2016 Major League Football season
LeagueMajor League Football
SportAmerican football
DurationApril–August (planned)
Number of games40 regular-season games, 3 postseason games (planned)[1]
Number of teams8 (planned)
TV partner(s)American Sports Network[1]

The 2016 Major League Football season was the planned inaugural season of the Major League Football (MLFB), a public traded professional football league.

The season was cancelled after a major financial backer of the league backed out of a $20 million commitment.[2]

Background

MLFB originally planned on having its inaugural season in spring 2016. In January 2016, the MLFB held a draft for eight teams based on territory and announced seven general managers (Jerry Hardaway, Rodney Knox, Gerald Loper, Glenn Smith, Quintin Smith, Stephen Videtich and Martin Prince) and eight head coaches (Dave Campo, Charlie Collins, Ted Cottrell, Robert Ford, Wayne 'Buddy' Geis, Galen Hall, Larry Kirksey and Chris Miller).[3]

However, in February 2016, a major financial backer of the league backed out of a $20 million commitment putting the league's first season in jeopardy.[4][2] The league continued to push forward in an attempt to start games in April 2016, but was unable to come up with the needed financials in order to operate a full season. On March 31, the league announced that the first season would be postponed and 2016 would be considered a "developmental" year.[5] But the league would miss at least four months of rent payments on its headquarters in Lakewood Ranch, Florida, and eviction papers were served for non-payment of rent beginning in March 2016, ending any hope of starting the season.[6]

Teams

While never officially unannounced, the MLFB has filed trademarks for ten regional teams and have held a territorial draft for eight teams in which coaches draft based on region.[7] The reported names were: Alabama Airborne (Birmingham), Arkansas Attack (Little Rock), Florida Fusion (Orlando),[8] Utah Stand (Salt Lake City), Texas Independence (San Antonio), Oklahoma Nation (Oklahoma City), Ohio Union (Akron), and Northwest Empire (Eugene),[9] while the league would add the Virginia Armada (Norfolk) and Oregon Crash (Portland) on a later date. The final The eight cities were supposed to be announced after Super Bowl 50.[10]

The final potential teams were:

Coaches

The following coaches were part of the planned 2016 season:[10]

Players

On October 17, 2015 MLFB conducted the first league "Pro-days" simultaneously in Eugene, Oregon and Akron, Ohio,[21] with additional tryouts on later dates in 14 cities.[22][23] Every player who participated in the league tryouts had to pay $250 registration fee.[9] Camps were supposed to start on March 30, 2016 at The Premier Sports Campus in Lakewood Ranch, Florida.[24] Each team would've started the camp with 80 players on the roster and carried a 53-men roster to the regular season.[25]

For the 2016 season, the players would've been paid $3,000 per win and $2,000 per loss[26] (later reports said $3,500 and $2,500 respectively[27]), while a designated "franchise player" on each team would've make $5,000 per week. All players were able to sign with other league at any point in the season, other than the last two weeks if their team was in the playoffs.[27]

Draft

The 2016 MLFB Draft was the inaugural player selection process to fill the rosters of the eight teams of the planned 2016. "More than 2,000 players" were in the draft pool.[28] The 70 rounds player allocation process was held in three phases: "Franchise player draft"[29] (day 1), "Territorial"[30] (day 2) and "National"[31] (day 3). Also, each team was allowed to sign 10 "post draft free agents".[32] As a result of not finalizing teams locations, all teams were received the name of the assigned coach ("Team Campo", "Team Cottrell" etc.).

Franchise player draft

The "Franchise player draft" was the first round of 70 for the Major League Football (MLFB) draft, held in advance of the planned 2016 season.[33]

Rnd. Pick # Team Player Position College
11Team Campo[34]Joe AdamsWR/KRArkansas
12Team Collins[35]Chris BonnerQBCSU-Pueblo
13Team Cottrell[36]Taylor Belsterling[37]WRHuntingdon
14Team Ford[38]Casey PachallQBTCU
15Team Geis[39]Emmanuel StephensDEOle Miss
16Team Hall[40]Stephen GarciaQBSouth Carolina
17Team Kirksey[41]Dan LeFevourQBCentral Michigan
18Team Miller[42]Darron ThomasQBOregon

Season finances

On February 5, 2016 MLFB announced that Clairemont Private Investment Group, LLC had breached its agreement with the company to invest $20 million into the League.[43] On February 17 the league claimed it signed a Letter of Intent to secured $120 Million in Equity and Credit Line Financing from Asian Global Capital, Ltd. The funding agreement was expected to include a $20 million equity purchase of MLFB common stock, a $100,000,000 line of credit.[44] Nevertheless, by June 2016, the league would miss at least four months of rent payments on its headquarters in Lakewood Ranch, Florida, and eviction papers were served for non-payment of rent beginning in March 2016.[6]

Media

On January 12, 2016, MLFB announced a two-year television deal with the American Sports Network.[32]

