I've legitimately watched more AAF in the last two weeks than I have NFL football the last two years, which isn't saying much for either league. The uniforms are junk, the team names are lame, but the football is decent. There are a crapton of people who play football at a high level in the States, and the only non-NFL place for them to go was Canada.
This league is selling itself as a development league. If it's going to be a success, they need to start stealing 5-star recruits from the NCAA right out of high school. That will generate hype, that will generate buzz. As far as I can tell, nobody in this league is actually a real person, they're all just auto-generated drones from the third year of a Madden franchise. Nobody will want to watch that long term.
Now, if you can come into next season with a couple quarterbacks who spurned the SEC to come play for $250K/season on a three year deal, that'll draw eyeballs. You'll draw more eyeballs when the guys who don't want to go to class decide that if they're probably going to be drafted anyway, may as well make $70K or $100K out of high school, get paid for their cut of jersey sales, be able to sign autographs and get local endorsements, and declare for the NFL at 21 having been in pro football for three seasons already.
The AAF, from what I understand, is trying to be as accommodating as they can to the NFL. Get a Madden mode out of this. That's more revenue for the players, and more exposure for the league.
With that said, it's better for the long term health of the CFL if these upstart leagues crash and burn, so #### em. And #### the NCAA with a properly inflated football.
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