A Texas A&M professor who is an expert on sports marketing says the Alliance of American Football has a better chance of success than the host of wanna-be pro football leagues which have burned out over the past forty years, News Radio 1200 WOAI reports.
In fact, the AAF team in San Antonio will be the seventh pro football team to set down in the city since the Wings of the World Football League opened play at Alamo Stadium back in 1975. All of them flamed out, sometimes under embarrassing circumstances, and none lasted more than three seasons.
But Mike Shaub, who is a professor at the Mays School of Business at Texas A&M, tells News Radio 1200 WOAI's Mike Board the AAF is doing things the right way, mainly by not either competing against the NFL or hoping to join the NFL, which has been the downfall of most of the leagues.
"These are folks who, I think, would want to co-exist and would look for ways to work together, and not undermine each other," he said.
The AAF will begin play the Sunday after the Super Bowl and will play its championship game in late April, at a time when the NFL is not active. League officials say they will also not attempt a 'draft' of college football players who attempt to engage in a bidding war for top NFL talent.
"Since it is not threatening, you'll see players moving from one league to another," he said. "That will create additional momentum for this league."
AAF officials said at last week's San Antonio news conference that they hope to attract players who are 'out of the NFL and 'give them a second chance,' indicating that the AAF may go after players like Texas A&M's Johnny Manziel, Baylor's Robert Griffin III, and exiled quarterback Colin Kaepernick.
And Shaub says the fact that the league itself owns the eight franchises, including the one in San Antonio, is a master stroke.He says billionaire team owners have been the downfall of several of the now defunct pro football leagues.