First of all let me say that I took this long statement from another forum along with the idea.
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Hey everyone, this is a league idea I thought of a while back and thought it would make a good group project.
With football being so popular in the U.S., I always found it odd that only the NFL has been able to thrive as a pro league(and now the most successful non-NFL league, the AFL, is in serious trouble), even though most leagues generally target non-NFL markets and play in the spring. The reason for this, I think, is that since the AFL-NFL merger in 1970, the NFL became so popular and huge, it has been able to draw fans from all over the country, regardless of whether or not an area has a team. People have latched on to the closest team, or the most successful(i.e. the “America’s Team” Cowboys). The NFL has been able to squash any other league that has dared to challenge it. The AFL has been able to squeak by because it’s so different from the outdoor game. The only way another outdoor league could succeed in my opinion is if it’s directly linked to the NFL(and based in the US, no NFL Europe).
So, my idea is a full fledged 32-team minor league, the NFL Reserve Division. Not only would this be an opportunity for the league to rake in piles of extra cash, but also a great asset to NFL teams, and it would help lessen the blow of injuries and also give young players(like backup QBs) the opportunity to gain game experience. Think of it, since they’re going to spend 90% of the time talking about the NFL anyways, the analysts on ESPN would actually have something relevant to talk about mid-week if there were actual games being played lol. Also you know people would buy up merchandise and tickets, and go out to the games for autographs etc. Since it would be directly associated with the NFL people wouldn’t scoff at it like the many upstart leagues before(and the next few on the way).
So here’s how I would set the league up:
-32 Teams, one affiliate for each NFL team, each based in the general area of the NFL team. Example: Miami’s team could be based in Naples or West Palm Beach, areas that already have Dolphins fans, but because of travel times never get to see live games.
-Teams divided into 4 8-team divisions based on geographical location: North, South, East and West.
-Teams play only within their divisions(to ease travel costs), home/away, for a 14 game season. The 4 division winners enter a playoff to determine the champion.
-The season runs alongside the NFL season, ending with the championship game week 16 of the NFL season.
-Also, a spring season could be run, with half or more of the season taking place post-draft, so rookies could get some action early on, and guys on the fringe of the first team could prove themselves.
-Games would be played mid-week on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, with a few “games of the week” televised on NFL Network
-Each team would be allowed 40 roster spots
-Each team would be allowed to bring up/send down players at anytime, allowing for young players, mainly quarterbacks, to play and get game experience in the Reserve Division, while still being available to play on Sundays if they are needed. However, only 3 players that played in the Reserve Division game would be allowed to be activated for the following NFL game.
-To lessen the chance of injuries, games would be played with 10 minute quarters, and no overtime.
Okay I think that covers how the league would be set up, which I guess is all kind of irrelevant, but fun to do anyway. On to the project:
This is a pretty basic idea, We’ll have 32 teams to do, each in a market near it’s NFL affiliate. Since other than Florida I don’t know a whole lot about appropriate markets for the affiliate teams, you can pick wherever you want as the place to base the team. But try to choose a location that’s reasonably close to the NFL team(i.e. Rochester/Buffalo, or Albuquerque/Phoenix). There really is no order, anyone can do any team at any time, so long as it hasn’t already been claimed. Also if anyone wants to do more than one team, go for it. Since I came up with the idea, I’m gonna be greedy and take my Dolphins. I'll post teams that have been called in the second post.
I guess to get some better results, here are some guidelines for the team concepts:
-The team may share the nickname and/or colors of it’s parent team, but it must have totally different logos/uniforms(throwbacks are okay).
For fun, once every team is done, we’ll have a vote to see who everyone thinks is the best. I guess you could call this a semi-contest, but really I just wanted to outsource the other 31 teams to see what a NFL minor league could look like.
Also, here is the logo I came up with for the league. Feel free to come up with your own if you want.
(IMG:http://img201.imageshack.us/img201/5436/nflrdov5.gif)
Example of what it will turn out like in the end x 32 http://img377.imageshack.us/img377/6503/palmbeachmw8.gif
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SO I would like people to chose their farvorite NFL team, and help Me design their minor league team
Ill do the logo making.
It woould also be cool to do a "Mock Draft" of players and assign them. and maybe someone can simulate the games on madden or something.
I would appreciate help, organizing it, making logos if possible, doing the mock draft, and the madden thing.
All ideas are appreciated and hopefully we can get 32 teams set up.
PS-it would be a good idea to have a "GM" of this team. to help you out and make this bigger.