References

  1. 1 2 "Major League Football Announces TV Contract". Sports Destinations Management. March 28, 2016.
  2. 1 2 "Football league runs after lost $20M". Florida Business Observer. February 11, 2016.
  3. ↑ "MLFB Media official website". Archived from the original on 15 February 2016.
  4. ↑ "MLFB Announces Letter of Intent for $120 Million in Equity and Credit Line Financing". Archived from the original on 22 February 2016.
  5. ↑ "MLFB to Launch 2016 Development Season". MLFB. April 1, 2016.
  6. 1 2 "Eviction papers served on Major League Football at Lakewood Ranch". Bradenton Herald. June 23, 2016.
  7. ↑ "Major League Football, Inc. Trademarks". Justia Trademarks. Retrieved February 17, 2016.
  8. ↑ "Major League Football to include team in Orlando". Archived from the original on 9 July 2015.
  9. 1 2 "New Spring Major League Football (MLFB) tryouts come to Escondido". The Escondido Grapevine. October 26, 2015.
  10. 1 2 "Draft complete, Major League Football one step closer to spring kickoff on ASN". American Sports Network. Archived from the original on 23 April 2016.
  11. ↑ "Will Birmingham play in Major League Football?".
  12. ↑ "Arkansas is Getting a Professional Football Team called the "Arkansas Attack"". Fan Sided. 29 January 2016.
  13. ↑ "Major League Football's Orlando team loading up on Gators". 247sports.
  14. ↑ "Major League Football Targets Eugene, Oregon for Spring Football Franchise".
  15. ↑ "Major League Football Targets Akron, Ohio for 2016 Spring Football Franchise".
  16. ↑ "Ruthenberg: Is pro football coming to Oklahoma?".
  17. ↑ A thankful Mark Mason, a battling Greg Ballard, and a football league on hold, Kerry Eggers, Portland Tribune, April 14, 2016
  18. ↑ "Could Major League Football Be Coming To Texas?". 8 March 2016.
  19. ↑ "The Utah Stand? Minor-league football may be coming to the Beehive State". February 2016.
  20. ↑ "Major League Football Adds The Virginia Armada To List Of Potential Teams". Spor Repor. Archived from the original on 9 March 2016. Retrieved March 8, 2016.
  21. ↑ "New pro football league, Major League Football, to hold tryouts in Portland and Eugene". October 9, 2015.
  22. ↑ "Major League Football Announces "Pro Day" Tryout Camps" (Press release). October 12, 2015.
  23. ↑ "Players, Have you heard about the new football league? Major League Football is holding workouts". November 7, 2015.
  24. ↑ "BREAKING: MLFB's training camp for all eight teams will begin March 30th at The Premier Sports Campus in FL".
  25. ↑ "Patrick Esume: That's how tough the MLFB training camps are" (in German). Archived from the original on 8 March 2016.
  26. ↑ "Meet Major League Football, An NFL Alternative". FOXbusiness. February 23, 2016.
  27. 1 2 "Suspension of MLFB season may make players available to CFL teams". April 7, 2016.
  28. ↑ "MLFB Concludes First Day of 2016 Draft Announcing Selection of 'Franchise Players'". MLFB website. January 28, 2016. Archived from the original on 30 April 2016.
  29. ↑ "Meet the Eight MLFB Franchise Players". MLFB website. January 27, 2016. Archived from the original on 2 May 2016.
  30. ↑ Territorial Draft Tracker, MLFB Staff, MLFB website, January 28, 2016
  31. ↑ National Draft Tracker, MLFB Staff, MLFB website, January 29, 2016
  32. 1 2 Post-Draft Free Agency Signings, MLFB Staff, MLFB website, March 11, 2016
  33. ↑ Franchise Player Draft Tracker, MLFB Staff, MLFB website, January 27, 2016
  34. ↑ "Team Campo – Drafted Roster". MLFB website. January 30, 2016. Archived from the original on 16 February 2016.
  35. ↑ "Team Collins – Drafted Roster". MLFB website. January 30, 2016. Archived from the original on 16 February 2016.
  36. ↑ "Team Cottrell – Drafted Roster". MLFB website. January 30, 2016. Archived from the original on 16 February 2016.
  37. ↑ "The Trials of Timing: Taylor Belsterling's Timing Goes From Unlucky to Franchise". MLFB website. January 28, 2016. Archived from the original on 17 April 2016.
  38. ↑ "Team Ford – Drafted Roster". MLFB website. January 30, 2016. Archived from the original on 16 February 2016.
  39. ↑ "Team Geis – Drafted Roster". MLFB website. January 30, 2016. Archived from the original on 16 February 2016.
  40. ↑ "Team Hall – Drafted Roster". MLFB website. January 30, 2016. Archived from the original on 16 February 2016.
  41. ↑ "Team Kirksey – Drafted Roster". MLFB website. January 30, 2016. Archived from the original on 16 February 2016.
  42. ↑ "Team Miller – Drafted Roster". MLFB website. January 30, 2016. Archived from the original on 16 February 2016.
  43. ↑ "Major League Football, Inc. Provides Company Update". February 8, 2016. Archived from the original on 15 February 2016.
  44. ↑ "MLFB Announces Letter of Intent for $120 Million in Equity and Credit Line Financing". MLFB website. February 17, 2016. Archived from the original on 23 April 2016.
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