Player Re-allocation Draft this weekend

PFL Player re-allocation Draft | PFL HQ

by Ryan Solis, PFL Reporter.

This weekend will see the sixteen PFL teams pick the top players from the four now-defunct members- Amorgan Blues, Pottsburgh Cardinals, Seafax Storm and the Victoria Panthers.

Each of the teams will take turns to draft the top players from those old rosters. This includes the top two picks in the 2016 PFL Draft- Victoria’s QB Kelvin Stewart and Amorgan’s OL Paul Ortiz.  A new start for both players, who endured difficult rookie years, but also showed a lot of promise as they were adapted to the higher level of play.

There will be five rounds, with 80 players selected. The remaining 120 or so players will be free agents, free to sign with any team at any time. During the Re-allocation Draft, teams will be free to trade and waive selection rights at any time. With the increased salary cap for the next three seasons, teams may feel like they have a bit more room this season for another star or two!

This unprecedented draft, gives teams two ways to rebuild their teams this year. With youth from the PFL Player Drafy- picking UFB’s most promising rookies and the Re-allocation  Draft with veteran player available.

Paul Ortiz and Kelvin Stewart get to be drafted again this weekend!

A League In Crisis, or Badly Managed Teams?

By Douglas Bryan

The PFL has announced its decision to contract, following debacles at four of the twenty teams this past year. The league have no choice with two of them (Seafax and Victoria), but have been said to have been ruthless in dealing with the Amorgan Blues and Pottsburgh Cardinals.

With four teams gone, a 20% reduction, the league now must find a way to re-house some of the staff (players, administration and coaches) and union officials are said to be holding the league to account to do this. The question remains is this a league in crisis, with financial prudence required to keep the whole thing together or are talking about a few badly managed teams?

In 1993 we lost the Adelphia Rams to bad finance. In 2008 we lost the Burnham Bulls in similar fashion, although they were replaced by the Harteford Hawks and Adelphia Phoenix respectively.

Looking at the state of the other teams, it appears everyone else is not overspending (the Eagles appear to be playing fair nowadays) and living within the leagues means. So, at face value, it appears that the rest of the league is doing just fine and without the tax cases we would have been looking at an 18 team league.

We await to see the financial projections and accounts of the remaining teams before we can be completely safe in the knowledge that all is okay.

The good news from the remaining teams is that for the next two seasons at least, they are likely to have a larger salary cap as the television money was guaranteed (and the number of live games will be unaffected) so there should be 20% of the pot to share around, theoretically!

How much of this can be pinned on Commissioner David Thomas and the administrators of the league and the affected teams is probably going to be debated for quite a time to come. Even being part of the league (yep, I’m on the payroll), I’m not sure exactly how much more could have been done from the league offices to prevent this from happening.

How Contraction may be a good thing for the league

By Jim Murray

It’s been a rough year for the league and their image on the financial front. Having three teams failing and one unsure of its fate was always a burden for this league. Now that the unfortunate fate of the ‘failing four’ has been finalised, we can take stock of the league- as it now is.

Taking a step back, the league now looks in good shape. All remaining teams have good finances, the teams all look competitive on and off the field. Now that  the fat has been trimmed, the competition looks more even and more intense. With player re-allocation making the Hawks, Steelers and Eagles a bit more stacked- this could lead to a league with more parity.

The Television companies can now boast exclusive games for five of the seven/eight weekly games. This means more exclusive games for the remaining teams and more exposure out of their local areas. More exposure can lead to more support.

Having sixteen teams means that now everybody plays everyone at least once, with home-and-away ties still remaining for divisional games. This means not waiting two years to see non-conference opponents. With this parity, there’s no real strength of schedule advantage, or any excuses to be hid behind.

So, in summary, although it has been a harsh exit for the four teams we have lost, this may make the league a stronger, more dynamic and exciting league to follow over the next few years.

