1963 League Meetings

1963 League Meetings

NAAF Draft Expansion
Over the last several seasons, the popularity of the NAAF has increased, not only for the fans but for players looking for a professional option. Because of this, the NAAF has received significantly more players looking to jump into the league via the draft. To compensate, the league has announced the addition of a 5th round to the draft starting this season. Each team will receive a 5th round draft pick at the end of the meetings (which signifies the start of the new season). Once they have the selection, they have the ability to trade those picks if they desire prior to the draft. 

Ontario Football Union Expected to Fold
Last season, the NAAF came to an agreement with the OFU after the OFU’s Halifax expansion team decided to shift their focus and purchase the Worcester Athletics. Due to the financial struggles of the OFU, the NAAF compensated them financially, but less than a year later, the OFU has pretty much burnt through the financial boost. The fans have started to become more and more attached to the NAAF, as the season runs during the same time and both the Ottawa Royals and London Tigers have had boatloads of success. On top of that, more and more players that would normally enter the OFU have shifted to the NAAF, most notably RB Corbyn Knight. 

Commissioner and Toronto Lakers’ owner Jerry Anderson has been able to help the league survive since taking over, but it has been a losing battle each year. He has decided that the best thing for the people involved is to look at other options. His relationship with Ryan Jameson and the NAAF has been good since he took over and even more so over the past year. With that blooming relationship, Anderson has now begun talks with Jameson about potentially merging the OFU into the NAAF. The talks are very early, but the NAAF is certainly on board with the opportunity to add more teams to its league especially with the ACFL looking to break into NAAF markets. 

The direction of the OFU has not been taken well by everyone. Hamilton Steelers’ owner Arnold Gibson has been against the decision. He loves the game and has always seen the OFU as his league; the one he has devoted the most time to. It stems back to his relationship with Jerry’s father, Donald Anderson, who was the owner of the Lakers for many years. Donald had also run the league like Jerry currently does, but he was certainly a little more political and direct with this style of commissioning. Gibson had the largest impact on the other owners. He still respects Jerry and his decision, however, he will still try and fight for the OFU throughout the process as a merger is not final. At the end of the day, the OFU has not been able to compete and it may ultimately be best for the league to move towards an NAAF merger.

ACFL’s New Teams Struggled Both on and off the Field
Last offseason, the ACFL made a huge move in expanding the league into Rochester and Boston. The decision was the first major move of new commissioner Steven Van Fossen. In the first season, neither team was able to find much success on the field. The Boston Shamrocks were notably bad in going winless in their first season. They also did not sell well in terms of attendance. Most fans were done with the season by the time the NAAF ended, and while they enjoyed extra football, most fans only attended a game or 2 at most. The Rochester Millers were slightly more successful with 3 wins on the season, however, two of those were against Boston with the other coming against the other weak team in the Pittsburgh Hammers. They have had slightly more attendance than Boston, but they also have a smaller market which means they were expecting some lower-end numbers. 

Despite the lack of immediate success, Van Fossen is calling for patience with the new teams. He is very confident that as the teams get better over the next couple of seasons, fans will see that they have the best product to offer and will be overflowing at the gates to see the ACFL play.