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All American Football League
Sport	American football
Founded	2007
No. of teams	TBA
Country	United States
Current champions	N/A
Official website	Official Site

The All American Football League is a professional league of American football. The All American Football League has some similarities to the former USFL professional league because it is a spring outdoor football league. The USFL enjoyed a respectable level of success in its first two years before it moved its season to the fall where it competed head-to-head with the NFL... then failed. The USFL sent 87 players to the NFL, as well as an array of quality coaches and front office personnel. Seven men who got their starts, and their chances in the USFL are enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame for their accomplishments in the NFL. The "All American Football League" has no intention of ever moving to the fall nor competing with the established NFL and college leagues.

Contents 1 League Formation and Structure 2 The All American Football League's Board of Directors 3 Future of the League 4 External links

• The All American Football League, scheduled to begin play in March or April of 2008, is a professional league of American football in which all players must possess a four-year university degree. The players will be employees of the AAFL, not the franchises, and the league will pay each player an average of approximately $100,000 per year. This level is thought to be the most generous of any existing non-NFL league and is designed to attract the best non-NFL talent.

• The league was unveiled at a press conference in New York City on July 26, 2006. Its commissioner is Cedric Dempsey, former executive director of the National Collegiate Athletic Association. Prior to that, Dempsey was the longtime athletic director at the University of Arizona. The rest of the league's Board of Directors is an extremely impressive list of sports and private industry individuals. (See below).

• The league plans to sign agreements with a specific, manageable target list of football tradition-rich universities and prominent stadiums. These universities will become "host universities" for an AAFL franchise. For their part, universities will be allowed to retain the revenues generated from parking and concessions and, possibly receive additional compensation through a stadium rental agreement with the AAFL. Since the league will play its games in the spring, the normally idle stadiums will be available for league play. The league will strive to avoid all normal conflicts that exist with the host college programs such as spring practice and spring games. Playing in the spring avoids competing for the traditional fall football fans of the NFL and college football, thus providing an extended season of quality football for those who crave the sport.

• Each team will strive to be stocked with players that graduated from the host university. Additional players from other teams in the host university's conference or geographic region will be sought to complete the team's rosters. But any player with a 4-year college degree, or foreign equivalent, and who has used up his 4 years of college playing eligibility can be eligible to play for any of the league's teams. The AAFL is wagering that there is a market for their product among the alumni and fans of the universities, and the American public which regularly claims to be starved for football in the spring.

• The league desires to incentivize graduation of student athletes. Some quality universities boast a football player graduation rate in the very high 90 percentile. The national average is above 50%, so it is expected that there will be an abundance of quality players who possess 4-year degrees. Upon hearing of the league's announcement, a number of players are known to have gone back to finish their degrees in anticipation of becoming eligible. Among its many positive attributes, the league provides a place for those players who are just barely not able to play for the NFL, a league in which they may showcase their talents. Other major sports have development leagues on U.S. soil, i.e. MLB and the NBA with their minor league systems and NBA-DL respectively. The NFL has NFL-Europe, but that league has dwindled to just a small number of teams now, and its games take place in Europe -- mostly Germany -- away from football starved fans in the U.S. where they only know two sports seasons... football and spring football. Many other attributes for this league exist for the good of the sport, including providing a windfall financial resource to the host universities for use of their normally idle stadiums, and the existence of a professional league for the host school's better players who are not able to make NFL rosters.

• The league is tentatively scheduled to play a 12-game season with two rounds of playoffs. The exact number of playoff teams and rounds will depend on the number of teams that play in the league. As of January 1, 2007, five school stadiums plus three municipal stadiums have been confirmed or conditionally confirmed to provide a total of 8 teams. (see below).

• The AAFL will compete with the Arena Football League, af2, and NFL Europa for talent among the spring football leagues.

One of the fundamental differences between the AAFL and prior attempts at creating a professional "minor league" for American football is the group of leaders from within intercollegiate athletics that have lent their support. These leaders include:

• Dr. Martin Massengale, former Chancellor and President of the University of Nebraska.
• Dr. Harvey Schiller, former commissioner of the Southeastern Conference who has also been an executive with the New York Yankees, the United States Olympic Committee, and Turner Sports.
• Dr. Charles Young, former president at the University of California, Los Angeles and the University of Florida.
• Gene Corrigan, former athletic director of the University of Notre Dame and commissioner of the Atlantic Coast Conference.
• Charles Davis, college football color analyst for TBS and former assistant athletic director at Stanford University.
• Marcus Katz, former student loan executive.
• Pete Dalis, retired Athletic Director at UCLA.
• Jack Lengyel, former AD at the U.S. Naval Academy and President of the National Association of College Athletic Directors. Former Head Coach at Marshall Univeristy.
• Gary Roberts, Director of Sports Law at Tulane University.
• Charles Wethington, former President of the University of Kentucky and Chairman of the NCAA Executive Committee.

As of January 1, 2007 eight stadiums had already announced agreements or contingency agreements to rent to the league. The facilities include those of five universities (Purdue University, the University of Tennessee, North Carolina State University, the University of Florida and Florida State University), plus Ford Field in Michigan, the Alamodome in Texas, and Legion Field in Alabama. The AAFL says all teams playing during the inaugural season will be in either the Atlantic Coast Conference, the Southeastern Conference or the Big Ten conferences. However, the AAFL has plans to expand into all other BCS conferences in the near future.

• Official league site
• League FAQ page
• Article about the league delaying its debut until 2008
• Article about Knoxville awarded a franchise
• Article about team in West Lafayette
• Article - Los Angeles Times: Football Minus the Pretense