Everything mentioned before was still intact with the deal and is re-iterated below:
- A 2-year agreement that would make the WFU teams partial members of the NAAF for the 1970 and 1971 seasons.
- The WFU teams would compete in the NAAF, using hybrid football rules.
- The 5 teams would join the Minnesota Serpents in creating a 6-team West Division and would be able to compete for the McCallister Cup.
- Due to partial membership status, the teams will not participate in the league’s draft but will retain the ability to sign players out of college from the Western College Athletics Union without those players needing to go through the draft.
- Trades and free agency moves between the clubs would be allowed, but if the agreement comes to an end and the sides agree to part ways, any players who have NAAF memberships, which are acquired when players sign contracts with NAAF teams and enter the draft, would be able to leave their WFU teams and rejoin the NAAF if they so choose. Of course, the same is true for players coming from the WFU.
- The WFU teams would also be included in the partnership with Patterson Athletics and receive new uniforms for the 1970 season.
- The details of the deal can be renegotiated after the 1970 season, but both sides must play in the same league for the full 2 seasons unless extreme circumstances occur.
Division Alignment
Most of the details discussed in the 2nd set of meetings were about the season’s structure. In the end, the format of the season would work as follows:
The league will now be split into 3 divisions of 6:
WEST
Calgary Tigers
Edmonton Rangers
Minnesota Serpents
Regina Wheat Kings
Vancouver Wolves
Winnipeg Falcons
CENTRAL
Buffalo Blue Wings
Indiana Victors
London Tigers
Louisville Thunder
Pittsburgh Blacksmiths
Toronto Steelheads
EAST
Boston Independents
Halifax Mariners
Long Island Raiders
Montreal Rouge
Ottawa Royals
Providence Gold Stars
Schedule Formula
The season will remain at 12 games. Each team will play 8 games within their division and 4 games outside of the division. The divisional games would be split so each team plays 3 opponents 2 times (one of those 3 teams would be a designated rival), and then the remaining 2 other teams once. Then they would play 2 opponents from each of the other two divisions for a total of 4 more games.
So for example the Buffalo Blue Wings’ opponents may look like this:
HOME
London - Division Rival
Indiana - Division Home and Home
Toronto - Division Home and Home
Louisville - Single Division Game
Vancouver - West Division Home Game
Halifax - East Division Home Game
AWAY
London - Division Rival
Indiana - Division Home and Home
Toronto - Division Home and Home
Pittsburgh - Single Division Game
Calgary - West Division Away Game
Long Island - East Division Away Game
Bye weeks will also return to their regular scheduled mid-season set but will be split across 3 weeks with 6 teams getting a bye at one time.
Playoff Expansion
The agreement also sees the NAAF playoff expanded as 8 teams will now qualify for the tournament. Each Division Winner clinches a playoff spot and will be the top 3 seeds. However, due to the WFU still desiring to have a Mackenzie Cup title game, the top 2 teams in the West Division will qualify and play each other in the first round of the playoffs. The remaining 4 teams will be a wildcard where the next 4 best teams qualify. If teams are tied, the higher-seeded team within their division will clinch the spot. For example, if the 2nd place team in the Central has the same record as the 3rd place team in the East, the Central division team would qualify. However, if the 3rd place team has a better record than the 2nd place team (much like the crossover rule), they would qualify.
An example season would look like this (seeding determined by randomization):
WEST
(1) Edmonton - Y
(7) Calgary - X
Winnipeg
Vancouver
Minnesota
Regina
CENTRAL
(2) London - Y
(4) Buffalo - X
(5) Indiana - X
Louisville
Toronto
Pittsburgh
EAST
(3) Providence - Y
(6) Long Island - X
(8) Halifax - X
Montreal
Boston
Ottawa
Quarter Finals
(1) EDM VS (7) CGY - Mackenzie Cup
(2) LDN VS (8) HFX
(3) PRO VS (6) LI
(4) BUF VS (5) IND
Teams would then be reseeded each round with the highest-seeded team remaining taking on the lowest-seeded team remaining.
1970 Draft Order
Since the WFU teams will not be included in the 1970 draft, the final order is confirmed to be:
1 - Louisville
2 - Providence
3 - Toronto
4 - London
5 - Long Island
6 - Montreal
7 - Halifax -> Louisville
8 - Minnesota
9 - Indiana
10 - Pittsburgh
11 - Boston
12 - Ottawa
13 - Buffalo -> Montreal
Award Changes
Lastly, the NAAF will be making a change to their awards for this upcoming season. The WFU has been awarding the Most Outstanding Player award instead of Most Valuable Player award. Jameson liked the concept as it better awards players for individual performance rather than having to rely on team success which is rewarded with championships instead. The league is also adding a new award to honour offensive linemen, who have been underappreciated in the awards count, called the Offensive Lineman of the Year Award.
Fallout of the new deal
The news of the new deal certainly had the rest of the football world’s attention as the NAAF over the next two seasons will have 18 teams making it one of the largest football leagues in the history of the sport. The GLFL didn’t say much about the situation and were just happy the NAAF remained out of their territory. However, the ACFL was a different story. The league always put itself at the top as the premier league in the football world and most agreed with the sentiment, as they had the best players, at least that’s what most American football fans thought. Now, that was a harder argument to make as the NAAF had clearly taken a massive leap over the ACFL if it wasn’t already at the top. Current Commissioner, Don Soriano, did address the media about the ever-expanding rival, and he was pretty calm in his delivery, noting the ACFL had some plans in the works to bounce back from the mistakes former Commissioner, Stephen Van Fossen made during his term as Commissioner. Of course, Van Fossen wouldn’t be silent on the matter, especially when his pride was taking a shot from the success of the NAAF and from his own league. To quote Van Fossen: “All I’m saying is I had a plan, and I don’t think the NAAF would be close to where it is if I was able to follow through. Not a chance.” While some ACFL loyalists would make the argument that Van Fossen was right, most were not convinced considering his move into Boston and Rochester was looked at as a complete disaster.
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