Steelman wrote:

Congrats to the Indies!

Wistah, you say? Seems that'd be awfully infringing on Indy territory, though I suppose they're triangled between several teams.

Yeah, all the teams are close in there right now. Boston doesn't have much of an issue knowing their fan base is already huge, and that the Worcester team will be pretty much the same club that used to compete in the NEFC and has the second most McCallister Cup wins with 6. They were the only team to not return after the war in the league and want to make a comeback with the success of the NAAF. I am sure over a while a team or two may get moved out of New England.

1951 NAAF League & Owner Meetings:
The annual meetings in Ottawa occur just a few weeks after the McCallister Cup and they end with an announcement of changes coming to the league.

Worcester Athletics:
The league officially introduced Athletics owner Richard Paul and the Worcester Athletics as a member club of the NAAF. The Worcester Athletic Club has been around since the late 1800s and has competed in football since the early 1900s. They were a founding member of the NEFC and have been able to win 6 McCallister Cups and were the last team to actually beat Boston in the title game in 1927. The team had spent the past few seasons in a regional amateur league as they never returned to the NEFC after WW2. With this opportunity, Paul wants to bring the team back into professional football. Now the team will play the first season out of the Worcester Athletic Club Grandstands which hosts 20,230 people but has a new stadium under construction closer to downtown. 

Richard Paul was debating rebranding the club (much like the Independents from Boston Football Club), but he decided to keep the Athletics name. They still updated the look of the team. The new logo is an updated crest that they used to wear (Worcester has some soccer like feel). The W.A.C. (Worcester Athletic Club) is on the top of the crest and in the wordmark. W-A is the centerpiece of the brand and has been for a while. The newest part of the logo is the red heart which is a symbol for the city of Worcester. The heart is on the city flag and comes from the nickname ``The Heart of the Commonwealth``. The colours of cream and black are classic colours for the Athletics. They also will be the second team to wear light jerseys at home (Boston being the other). The stripes on the sleeves have changed to be angled now coming to a point on the sides, which is an attempt at a modern look. The team`s crest used to be on the left side of their chest but is now been updated to just the W-A logo. 



League Structure Changes:
With the new team, it's obvious the league will need to adjust the schedule and other implications. As previously announced the league will be split into two divisions: The North Division (Buffalo, Montreal, Ottawa, and Toronto) and the New England Division (Boston, Hartford, Providence, and Worcester). The schedule will be expanded to 10 games from 8 games. There will be no bye weeks so the same 10 weeks + 2 playoff weekends will remain the same. Each team will play their division rivals 2 times (2x3=6) plus a single game against each opposite division team (1x4=4) (6+4 = 10 games). Finally, the playoff format will only change with the top two teams from each division making it into the playoffs. The change is so the McCallister Cup will have a New England team versus a non-New England team in the game. 

As for the Athletics roster the league will host a small expansion draft. Each team will be able to protect 22 of 32 players and that will leave the remaining 10 players available. Worcester will be able to grab up to 3 players per team for 21 total players to start with. (rules still may change as I have yet to see how that would work out but I`ll update that if I need to)

Last edited by Wallflower (3/19/2020 10:32 pm)

MyTeamIsDr.Pepper wrote:

Big fan of the Athletics look! I'd say it's second or third in the league, with the Tigers and Royals at the top! I'm excited for the longer seasons and new playoff format.
What's next in store for expansion by the way? I'd say Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland and the rest of the midwest is gettin to their prime here real soon for a team.

I am very happy with the Athletics look. Feels different.

As for expansion, overall, I have no plans, definitely be a couple of seasons before I consider expanding at least for now. As for where I am very open to cities all over the place. It is still in a world where they are competing with both Canadian and American versions of the sports so big cities (aside from Boston and Montreal, kinda Toronto but the Tigers are less popular compared to the Canadian football Lakers) will be a bit more resistant to bring the new version of the sport for now. The other thing is I want it to be similar to NHL with more Canadian teams across the league so those will be a likely home for teams in the future. 

Darknes wrote:

Could we maybe see expansion up into the Martimes? So Halifax for example?

The most likely thing If I expand before the 60's which I am sure I will. Most likely the next couple teams will be in places around the same region. With that, it is very possible that a Maritimes team could be in place in the future. 

And really based on how I'm going about it all (with smaller markets..."underdog markets" per se), Halifax would be high on the list for a team.

Oh, Wistah, you have my heart. That color scheme is fantastic and I really like the interlocked logo. Nice work and updates all around.