The Birmingham Iron has the first opportunity among the Alliance of American Football's eight teams to sign former Alabama and Auburn players. But will having a pipeline to talent from two of the nation's top college football programs translate into a championship for the Iron?
Joe Pendry, the Iron's general manager, said it shouldn't work that way, but he likes the cards Birmingham is being dealt.
"The way the Alliance set it up, it should be equal throughout all eight teams," Pendry said, "because every team has the rights to enough players -- they've done numbers on how many have been drafted into the NFL -- so it should come out equal.