1959 League Meetings

1959 League Meetings

The owner meetings were pretty relaxed this offseason with nothing major in the plans for the near future. They looked into the group of the new markets that the league had entered over the last two seasons. 

London was super successful, bringing in the first sellouts for Tigers’ games other than games against Buffalo where Blue Wings’ fans filled out the stadium. The first playoff game was a huge success and the Tigers are in a much better place financially to continue to compete. 

Indianapolis also saw some good numbers for games this season. Especially during the middle weeks where the team was winning some games. The McCallister Cup was also really successful with a sellout and lots of other things going on around the city. The NAAF is certainly making its mark on the city and the fanbase is growing. 

Louisville didn’t see the same numbers as Indiana, but still had good crowds for the new stadium and to continue to watch their hometown hero, Leonidas Dumont. The Thunder are still in a good place and should be continuing to grow the market as the team improves. As a whole, the NAAF is in a good place and the daring moves into new markets have paid off thrusting the league forward into competition with other leagues which have made news about a response.  

Outside the NAAF

The Great Lakes league has been the most active with rumours for new cities that could be expansion candidates for the league. Columbus seems to be the most likely move with the potential to move further west with Minneapolis or Kansas City being an option.

The Atlantic Coast League is still not too concerned about their markets, but they are concerned about their players after Nathaniel Braddock made the move to the NAAF. They will be looking to invest more in recruiting players to play in the ACFL over the NAAF. 

The Ontario Football Union is now seeing their mistake in taking their time with London with the Tigers jumping in. This leaves the OFU with not a lot of expansion options. They have talked about adding a new team in Ottawa, but with the Royals' success, it would be really tough. The Kitchener vacancy has become the primary target for the league with the stadium that is there. They also are looking into potential expansion into Quebec or the Maritimes to try and bring in more teams.