AAF spring football league kicked off Saturday night

Associated Press

SAN DIEGO

Nearly four decades removed from a stint in the short-lived USFL, Pro Football Hall of Famer Bill Polian will preside over the opening weekend of the newest spring league, the Alliance of American Football.

“It’s one more challenge at the end of a long career,” said Polian, 76, who co-founded the AAF with Charlie Ebersol, a TV and film producer whose father, Dick, defined NBC Sports’ programming for more than two decades and created “Sunday Night Football.”

Polian simply wasn’t ready for retirement after an NFL career in which he helped build Buffalo, Carolina and Indianapolis into Super Bowl teams, with the Colts winning the NFL championship after the 2006 season.

This alternative league seems to stand a better chance of surviving than others, such as the USFL and the World League, because of the people and philosophies involved.

“I’ve been pretty vocal about channeling the thoughts of so many of my friends in the NFL, in coaching and player personnel, that since the demise of NFL Europe, it’s needed a developmental league, where players can come in and learn and develop skills,” Polian said. “When Charlie approached me about this, we discussed it at great length and finally I said, ‘I’m going to put my effort where my mouth is and see where we can make this work.”

In the opening night of games on Saturday, San Antonio defeated San Diego, 15-6, and Orlando beat Atlanta, 40-6. Howland native De’veon Smith scored a rushing touchdown for Orlando. As of press time, details from the games weren’t reported.

Polian said the USFL took about 22 months to get up and running, and the expansion Carolina Panthers took about 19 months.

“We’ve done this in nine months because of so many great former NFL people who are excited to do it, excited to be in it,” Polian said. “We started with nothing and we’re going to open it up on Saturday with eight teams playing what I think will be pretty good football.

“That’s a credit to the people involved. We could not have done it if we had not had quality former NFL people.”

The AAF is indeed stuffed with executives, general managers, coaches and players who’ve had various NFL experience.

Hall of Fame linebacker and Super Bowl winner Mike Singletary is Memphis’ coach.

Mike Martz, who was offensive coordinator of the St. Louis Rams’ “Greatest Show on Turf” Super Bowl-winning team in the 1999 season, returns to the sidelines as coach in San Diego, which two seasons ago lost the NFL’s Chargers to Los Angeles.

Mike Vick is the offensive coordinator in Atlanta.

Dennis Erickson is head coach in Salt Lake and will face off against Arizona’s Rick Neuheisel.

The AAF even has the Head Ball Coach himself, Steve Spurrier, who is coaching the Apollos.

Hall of Famer Willie Lanier is an executive in the league office, where former Pittsburgh Steelers stars Hines Ward (head of football operations) and Troy Polamalu (head of player relations) also work.