Charlie Ebersol, Oliver Luck and Brian Woods Provide Updates at Press Conference
Charlie Ebersol Outlines the Rest of the Alliance Year
July 7, 2015
Stamford, CT - Charlie Ebersol took the stage and announced to the crowd that the league was ready to announce their inaugural regular season schedule along with a timeline for the rest of 2015 for the league.
-- Rule changes would be finalized and announced later this month.
-- Brian Woods would be in charge of all eight AAF tryouts, one in each AAF city, one per weekend for the next two months. He expected all coaches to be at tryouts.
-- Starting Quarterbacks should all be signed by all the remaining five teams by the end of August. Each QB would then be used to help promote the league nationally and locally.
-- The AAF announced that a partnership deal was reached with Starter as the official on-field apparel and game day merchandise supplier and with Riddell as the supplier for the league’s helmets. Both the uniforms and helmets should be ready for release and in September.
-- The XFL Draft would take place on October 15, 16th and 17th with training camps beginning at the end of November. All teams would hold their training camps in Austin.
-- Woods announced that there would be a ninth team, called "Team 9," that would serve as a league wide practice squad for all eight teams. "Team 9" would also be used to test experimental rule changes. Woods also mentioned the possibility that "Team 9" would be sold outside of current AAF ownership with the possibility that it may eventually grow into an expansion team for the league.
Oliver Luck Gets Specific
July 20, 2015
Stamford, CT - According to Oliver Luck, the AAF is making "more than two dozen changes" to their rulebook, which will be unveiled later this week. Among the items that will be altered are a running clock, three-tiered point-after attempts and single-play overtime possessions.
“"What we did is listen to fans, and what they told us is that they love this game, but they would like it at a little more of a faster pace and with a little more excitement. They thought there is too much idle time. We tried to listen to what they didn't want, also. They didn't want gimmicks or things that were inauthentic. They also didn't want to be complicit when it comes to player safety. So what we wanted to do is take a great game and make it a little better.”
Some of the larger rule changes will be from the special teams area of the game:
--During punts, players can't leave the line of scrimmage until after the punter kicks the ball away, so there won't be any blocks.
-- Punts that go into the end zone or out of play will be spotted at the 35-yard line or wherever the ball lands out of bounds. The concept of fair catches and pinning the opposition down deep are being eliminated with this type of rule.
-- On point-after attempts following a touchdown a team will have three options: a one-point play from the 2-yard line, a two-point play from the 3-yard line, or a three-point play from the 10-yard line.
Like the NCAA players will only be required to have one foot in bounds to establish possession on catches. The AAF believes that will make the game easier to officiate and won't lead to long reviews.
Finally, a shootout-style overtime period will be put in place where each team will get five single-play possessions from the 5-yard line. If the game remains tied, teams will rotate possessions until someone comes away victorious.
It appears that the AAF is trying to put out a high-octane, exciting product that football fans will gravitate towards. These rule changes should certainly make for an interesting game and could get fans to tune in early on.