A few weeks ago, the Alliance of American Football kicked off their season with a bang. The teams are comprised of NFL Veterans, free agents, international players, and just a general mix of those that excel in the game of football. In its first two weeks, the AAF has seen an average of nearly 1.5 million viewers. The first week’s viewers were most likely curious to see what the league had to offer and obviously they were impressed as the ratings continued onto the second week of play. There are a few reasons for the continued short-term success of the AAF.
Reasons the AAF Will be a Success
People Just Love the Game
With the NFL season all wrapped up, fans now have to wait until August to see new football action. Now, with the AAF, fans can tune in to see top-quality pigskin being played during the winter and spring months. New players and new teams can always bring about new fans. The more traction the league gets, the bigger it gets, the better the game gets played.
Players Just Play
One of the biggest complaints from fans of the NFL this past season was how much more the refs are getting involved in play. Many controversial calls in crucial games had fans going crazy over what was happening. Long time fans were turned off by such soft calls. Those who watched the AAF were pleasantly surprised to see rough play. Especially in the Commodores game with this nasty hit by Shaan Washington. Calls like roughing the passer and hitting a defenseless receiver are not nearly enforced as often as they are in a 2018 NFL game. Seeing football played like it was in the glory days turns on many fans to the game.
Curiosity
This is probably the main reason for why the league has such a wide audience only a couple of weeks into their first official season. The NFL is huge and when it is not on there are a good number of fans that don’t watch any sports at all. To see the excitement of football being played during the NFL’s offseason should be enticing for any fan of the game. It is also curious to see what stance the NFL is going to take regarding this new league. Will they change their current rules? Will players be allowed to play more? Only time will tell and if the league keeps growing like it is, then it is something the NFL will have to pay attention to.
Conclusion
The AAF is here and we are here for it. It is a fun new league with talented players that you can see during the NFL’s offseason. With eight teams already, it is only a matter of time before they expand their league to greater parts and make it fun for fans to root for teams all over the country. If you like good football the way it used to be played, then tune in this weekend and catch an AAF game or two, because I know I will.
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