Orlando Apollos Set To Take Aim on Alliance of American Football
Article courtesy of Adam Boliek of the Orlando Apollos
The day after the Super Bowl.
One of the most depressing days of the year (unless of course your team just won the Big Game!). No more football for months. The draft in April, free agency, OTA’s, and of course preseason cannot come soon enough. What if there was football year round and it did not have to end?
Enter The Alliance of American Football.
As most of you know, I recently moved my family from South Florida to be a part of something new and special here in City Beautiful – The Orlando Apollos. Being a Florida Gator, I was excited Coach Spurrier would be at the helm, encouraged by the successful business minds funding the league, fired up about being apart of something so special from the ground up. But there were four other things that made it a no brainer to join The Apollos Family and The Alliance:
1. Technology
Visionary Charlie Ebersol has described The Alliance as a tech company, a media company and a sports league.
“People are starting to really understand that this is bigger than just delivering football,” he said. “My investors are excited because we’re building a tech platform that is beginning to realize the promise of what technology can deliver. For the past 10 years, we’ve been hearing that there’s going to be in-game [fantasy] and in-game gambling. A lot of what we’re saying to people is to start thinking about what it would look like if viewers can be truly active during the game.” said Ebersol in a New York Business Journal article.
Ebersol said much of his time has been spent building out a media and technology strategy that will give fans more of a chance to interact during the games. That will come through an app that will allow for in-game fantasy and, eventually, gambling. The app’s interactive functions are designed to attract younger fans who, largely, are not watching games on television anymore.
“I’m a 35-year-old technologist who worked in the entertainment world who’s building something with a Silicon Valley approach,” Ebersol said. “The modern consumer of football is in my demographic. And my demographic has an appetite for something more. That something more is about what that next generation is going to be.”
2. Real Football Run By Real Football People
“In the last quarter-century, nobody has put real football, by real football people, on the field in the off-season,” said Ebersol.
In building the Alliance of American Football, Ebersol is clear that “the most important thing is the football.” Having quality play is the engine that will drive The Alliance.
Hall of Fame general manager Bill Polian, who built perennial contenders with the Bills in the early 1990s and the Colts in the 2000s, is the other co-founder and is overseeing football operations. The Alliance has already signed 600 players for the eight teams in its South and West divisions. Steve Spurrier, Mike Singletary, Darryl (Moose) Johnston, Hines Ward, Justin Tuck, Michael Vick, and Troy Polamalu are among the former NFL and college stars who have signed on to be coaches and executives.
3. Allocation of Players
Gators and Seminoles on the same page for once? Bulls and Knights all apart of Apollos Legion? The Aliiance has announced that players will be allocated to teams based on where they played their college ball. So, if any of your favorite team’s players decide to give the Alliance a try, they’ll all be playing on the same team! The Apollos are allocated players from the following schools: Florida, Florida State, Miami, UCF, USF, Florida Atlantic, FIU, Bethune-Cookman, Florida A&M, Jacksonville, Stetson, Florida Tech, West Florida
Your favorite quarterback and wide receiver combination graduated? Maybe you can see those two hook up again in the pros! For schools not listed above, if the player has NFL/CFL experience, each of those teams have been assigned to an Alliance team, as well. If not, the player becomes a free agent.
4. Affordability
As someone with a young family, it is never an inexpensive venture for my family of three to do anything together. I think I speak for a lot of families who feel the same. From a business perspective, most companies are focused on ROI and ensuring there is some return from their entertainment dollars.
The Alliance ensures both of these options as season tickets are available for as low a $75 per seat (ONLY $15 PER GAME!). Furthermore, premium seating options – which really give your clients and employees memorable experiences- start at only $400 per seat. That is five guaranteed opportunities to spend time with your mot important prospects, three hours of wow moments for your biggest clients, and an affordable way to show your top employees how much they mean to you.
Lets schedule a visit to discuss how The Orlando Apollos could be a great fit for your business. Lets have a chat to talk about how you can be apart of Apollos Legion. Join something special. Join something from the ground up. Join The Alliance!
For more information on the Orlando Apollos and the Alliance of American Football, click here.