Commish/Owners agree to changes

By Scott Pierson, PFL Reporter

The Professional Football League have set out their plans for the 2017-18 season and the near future. The PFL Executives and the sixteen representatives of the league members set out the format for the reduced league structure . Here’s the rundown of what’s been decided:

• Abolishment of conferences/Re-alignment. The teams will play as four groups of four teams. The structure being the same as the NFC or AFC in the NFL. New Jorg move into the Eastern division, Caligara move into the North, Rochester into the Central. This was decided to shake up the divisonal match-ups as well as make the play-offs as open as possible- meaning some fresh match-ups, instead of the usual suspects being in Conference finals.
• PFL Team Roster updates. The limit of players active in as quad increased in a squad is raised from 50 in 2016 to 54 in 2017. The Salary Cap has been increased to ß75 Million ($50m) as the Television contract remains the same, with the number of games being shown exclusively live remaining unchanged.
• Reduction of play-off teams. With four less teams, the league has reduced the play-off teams competing for the Crystal Bowl, from 10 to 8. This eliminates the bye week for each conferences top three teams. The four Divisional champions will all automatically qualify, with a guaranteed home game. The following next four best-teams determined by record will qualify. The Top two-ranked teams after the first round will also have the home-field advantage.
• Start of Season delayed by one week. The season has been delayed by one week, meaning pre-season games will also shift. the season openner will be on Friday September 22nd  2017 and it all finishes on February 4th 2018. This means that the league will run for 20 consecutive weeks, followed by the eight team play-off tournament, culminating in Crystal Bowl XLVIII on March 4th Each team retains their two bye weeks during the regular season.

New PFL Divisonal Alignment:

Eastern	Central
Adelphia Phoenix	Chakota Wasps
Landor Knights	Oakland Ravens
Melborg Giants	Rochester Trojans
New Jorg 96ers	Tallassea Oilers

Northern	Western
Ballymore Tigers	Eregon Eagles
Caligara Bulldogs	Hallas Stars
Harteford Hawks	San Andreas Miners
Iomagh Steelers	St. George Sharks

Commissioner & Owners meet this weekend

By Ryan Solis, PFL Correspondent.

The PFL Executive Committee will meet this weekend and it is due to be one of the most interesting in recent times. With the league compacting from 20 teams to 16, there will be lots of things to sort out. Divisional re-alignment, conference structure, schedules, play-off format and roster sizes are all going to be thrashed out this weekend.

It is believed that the league will be continuing with an eighteen game season spread over twenty weeks, with two less teams making the play-offs; eight teams instead of ten.

We don’t know if the conferences will be kept, how they will align- we know there has to be change as the AC East only has three teams and the NC West has five.   The start of the season will also be open for debate. Currently the season lasts twenty weeks and then follows three rounds before the Crystal Bowl- five weeks in total. The date of 4th March is already booked up for the Crystal Bowl. With one less round of play-off action (if that is confirmed) the season will either:

• need to start one week later
• have an extra weeks break before the Crystal Bowl
• break for a week before the play-offs
  or
• move the Crystal Bowl forward by one week.

We’ll report back from the meeting to give the lowdown on what may be a heated executive meeting. We haven’t even touched on any proposed rule changes!

Elite Bowl 2017: AC vs NC

2017 Elite Bowl | PFL All-Star Game | Mayona, Floradonia

The 2017 Elite Bowl has finished, with the National Conference outlasting the Atlantic Conference in a shoot out: 48-41 in front of a capacity crowd in sunny Mayona.

The two teams were littered with the PFL’s all-star performers of the 2016-17 season. Billy Humphrey started at quarterback for the Atlantic Conference, Ryan Bruce for the National Conference. We don’t know if that was the last appearance on a PFL field for Humphrey, who, at 41, may be calling it a day.

 

 

CBXLVII: The Game

CRYSTAL BOWL XLVII:

  LANDOR KNIGHTS 37
  HALLAS STARS 27

Memorial Park, New Jorg | Att: 77,920 | Sun March 5, 2017

	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	ET	FT
LANDOR	7	13	7	10	–	37
HALLAS	10	3	7	7	–	27

