AAFL slated to start in 2008

LSU fans get their football fix each fall.

One day, however, they might be able to get it each spring as well.

The All-American Football League will kick off its inaugural season in April of 2008.

The league will only start with six teams (Florida, Tennessee, Alabama, Arkansas, Michigan and Texas), but league spokesperson Travis McGriff believes Baton Rouge would be an ideal location for future expansion.

&#8220LSU has one of the most dominant football teams in the nation,” he said. &#8220I couldn’t see how they wouldn’t be foaming at the mouth to field a team (in the AAFL).”

The AAFL will be a professional football league.

Under its guidelines, all of its players must possess a four-year university degree and play at their alma maters.

The league is designated to attract all of the best non-NFL talent that exists.

&#8220There are so many great players who don’t make it in the NFL,” McGriff explained. &#8220It has so much more to do than a guy’s ability. Sometimes it’s also about the situation you’re in, salary cap issuesŠa whole lot of different things.

&#8220There’s only so many jobs in the NFL, but there’s a lot more great football players than NFL roster spots. This league (AAFL) will have a lot of great players.”

McGriff will be one of them.

The 5-8, 185-pound wide receiver pulled down 72 catches for 1,382 yards and 10 touchdowns at the University of Florida in 1998.

He was picked up by the Denver Broncos the following year in the third round of the NFL Draft, and enjoyed a four-year career in the pros.

McGriff then went on to play three years of Arena League ball.

When the AAFL commences, he’ll once again pull a Gators jersey over his pads.

&#8220I think this league is so unique because it’s an extension of college football,” McGriff said. &#8220It allows guys to play in stadiums they loved, alongside teammates they played with in college.

&#8220It’s such a nostalgic thing for players and fans, because the college atmosphere is such a unique environment – one the NFL can’t match. This league is attempting to tap into that.”

The AAFL is the brainchild of a millionaire named Marcus Katz, a former student loan executive. Katz is a graduate of the University of Georgia and an ardent supporter of its football program.

&#8220He (Katz) came up with the idea in late ’80s when Georgia had some really great teams,” McGriff said. &#8220Most of players didn’t play in NFL. Marcus loved watching these guys (at Georgia) and wished it didn’t have to end.

&#8220Back then it was just an idea, but it was a powerful enough idea that he never forgot it and now he’s powerful enough to make happen.”

Start-up leagues have had ephemeral shelf-lives in the past.

The infamous XFL lasted only a single season, and the USFL folded due to a poor business model.

McGriff thinks the AAFL is a whole different model because &#8220it’s tapping into a beating pulse.”

That is, the pulse of rabid football fans.

&#8220If things go according to plan in first year, you’ll see schools jumping on this like wild fire,” he added, &#8220and Baton Rouge would be an ideal place to have a league team.”