Podcast: Building an alternative football league

The Alliance of American Football kicked off over the weekend. The results were a mixed bag. Saturday’s opener produced generally favorable reviews. Sunday was a different story as the biggest development seemed to be the struggles of former Jets second round Draft pick Christian Hackenberg.

Can the AAF survive over the long haul? I think it will be difficult. I think it is good for the sport for another football league to exist. There are parts of the league’s model that I think are promising. Ultimately I think there are other flaws in the league’s model which will make things really tough to sustain.

The AAF got me thinking about how I would build a league to rival the NFL, and that is the topic of today’s podcast. I offer some thoughts about what I would do based on what I’ve learned about sports business and the history of rival leagues.