__________________________________________________________________
Need to get into the forum to start, please post if you want an invite
____________________________________________________________________
Hey everyone, this is a league idea I thought of a while back and thought it would make a good group project.
With football being so popular in the U.S., I always found it odd that only the NFL has been able to thrive as a pro league(and now the most successful non-NFL league, the AFL, is in serious trouble), even though most leagues generally target non-NFL markets and play in the spring. The reason for this, I think, is that since the AFL-NFL merger in 1970, the NFL became so popular and huge, it has been able to draw fans from all over the country, regardless of whether or not an area has a team. People have latched on to the closest team, or the most successful(i.e. the “America’s Team” Cowboys). The NFL has been able to squash any other league that has dared to challenge it. The AFL has been able to squeak by because it’s so different from the outdoor game. The only way another outdoor league could succeed in my opinion is if it’s directly linked to the NFL(and based in the US, no NFL Europe).
So, my idea is a full fledged 32-team minor league, the NFL Reserve Division. Not only would this be an opportunity for the league to rake in piles of extra cash, but also a great asset to NFL teams, and it would help lessen the blow of injuries and also give young players(like backup QBs) the opportunity to gain game experience. Think of it, since they’re going to spend 90% of the time talking about the NFL anyways, the analysts on ESPN would actually have something relevant to talk about mid-week if there were actual games being played lol. Also you know people would buy up merchandise and tickets, and go out to the games for autographs etc. Since it would be directly associated with the NFL people wouldn’t scoff at it like the many upstart leagues before(and the next few on the way).
So here’s how I would set the league up:
-32 Teams, one affiliate for each NFL team, each based in the general area of the NFL team. Example: Miami’s team could be based in Naples or West Palm Beach, areas that already have Dolphins fans, but because of travel times never get to see live games.
-Teams divided into 4 8-team divisions based on geographical location: North, South, East and West.
-Teams play only within their divisions(to ease travel costs), home/away, for a 14 game season. The 4 division winners enter a playoff to determine the champion.
-The season runs alongside the NFL season, ending with the championship game week 16 of the NFL season.
-Also, a spring season could be run, with half or more of the season taking place post-draft, so rookies could get some action early on, and guys on the fringe of the first team could prove themselves.
-Games would be played mid-week on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, with a few “games of the week” televised on NFL Network
-Each team would be allowed 40 roster spots
-Each team would be allowed to bring up/send down players at anytime, allowing for young players, mainly quarterbacks, to play and get game experience in the Reserve Division, while still being available to play on Sundays if they are needed. However, only 3 players that played in the Reserve Division game would be allowed to be activated for the following NFL game.
-To lessen the chance of injuries, games would be played with 10 minute quarters, and no overtime.
Okay I think that covers how the league would be set up, which I guess is all kind of irrelevant, but fun to do anyway. On to the project:
This is a pretty basic idea, We’ll have 32 teams to do, each in a market near it’s NFL affiliate. Since other than Florida I don’t know a whole lot about appropriate markets for the affiliate teams, you can pick wherever you want as the place to base the team. But try to choose a location that’s reasonably close to the NFL team(i.e. Rochester/Buffalo, or Albuquerque/Phoenix). There really is no order, anyone can do any team at any time, so long as it hasn’t already been claimed. Also if anyone wants to do more than one team, go for it. Since I came up with the idea, I’m gonna be greedy and take my Dolphins. I'll post teams that have been called in the second post.
I guess to get some better results, here are some guidelines for the team concepts:
-The team may share the nickname and/or colors of it’s parent team, but it must have totally different logos/uniforms(throwbacks are okay).
For fun, once every team is done, we’ll have a vote to see who everyone thinks is the best. I guess you could call this a semi-contest, but really I just wanted to outsource the other 31 teams to see what a NFL minor league could look like.
Also, here is the logo I came up with for the league. Feel free to come up with your own if you want.
(IMG:http://img201.imageshack.us/img201/5436/nflrdov5.gif)
Example of what it will turn out like in the end x 32 http://img377.imageshack.us/img377/6503/palmbeachmw8.gif
________________________________________________________________
SO I would like people to chose their farvorite NFL team, and help Me design their minor league team
Ill do the logo making.It woould also be cool to do a "Mock Draft" of players and assign them. and maybe someone can simulate the games on madden or something.
I would appreciate help, organizing it, making logos if possible, doing the mock draft, and the madden thing.
All ideas are appreciated and hopefully we can get 32 teams set up.
PS-it would be a good idea to have a "GM" of this team. to help you out and make this bigger.
__________________________________________________________________
Need to get into the forum to start, please post if you want an invite
