1958 League Meetings and Changes

1958 League Meetings and Changes

The league’s annual meetings were focused on a couple of things. Firstly, was the discussion, updates, and finalization of the Tigers’ move from Kitchener to London. Owner Garry Duran and co-owner Darren Lindell would confirm that the construction of the new stadium in London, ON was on schedule and would be complete in time for kick-off in 1958. They also announced the name of the stadium which would be Western Fair Stadium with its location on the grounds of the Western Fair. In terms of the team’s brand, the owners only commented that they were in the process of updating the branding. 

Following the discussion about the state of the Tigers, the meeting would shift towards the success of the expansion teams in their first season. Both Louisville and Indiana had strong starts with large crowds in their first year. The competitiveness that the Victors showed early on was a quick grab for many fans, which ultimately helped them to get the hosting rights for the McCallister Cup this season. The hope is the game will bring even more fans to the stadium game-in and game-out.  

Louisville, despite not having as competitive a team, was able to bring in respectable numbers. It was especially evident in the second half of the season when the team won a couple of games and hometown hero, QB Leonidas Dumont, got a pair of starts. The team is ready to fill up their new stadium, Thunder Stadium, in downtown that will be open for the start of the season. The new building holds 46,250 people. 

The NAAF has been progressing well over the past few seasons. With the move to Long Island, the Raiders have brought in a plethora of new fans from NYC, and the new Midwest teams are already pulling in people from the midwest. The league and the sport’s fanbase has been expanding, especially without the competition of the American leagues in the summer for TV. The NAAF has become popular in the Northeast and is pushing the GLFL and the ACFL at the top for the best leagues in the world.

However, the other two leagues and their fans are still not taking the NAAF too seriously. They still view the league and hybrid football as gimmicky. They believe the league is for those who can’t make it to the pro leagues of the fall, which is not helped by the fact that there are a lot of players that have been in lower roles in the American leagues that have ventured to the NAAF. Of course, realistically the skill difference between the leagues is minimal, in fact, players like DB Alexander Bradley, LB Scotty Williams, and QB Jean Matieau, would likely tear it up in the ACFL or the GLFL. On the scouting side with the league working closely with Lawrence Gainsborough and The Gains Report, they are looking to attract more and more talent to the league.  

However, a major factor is the fans. The fans of the NAAF are passionate, but what about all the new fans that don’t know the league or the players. Commissioner Ryan Jameson would announce that new uniform regulations would be put into place this season. With the newest uniform updates adding shoulder TV numbers, the league has decided to make them mandatory for the rest of the league. On top of that, they will also be adding the player’s last name to the back of the jersey so people can get to know the player’s names. The adjustments will make the league that much more accessible, especially with the extended agreement with CBS and CBC to have every single game covered during the season.  

The new league jerseys would also have shorter sleeves and even lighter materials to make them even more comfortable for the players during the summer. With those updates to the overall template, every team needed to do at the very least a minor update to their uniforms. 

The new designs will be released tomorrow over several posts starting with the least changed to the most.