The Super Bowl has come and gone, but football, thank the sports lords, is still here to stay.
You can thank TV producer Charlie Ebersol and former NFL GM Bill Polian for that, as the Alliance for American Football is set to kick off this Saturday, February 9, on CBS. Unlike other minor football leagues of the past (hello, Major League Football), the AAF has been able to launch off the ground, thanks in part to finding the right balance of cities, names and media partners.
The league doesn’t seek to replace or compete with the NFL, like many other football leagues past, but rather seems to see itself as a sort of unofficial development league, with a rulebook that could well be mistaken for the NFL rulebook, right down to the draft eligibility standards.