Offline
Very interesting turn of events. I definitely see at least a couple of teams from the OFU joining the NAAF, but definitely not more than 4. The ACFL are definitely screwing themselves with their decisions recently.
Offline
Wouldn't be surprised if Hamilton join the ACFL out of spite for the NAAF
Offline
A potential merger if the OFU? Didn't see that coming! Although I am more curious about if that does happen, how OFU teams will adapt to hybrid football rules (Assuming the OFU plays under Canadian rules). As for the ACFL, if Boston and Rochester continue to struggle, what are the chances that it leads to Van Fossen's downfall as that league's commissioner, especially since I have a funny feeling that the ACFL lacks a neutral league office. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.
Offline
Is there a list of current OFU teams? Or ACFL also?
Offline
Enigmajones wrote:
Is there a list of current OFU teams? Or ACFL also?
Wallflower wrote:
There are 8 Atlantic Coast Football League Teams
(Names were picked prior to the AltBA some there are some repeats)
Baltimore Lancers
Brooklyn Guardians
New Jersey Chargers
New York Bulls Football Club
Philadelphia Rebels
Pittsburgh Hammers
Richmond Lions
Washington Americans
and 7 in the Great Lakes Football League
Chicago All-Pros
Cincinnati Centurions
Cleveland Captains
Columbus Pioneers
Detroit Warriors
Milwaukee Bulldogs
St. Louis Archers
There are also the Southern Football League, the Texas Football League, and the Pacific Football League in the Us and the Ontario Football Union and Western Football Union in Canada.
Ontario still only has:
Hamilton Steelers
Toronto Lakers
Toronto Brawlers
Kitchener Blue Tigers
This is from a couple of seasons ago, the only change is addition of Boston Shamrocks and Rochester Millers to the ACFL.
Slapshot Kirby wrote:
A potential merger if the OFU? Didn't see that coming! Although I am more curious about if that does happen, how OFU teams will adapt to hybrid football rules (Assuming the OFU plays under Canadian rules). As for the ACFL, if Boston and Rochester continue to struggle, what are the chances that it leads to Van Fossen's downfall as that league's commissioner, especially since I have a funny feeling that the ACFL lacks a neutral league office. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.
Not sure what you mean by a neutral league office?
However, the ACFL is very much in Van Fossen's control. He has most of the say in what the league does, and this is mainly because he is still the owner of the New York City Bulls Football Club, which brings in the most revenue for the league out of any team (only Brooklyn really is anywhere close). So any that means there isn't a very great chance that he is removed, besides the fact that he was only made commissioner last offseason as well.
I mean while the decision hasn't worked so far, it is only one season, and not everything will come together immediately. If the move ultimately pays off, it could be extremely damaging to the NAAF, a league Van Fossen has a vendetta against.
Also yes the Ontario Football Union does use Canadian Rules, but with Hybrid rules starting to take over the majority of Eastern Canada, the Canadian game is, unfortunately, starting to die out.
I will also comment on ZO82's comment and say Hamilton and owner Arnold Gibson are certainly fighting for their tradition of Canadian football, which is understandable since a move like this would likely kill the rule set in Eastern Canada. I certainly don't see any reason they would shift completely to American rules.
Offline
Introducing the Halifax Mariners
Halifax Owner Elliot Hudson was overjoyed to show off the complete rebranding of the Worcester Athletics. He decided quite early on that the team would not retain the “Athletics” name. However, the new name was something that he struggled to come up with. There were several names that were being suggested from the Halifax Highlanders to the Atlantic Admirals, however, Hudson finally landed on the Halifax Mariners. The name made a lot of sense for Halifax because of the heavy navy presence in the city as one of Canada’s main navy hubs, as well as a large number of ships and other ocean-related industries. The aim of the name is to connect to as many people as possible within the city as many have connections to the marine industry. It also, hopefully, can grab some fans from the other Atlantic Canadian provinces with the area being known as the Maritimes.
The new look is aiming to honour the history of the Athletics (mainly before Chester Paul) and bring in a fresh new feel from Halifax. Hudson decided to maintain the Athletics’ cream from their design, but switch out black for an Atlantic Blue. The logo will simply be the team’s blue helmet with “HALIFAX” in cream on the sides of the helmet. They will switch from cream at home to cream on the road with the addition of an Atlantic Blue home jersey. They will also move the double stripe from the sleeves to the shoulders. The last detail is that they will keep the heart patch to honour Richard Paul, the long-time and fondly-remembered former owner of the Worcester Athletics.
Lastly, the team will be moving into Atlantic Stadium for this season which will ultimately seat 34,200 people upon opening. It was originally only going to seat 20,000, but with the increase in funding from the other NAAF teams, they were able to expand the stadium by quite a lot. The final size is only 300 seats smaller than Western Fair Stadium in London, Ontario.
Buffalo to Open new Stadium with Fan-Chosen Name
The new stadium in Buffalo had broken ground last year and with quick development, the new building would be ready to go for this upcoming season. The new 54,000 seat stadium which will be right on Lake Erie will be the new home for the Blue Wings for the foreseeable future. The Blue Wings’ owner Milton Charles is ecstatic about the new stadium and cannot wait till the home opener. However, there was one thing that he was unable to come up with, and that was a new name for the stadium. He eventually decided that the fans should submit and then vote on a name. They went forward with this and thousands of fans partake. While Milton was expecting the fans to vote in a name like Blue Wings Stadium or potentially Oscar Patterson or Angelo Medina (or another famous Blue Wings player) Stadium, he was surprised to learn that the fans voted to name the stadium after Milton himself. The fans recognize how much he cares about the fans and the city of Buffalo and they wanted to honour the only man to run the Blue Wings. He finally got to introduce the new stadium as Milton Charles Stadium shortly after the league meetings had passed. During the conference, he thanked the fans for the honour, but really they were thanking him for everything he has done.
Last edited by Wallflower (5/07/2021 9:15 am)
Offline
Also, final call for prospects for this year's draft if you are still wanting to put players in the hat : )
Offline
Halifax! I love the cream and blue combo, and the team can only go up from here!
Offline
The Mariners look pretty good! It's nice that they kept the cream in the set to remind themselves of the days in Worcester (because I don't think anyone wants to remember them after this point), because the blue and cream combo is a beauty. Hopefully they'll see some better days up north.
Offline
This might be the first time I've ever been happy with a Boston team doing poorly lol.
On a related note, Halifax looks great! The new blue looks great and works really well with the cream. Definitely excited for Boston to rekindle their rivalry with this franchise! 😉