NAAF News Expansion Cities Being Determined - 1956

 NAAF News

Expansion Cities Being Determined
Last offseason, Ryan Jameson announced that the NAAF would be expanding to 10 teams for the 1957 season. Over the past season, the committee has been visiting different cities and hearing from many different proposals for a new team in the league. While there were up to 10 candidates that seemed to have a decent plan 8 have made it to the next stage of the process.  

Hartford, CT/Springfield, MA - Jack Forsberg and Mark Vincent, were two of the owners looking to buy the Hawks when the team was looking for a new owner, but the two never seemed to have a solid plan or even the funds to buy the team, but a couple of years later they have a better offer. They are still working with Hartford to possibly bring the NAAF back to the city after the Hawks left, but also have an option in development for heading to Springfield. They have an interest in bouncing between the two cities much like the Tigers were doing before the move to Kitchener. The possibility could create a dynamic and interesting fanbase that would spread across two different cities. Hartford is still very hesitant about building a new stadium much like they were when the Hawks were looking to do so. The good news is Springfield is all for it, so the team could end up in Springfield full time in a brand new stadium. Travel would not be a big issue being right in the New England Division and could be an interesting situation that the league is liking a lot.  

Portland, ME - Portland is a much smaller city in the mix, but the proposal was pretty strong from the ownership group led by Phillip Dockson. Dockson has a possible building to be built near downtown which would seat only 21,000 with expansion possible in the future, but they are pointing out the lack of teams in the area. The lack of football will likely create a bigger reach for the team to fans outside of the city. The NAAF has not shown true commitment, but they continue to go back to Portland to talk which might be a sign that the city is in the mix.  

Quebec City, QC - Quebec City has been a pretty big contributor to the NAAF behind the scenes. The amateur team in the city has been home to lots of NAAF talent. RB Laurent Brazeau played in QC before joining the Tigers. The owner is Pierre Lambeau, who has been running the show in QC for many years. He used to be a part of the Quebec league with the Rouge and has worked closely with their owner Jean Beaulieu. Quebec City has a population of 279,251 which is similar to Ottawa in size. Their current stadium, Stade Mathieu Tremblay, is a bit small with only 19,000 seats, but the city is open to building a bigger home for the start of the 1958 season with a proposed 35,000 seats. Of course, Quebec would work well in the North division with Montreal and Ottawa not far down the road and marks a strong bid. 

Rochester, NY - Falling in a similar situation to Long Island ahead of them, Rochester was thrown to the curb by the NYFL as they merged with the ACFL. The former owner Greg Manheim has been the leader in the bid to bring football back to Rochester. Rochester currently has a population of 332,488 and 487,000 in the metro, which is pretty average for the NAAF cities, and an old stadium in George H. Johnson Field, which holds 31,000 at the moment, but they will likely look to renovate and expand the stadium. Rochester would fit in well as an immediate rival to Buffalo and likely Ontario being around the 2 teams. Rochester is one of the strongest bids to get a team so far. 

Syracuse, NY - Syracuse also made a bid next to Rochester. The city has the same problem with the NYFL, being a smaller market, it also struggled to survive especially after the Blue Wings left the league. The possible owner, Bill Gordon, would love to take part in the NAAF and would make for a great situation if they and Rochester got teams. The big concern with Syracuse which has a population of 220,583, is the stadium which only holds 20,560. Syracuse Ballpark doesn’t make the best football stadium but has been working for the time being, but they are looking into a new location for a new building.  

Several other cities made proposals in the Northeast, but they would pull out for various reasons. Manchester, NH had a small proposal but they were not looking at expanding the quite small 16,000 season stadium. Halifax, NS was thought to have a good proposal, but the city was not exactly backing up the owner which led to them pulling out of the race. Albany, NY and Scranton, PA also took shots but had a lack of leadership to them.  

Later in the process, the league did look to widen the reach by heading to some cities outside of their region. The move might be a risk, as the ACFL and GLFL control most of the areas outside of the Northeast NAAF region. However, there are a few cities that show some promise in growth that could become decent cities.  

Indianapolis, IN - Indianapolis has been steadily growing in recent years but has always been looked at as a bit too small to the Great Lakes Football League. The population is currently 427,173, which is bigger than a few of the NAAF markets but compared to Chicago, Cleveland and Detroit, it’s a bit small.  Possible Owner Sammy Kirkdale has however proven that the city is very capable of supporting sports with the Indy 500. The city would be looking to build a new stadium which is expected to be in the 30,000-40,000 range. The city is close to accepting the deal but there may be a couple of roadblocks yet. The big concern with Indy other westward cities is the travel distance as well as the region having the Great Lakes Football League around. 

Grand Rapids, MI - Grand Rapids was another interesting spot. The possible owner, David Harrison, has been on the down-low about the plan. Almost like he has his doubts about the league. He still wants to bring football back to the city which lost its team during WW2, but would rather it be in the GLFL as some are speculating. But much like Indy, the GLFL isn’t on their side. Grand Rapids Grounds is still standing with 22,000 seats but would need lots of upgrades to be usable long term. So a new stadium would be ideal and it doesn’t seem like Harrison is wanting to commit that to the NAAF.  

Cincinnati, OH - The last entry and the latest, Cincinnati also marks the biggest with a population of 503,998 and metro of 1.2 million. However, this makes it the biggest risk of the bunch. The GLFL’s presence is quite on and off in the city with several teams that haven’t been able to stay afloat in the city. Whether bad-ownership or the GLFL’s financial troubles, the city hasn’t been able to have a consistent team. The possible owner is Vince Forsyth, who is a friend of Sammy Kirkdale’s and was a part of the current Cincinnati team that is still going through financial pains from a terrible season. The biggest roadblock could be securing stadium rights for the team with a contending team already playing at Benjamin Coalfield Stadium. The stadium is an older field that holds 43,470. Not only could that be a challenge but also the GLFL could double down on trying to win the city if the NAAF tries to put a team there. 

The group of cities out west do provide some intriguing opportunities for the NAAF, but there is a lot of uncertainty about them for sure. Especially when considering travel. Though adding two of them would be able to help in that regard. The concerns about Grand Rapids seem to outweigh the benefit of heading to Michigan, as well as the risk of trying to target a bigger market like Cincinnati. 

The league is looking to cut down the list around draft time before making the final decision prior to the start of the 1956 season so the cities have the time to prepare stadiums, brands, and coaching.  

As for the expansion draft process, which the league wants to improve on from the year Worcester joined. The likely changes will see more players being left available for the new teams to pick, but also allow those teams to maintain more of those players. Throughout the process, Ryan Jameson has been concerned about the players’ opinions on this. He understands some frustrations athletes face during their careers being a former professional athlete himself and wants to make sure everything is fair between the league, the owners, and the players. In order to accomplish this, he has been working with former Independents QB, Larry Larson. Larson has started to represent players in the league talks and has been involved in the expansion process. Jameson and Larson have been looking at developing a player committee with a group of current players to also be involved in the expansion process and other situations moving forward.