Post by aflrising on Apr 12, 2012 12:50:42 GMT -5
The Alliance Football League will take to the field with a 36 team line up for 2012 and the league has upped the status quo of what leagues do for their teams and players on one of the least expensive league fees in the nation.
League President James Burkheart, who came on board during the 2011 season, and with help from the Executive Board has restructured the league with a focus on the individual player. The response from the players so far has been overwhelming with support for the league’s new initiatives and requirements for 2012.
The first thing the Board did for 2012 was to make player accident medical insurance mandatory. They then went out and found a very affordable policy that cost their players less than three dollars a month. To insure it could be tracked league-wide they set up a new league website with LeagueUSA and then provided all of their teams with integrated and fully customizable websites at no additional cost. The integration allows the league to manage all teams’ rosters and websites and provide training to their team owners on one website format. Players are not added to the team’s roster until the league has received their player registration and fee. Officials also have access to print every team’s roster to review prior to games and have on hand should a roster check be warranted.
Having every player’s information allows the league to send updates directly to all players in the league and increases support of the team owner and insures that players are up to date on current league news without constantly burdening owners to relay information.
With affordable accident medical insurance for their players, the league then set out to find another cost savings program for their players and teamed up with ProVisionRX, a company that provides its teams, families, friends, and fans that do not have insurance or are underinsured a free prescription discount card that provides 10% to 75% off most of their prescription medications.
With the protection for its league players in place, the Executive Board then turned its focus to the promotion of the players and teams within their league. Due to the integration of the team websites that tracks all team and player stats, Burkheart approached LeagueUSA to create a Scouting Report page that identifies players who are seeking a college scholarship or looking to make a Pro team. The reports pull directly from the player’s bio page that displays their information and stats for the season. The scouting report pages will be sent to college and pro scouts across the nation.
The league now needed something to promote its players and teams across the states they participate in. Not just to sponsors or scouts, but to the fans who visit their local team’s website. Problem is that most fans outside of a team’s local community could not tell you the name of any other team in a league that’s not on their team’s schedule and many never visit the leagues website. Reviewing many past ideas the Alliance and other leagues have tried, nothing really stood out as successful. Every league promotes partnering up with various companies and displays their logos and links on league or team websites. But what does it really do for the team or their players as to recognition across the USA?
Burkheart began focusing on the integration of LeagueUSA websites, the player and team stats that it tracks, and the function LeagueUSA wrote for the player scouting report pages and contacted Marc Mandt with LeagueUSA about doing the first ever Fantasy Football League at the adult amateur level for its 1500 plus players in the league. LeagueUSA accepted the challenge and is currently writing the code for the Alliance Football League Fantasy Zone that will be launched for the 2012 season. The launch of the Alliance’s Fantasy Football League will give fans the opportunity to create their own leagues, invite their friends to create teams, and select Alliance players from its 36 teams across the league to their fantasy football team. This marketing tool not only brings instant exposure of its teams and players to fans in every region but has also opened up an entire new revenue source for the league through advertisements and sponsorships of its Fantasy Football League site. But hold on the thought of taking your league or team to LeagueUSA for this special treat, the Alliance Football League holds all licensing rights through 2014 for the Fantasy Football League module as part of the development agreement with LeagueUSA.
Next point of focus for the league was a playoff structure that got their best teams in the final running and was still fair to the remaining teams in the league that would qualify in a traditional playoff format. The past history of a traditional playoff format at the adult amateur level in large leagues generally placed a lowest seed team against a highest seed team in the first round with many times the lowest seed not willing to travel six or eight hours to take on a 10-0 team while they are sporting a 5-5 record or worse. The league looked back at the 2011 season where they adopted a modified NCAA post season placing their top 4 teams in a playoff to reach War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock for World Bowl I and matched remaining seed teams in three separate Bowl games. It proved to be successful for the teams involved so for the 2012 season the league stayed with the modified NCAA post season placing the division winners from each conference in a Championship Bowl series playoff for World Bowl II in Little Rock and added fourteen bowl games for its remaining teams with winning records and will match the teams up based on their final season record.
The league will hold their 2012 Championship on September 22nd at War Memorial Stadium AT&T Field in Little Rock, AR, home of the Arkansas Razorbacks for three games each season. Championship day consists of the Alliance Players Competition open to all players in the league, the Alliance All Star Game, and World Bowl II.
