1966 League Meetings

1966 League Meetings

NAAF

The last 4 seasons have been hectic for the NAAF. From dealing with the Athletics’ fallout and the several new teams, they have not really had the chance to breathe and focus on the league as a whole. This season, they were able to just watch and see how the NAAF was growing. Almost every market saw loads of success this season, however, the most telling market was Pittsburgh. Despite the Blacksmiths being in their first season, they were already outselling the Hammers this season. It seems like the fans are tired of the Hammers’ mismanagement and struggles, and are much more drawn to the new and fresh Blacksmiths with William Braddock at the helm. Overall, after such a competitive season for the NAAF, the league is certainly in a very good position. 

Another thing the league got to look at this offseason was the league’s logo which has not been updated since the league’s first season in 1949. Since then, the NAAF has grown from 7 to 12 teams which does date the logo that has 7 stars for the 7 original teams. So the league took the time to update the look of the league. 

The new logo is a modernized version of their original logo. The football is now just the outline of the logo with 7 stripes to still honour the original 7 teams. The new font is to try and create a more recognizable look for the league. They also simplify the colour scheme to red and green. They also added a secondary/simple logo to also be used in other situations as well which just features the abbreviation in a box that fits around the writing.

ACFL

There was a bit of good news coming from the ACFL, as their Boston Shamrocks finally started to look somewhat competitive. The team rose to a 5-7 record this season which was much more promising than the last few seasons. It seems that the somewhat controversial trades that pretty much gifted the Shamrocks a franchise QB and RB have worked to make the team more competitive. However, despite the gained success, the seats at Richardson Stadium were still mostly empty for ACFL games this season. It might be the sign that Boston is just not the market for the ACFL, however, Commissioner Stephen Van Fossen remains confident that the continued success will lead to a better outlook come next season. However, there is more fire being lit under Van Fossen as the Hammers saw a significant drop in ticket sales this season as well. It seems that the ACFL’s neglect of Pittsburgh and the NAAF’s new team have led to a shift in the fanbase in Pittsburgh. It is certainly leaving the troubled commissioner in a difficult spot going into the next few seasons. 

Despite all the bad news for the ACFL, Van Fossen was able to bring something that seemed to be a hit with a lot of people. He officially announced the opening of the Pro American Football Hall of Fame, which will honour players of the past, playing AMERICAN football from leagues across America. Of course, he was insistent on saying “AMERICAN” with more inflection as the NAAF and Hybrid football players would not be included in the Hall. That mandate seemed to extend into the past as well when the list of the inaugural members was announced. There were key players that were not included were QB Larry Larson of Boston who played several years in the NAAF, but also several in the NYFL/Atlantic League prior to WW2, DB Oscar Patterson, who had many good years as a member of the Blue Wings in the NYFL, and (the most shocking) QB William Braddock who only had played for the Pittsburgh Hammers and never touched the field in the NAAF. It appears that his ownership of the Blacksmiths has made him ineligible for the Hall. 

Of course, this would lead to some frustration from the NAAF fans and those especially of Pittsburgh. There was even some frustration from die-hard Hammer fans towards William Braddock for even getting involved with the NAAF. At this point, there is speculation already beginning to form around the possibility of the NAAF creating their own Hall of Fame in the near future. 

GLFL

There were rumours last offseason that the GLFL was looking to add a new team to the city of Minneapolis after the NAAF decided not to head to the North Star State. Kris Mathieson was the man interested in the NAAF bid however, it seems that he will not be the man headlining the GLFL team. With Mayor Brad Kennard continuing to deny the construction of a new stadium, Mathieson headed over to the baseball owner, Harold Smith, to try and convince the owner of allowing him to own a team that would play out of his stadium. Apparently, Mathieson’s pitch was really good as Smith ended up going ahead himself to the GLFL and ended up getting the city the team for himself. It certainly did not sit well with Mathieson, but at this point, there was not much he could do. Smith ended up coming to an agreement with Mathieson to allow him to own a portion of the team and help run it. The new team will begin to play in the next GLFL season.