This article needs to be updated. (January 2022) |
The Spring League of American Football (SLAF) is a planned professional American football league. The league was first announced in September 2016 with an expected 10 teams with the first season starting in 2018,[1][2] but as the starting date approached the league was still looking for an investment of $100 million, thus pushing its first season with eight teams back to 2019 or 2020.[3]
| Sport | American football |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2016 |
| No. of teams | 8 (planned) |
| Country | United States |
| TV partner(s) | TBD |
| Official website | www |
The SLAF executives team consists of former Madison Square Garden (MSG) executive Michael Lardner and MSG Chief Financial Officer Robert Pollichino.[4] According to the league management, they would like to create a relationship with the NFL as some sort of a developmental minor league.[5]
As of October 2018, the league trademarks are "Dead/Abandoned".[6]
Premise edit
The league would split the country into 10 zones for the franchise based in the zone which would draw player from the colleges and high schools in the zone to have ready rivalries (players must have their college eligibility expired to try out). Team owners would be able to place their team anywhere in the zone, and the season would run from April to July for 10 games plus playoffs:
The SLAF is a competitive professional football league with a spring schedule and storied rivalries already established. With unique geographical boundaries for each team, players can only play within their college’s region. Ten teams and a ten game schedule, not including playoffs, sum up the foundation of this long overdue concept.
— Official website[7]
Rules edit
The SLAF will play by rules of the National Football League, including having 11 players on the field and needing two feet inbounds on receptions. The lone exception would be overtime rule for which they will use college overtime rule instead of the NFL's.
Zones edit
Source[8]
| Zone | States |
|---|---|
| Ohio Valley | Ohio, Kentucky, West Virginia, Indiana |
| Atlantic | Maryland, District of Columbia, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina |
| East | New York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine, Delaware |
| South | Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana |
| South-East | Florida, Georgia |
| Plains | North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Colorado |
| Midwest | Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri |
| South-West | Arkansas, Texas |
| North-West | Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Utah, Alaska, Hawaii |
| West | California, Nevada, New Mexico |
References edit
- ^ "Another spring football league in the works". 22 September 2016.
- ^ "Former MSG Execs Launch Spring Pro Football Plan". 22 September 2016.
- ^ "A comeback for XFL, but can it win?". 29 January 2018.
- ^ "Media Execs Working On Development Of Spring Football League". 22 September 2016.
- ^ "Schwartz: Spring League Of American Football Set To Debut In 2018". 26 September 2016.
- ^ "Slaf Spring League Of American Football Est. 2016. Application #87140663".
- ^ "SLAF Wants To Bring NFL-Level Competition To The Spring And That's Not Even Their Craziest Idea".
- ^ "About SLAF". Archived from the original on 2017-06-29.