The final panel at the '18 NeuLion Sports Media & Technology conference in N.Y. looked at the Alliance of American Football, the new spring football league that will start in February. Longtime football scribe Peter King guided a session that featured AAF co-Founder & CEO Charlie Ebersol and former NFLer Hines Ward, who is serving as AAF Head of Football Development. Ebersol, when asked why his attempt at spring football would work when so many others in the past have failed, said, “One of the things that we really take seriously is putting quality football on the field. The fundamental difference between us and everyone else that has tried to do this before is that our product started with, arguably, the greatest team builder in football in (former Colts and Bills GM) Bill Polian. From there we layered into 474 years of NFL experience in our coaches in GMs alone. ... If you look back, the USFL and old XFL sold a lot of tickets. You saw the dropoff as the quality of football sort of became apparent.”
A NUMBERS GAME: Ebersol is the son of longtime NBC Sports Chair Dick Ebersol, whose network broadcast the XFL in ’01. Charlie Ebersol noted the league, which is attempting a comeback in '20, failed the first time around largely because TV ratings “weren’t what people wanted.” He said, “They were averaging 25,000 tickets per game. … But the business model was based on NBC owning 50% of the league and wanting ratings." Ebersol added, "While everyone was grave-dancing on the NFL the past three years about their ratings declining, which have obviously gone up now, what they failed to recognize is that engagement was going up. You have all these secondary platforms.”
FOLLOW THE LEADER: Ward spoke about the leadership that is in place at the AAF and how it will be good for players. Ward: “It starts at the top. You look at former players like myself, Troy Polamalu, Jared Allen, Justin Tuck. At the end of the day, we know what it takes to make it to the top. And now we’re changing some of the rules and protecting our players from injuries and integrating technology.”
EYE ON THE BALL: CBS Sports is already signed on to be the AAF’s media partner, and the league’s launch comes at a time when the net will be busy with postseason NFL action. Ebersol: “CBS has the Wild Card, Divisional Game, AFC Championship and Super Bowl. The last four weeks of football are all on one network, and then, a fifth week of football. … We are designed with the understanding that the 8-million-pound gorilla in the United States is the NFL, and we’re OK with that.”
ONE LEAGUE TO RULE THEM ALL: Ebersol said of his league’s ownership model, “I’m very excited about being a single entity. … The (multiple owner model of the) USFL was a good indicator of what works.” King: “The USFL could have worked.” Ebersol: “The USFL was working! They expanded too quickly. They had too many owners.