For more information on the Alliance Football League visit them at www.alliancefootballleague.org
League President James Burkheart, who came on board during the 2011 season, and with help from the Executive Board has restructured the league with a focus on the individual player. The response from the players so far has been overwhelming with support for the league’s new initiatives and requirements for 2012.
The first thing the Board did for 2012 was to make player accident medical insurance mandatory. They then went out and found a very affordable policy that cost their players less than three dollars a month. To insure it could be tracked league-wide they set up a new league website with LeagueUSA and then provided all of their teams with integrated and fully customizable websites at no additional cost. The integration allows the league to manage all teams’ rosters and websites and provide training to their team owners on one website format. Players are not added to the team’s roster until the league has received their player registration and fee. Officials also have access to print every team’s roster to review prior to games and have on hand should a roster check be warranted.
Having every player’s information allows the league to send updates directly to all players in the league and increases support of the team owner and insures that players are up to date on current league news without constantly burdening owners to relay information.
With affordable accident medical insurance for their players, the league then set out to find another cost savings program for their players and teamed up with ProVisionRX, a company that provides its teams, families, friends, and fans that do not have insurance or are underinsured a free prescription discount card that provides 10% to 75% off most of their prescription medications.
With the protection for its league players in place, the Executive Board then turned its focus to the promotion of the players and teams within their league. Due to the integration of the team websites that tracks all team and player stats, Burkheart approached LeagueUSA to create a Scouting Report page that identifies players who are seeking a college scholarship or looking to make a Pro team. The reports pull directly from the player’s bio page that displays their information and stats for the season. The scouting report pages will be sent to college and pro scouts across the nation.
The league now needed something to promote its players and teams across the states they participate in. Not just to sponsors or scouts, but to the fans who visit their local team’s website. Problem is that most fans outside of a team’s local community could not tell you the name of any other team in a league that’s not on their team’s schedule and many never visit the leagues website. Reviewing many past ideas the Alliance and other leagues have tried, nothing really stood out as successful. Every league promotes partnering up with various companies and displays their logos and links on league or team websites. But what does it really do for the team or their players as to recognition across the USA?
Burkheart began focusing on the integration of LeagueUSA websites, the player and team stats that it tracks, and the function LeagueUSA wrote for the player scouting report pages and contacted Marc Mandt with LeagueUSA about doing the first ever Fantasy Football League at the adult amateur level for its 1500 plus players in the league. LeagueUSA accepted the challenge and is currently writing the code for the Alliance Football League Fantasy Zone that will be launched for the 2012 season. The launch of the Alliance’s Fantasy Football League will give fans the opportunity to create their own leagues, invite their friends to create teams, and select Alliance players from its 36 teams across the league to their fantasy football team. This marketing tool not only brings instant exposure of its teams and players to fans in every region but has also opened up an entire new revenue source for the league through advertisements and sponsorships of its Fantasy Football League site. But hold on the thought of taking your league or team to LeagueUSA for this special treat, the Alliance Football League holds all licensing rights through 2014 for the Fantasy Football League module as part of the development agreement with LeagueUSA.
Next point of focus for the league was a playoff structure that got their best teams in the final running and was still fair to the remaining teams in the league that would qualify in a traditional playoff format. The past history of a traditional playoff format at the adult amateur level in large leagues generally placed a lowest seed team against a highest seed team in the first round with many times the lowest seed not willing to travel six or eight hours to take on a 10-0 team while they are sporting a 5-5 record or worse. The league looked back at the 2011 season where they adopted a modified NCAA post season placing their top 4 teams in a playoff to reach War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock for World Bowl I and matched remaining seed teams in three separate Bowl games. It proved to be successful for the teams involved so for the 2012 season the league stayed with the modified NCAA post season placing the division winners from each conference in a Championship Bowl series playoff for World Bowl II in Little Rock and added fourteen bowl games for its remaining teams with winning records and will match the teams up based on their final season record.
The league will hold their 2012 Championship on September 22nd at War Memorial Stadium AT&T Field in Little Rock, AR, home of the Arkansas Razorbacks for three games each season. Championship day consists of the Alliance Players Competition open to all players in the league, the Alliance All Star Game, and World Bowl II.
For more information on the Alliance Football League visit them at www.alliancefootballleague.org