to act as a minor league/developmental league. Allow each team to control 4 players and the rest are unsigned free agents.

This gives every team 4 players they can draft and control while they play and develop.

I'm afraid until the NFL finally fully backs an expansion league, they won't last. Clearly the NFL has its own network and the money to back such a league and if we get one future Kurt Warner out of it...it's worth the investment.

They have the option of adding these games to future TV contracts and offer their advertisers deals to back the new league.

Football needs more then college as a minor league system. Every team has 90 players in training camp and 37 players per team are cut to get every team down to 53. That's 1,184 players that had a shot to make an NFL roster without a job. That means 8 teams in a new league would have 148 players each to chose from every season.

The AAF rolled dice on NFL partnership/takeover and the league said "no".

They can invest in a feeder league, but I can't see how extra cost would increase franchise value. Remember, these are businessmen, not fans. WLAF/Europa was a $30m/season loser for the league and I can't imagine that endeavor would be an easy sell. Besides, they have a free feeder system in place. Look at MLB. They axed half the MiLB system to limit those costs!

Looking at AAF and XFL attendance, I think you can see there is a decent appetite for more football. SEA, StL, HOU (XFL), & San Antonio, ORL, SD (AAF) all averaged over or close to 20k. Despite declining TV ratings, the XFL still averaged 1.9. That's easy money for ABC/ESPN & Fox/FS1 (who shared rights).

I still think the XFL would've survived if not for covid. Throw in sports gambling becoming legal across the country and I think the interest grows.