Have you ever watched a flag football game and thought to yourself that there's a business in there somewhere?
According to ESPN, that's what dawned on financier Jeff Lewis, who decided while watching one of his son's game to get some of the most electric players in the country and form a professional league called The American Flag Football League.
"I just thought to myself, 'what would this look like if great athletes played this?'" Lewis told ESPN. "There's certainly a huge pool to take guys from. Every single year, NFL teams cut 800 guys. We need less than 100 players to field eight teams."
The plan for the league is to launch eight league-owned franchises in 2018, and on June 27th one test game will feature Michael Vick and former NFL veteran running back Justin Forsett in San Jose, CA.
As for the game format, games will be full on 7-on-7 on a full 100-yard field with a 60 minute game clock. One of the really cool new ideas is that the flags will be attached to players via magnets and when one is detached, officials will be able to see exactly where on the field the player was to spot the ball (perhaps via monitor, although exactly how is unclear).
On the surface, this seems like a great way for guys who had their NFL careers end before they were ready to step away another shot, much like the new 3-on-3 league featuring former NBA stars that recently held its draft with quite a bit of buzz and fanfare.
Imagine The Greatest Show on Turf, or some of your other favorite former NFL or college stars getting together and slinging the rock around again one last time. Seems like a fun idea doesn't it?