Scoring:
1st Quarter:
HAL Sanders 80 pass from Williams (Young kick) 0-7
LAN Johnson 5 pass from Brooks (Potter kick) 7-7
HAL Young FG 39 7-10
2nd Quarter:
LAN Potter FG 31 10-10
HAL Young FG 37 10-13
LAN McKenzie 24 run (Potter kick) 17-13
LAN Potter FG 33 20-13
3rd Quarter:
LAN Sanders pass from Brooks (Potter kick) 27-13
HAL Solomon 1 pass from Williams (Young kick) 27-20
4th Quarter:
LAN Brooks 8 run (Potter kick)
LAN Potter FG 30 37-20
HAL Sanders 9 pass from Williams (Young kick) 37-27

After six seasons, Elijah Brooks fulfilled his potential and got the monkey off his back as he led the Landor Knights to a PFL Championship. After failing in the playoffs the last three years, the Knights completed their terrific season (16-2 in regular season).

Things started well for Hallas, scoring on the second play of the game, an 80 yard catch and run from Amani Sanders. Following that, the Knights defence shut down QB Drew Williams and co, making them settle for field goals and an interception for the rest of the first half. Elijah Brooks led the team down the field on four consecutive scoring drives. A 5 yard pass to Rashaan Johnson, a 24 yard run from Ryan McKenzie and two field goals. At halftime, neither side had punted!

At halftime, the entertainment was provided by Eboria’s own Low-Ki Riders and Ryan Patrick.

The second half started slowly, with both teams punting. Both teams traded touchdowns in the third quarter, before the Knights went beyond reach with a field goal and Brooks’ 8 run in the fourth quarter. With the score 37-20, the Stars twice failed on fourth downs, before scoring with 1:27 left, to make it 37-27. The Knights recovered the forthcoming onside kick and ran out the clock.

Elijah Brooks was named the POTG, passing for 317 yards and two touchdowns, also getting one on the ground.

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Crystal Bowl XLVII: The Matchups

Crystal Bowl XLVII (47):

LANDOR KNIGHTS VS. HALLAS STARS

The 47th annual Crystal Bowl, the PFL Championship game is between the number one seeded teams. The Atlantic Conference champions Landor Knights went 16-2 and became the first 16-0 team in league history. Led by the enigmatic Elijah Brooks- the do-it-all Quarterback, the Knights go into this contest as the firm favourites. Their defence has been solid all year and their receiving corps is amongst the leagues finest. Elijah missed the last two games, which were both losses. He had recovered in time for the play-offs.

The Stars beat the Knights in round 19, ending their undefeated streak. The Knights will want revenge and to cap off their fantastic season.

The Hallas Stars finished 15-3, led by their aerial assault from Drew Williams and the best corps of receivers in the game. Amani Sanders leads the excellent corps, the number one ranked passing attack. The question mark for the past decade has been their sometimes wobbly defence, especially in the play-offs. This year, they have been fine- avoiding first game embarrassment.

The bookmakers favourites going in are the Landor Knights. We tend to agree.

Tune in on 5th March to find out!

Pottsburgh and Amorgan suspended indefinitely from the PFL

PFL | Pottsburgh Cardinals | Amorgan Blues

By Ryan Solils, PFL Reporter.

A nightmare season off the field continues. The PFL has suspended the licences to operate on both the Pottsburgh Cardinals and Amorgan Blues following a meeting of the Executive Committee. Both teams have been charged with knowingly breaking the financial rules of the league and bringing the game into disrepute.

Commissioner David Thomas said “It is with great regret that we announce the suspensions of an indefinite nature of these two league members. The suspensions are subject to an appeal to the Commissioner. Further judgments and announcements will be made in the following weeks concerning the futures of the staff, players and coaches of these teams. I am sorry that I cannot give anyone any assurances as to what the future may be for you.” He continued “The league will continue for now with sixteen teams, requiring re-allocation of divisions and play-off structure. Further announcements will be made in the coming weeks”.

Amorgan and Pottsburgh lose their Final Tax Appeals

PFL | High Court | ERS | Amorgan Blues | Pottsburgh Cardinals

Both the Amorgan Blues and Pottsburgh Cardinals have lost their High Court tax case appeals, forcing both teams into the red and triggering suspensions- leading to potential expulsion from the league.

The PFL Executive Committee will meet next week to determine where we all go from here. Distressing times for Amorgan and Pottsburgh fans, who’ve suffered all winter over this.