All American Football League 2008 Draft To Be Held Saturday, January 26; Draft Procedures Updated

League's Inaugural Draft to be Broadcast Live on Television and Internet
Team Logos and Jerseys to be Unveiled at Draft

January 22, 2008

 

ATLANTA, GA -- The All American Football League (AAFL) 2008 inaugural draft will be held Saturday, January 26 at Noon EST / 11 AM CST / 9 AM PST and will be broadcast on television and online.

The draft, earlier slated for January 25, has been rescheduled to January 26 to allow for a live television broadcast.

The broadcast will originate from the NBA set at Turner Studios in Atlanta, with live coverage of the first three hours of the AAFL Draft from 12:00 - 3:00 p.m., EST on regional networks within the League's footprint. The entire draft will be streamed live on a webcast provided by PlayOn! Sports, a division of Turner. You can view the live broadcast here.

From 12-1pm ET, there will be an overview of the League, and each team's protected players will be announced. Protected players are those who played college football in that team's region, and have been pre-selected by each team. Starting at 1pm ET, the player selection draft will begin. Each team will select a total of 50 players, including their protected players.

Each of the League's six teams' draft operations will be held in hotel meeting rooms in their respective cities. A production crew, including an analyst and cameraperson, will be at each team draft site, in order to simulcast draft developments from each location within the live broadcast. A crew will also provide coverage from the AAFL League Headquarters in Atlanta.

Television Network Information:

The AAFL draft will be broadcast live on the following stations:
Comcast Sports Southeast (CSS)
CSS will broadcast to 5.8 million households in 12 states: (AL, AR, FL, GA, KY, LA, MS, NC, SC, TN, VA, WV)

Cox Sports Television (CST):
CST will broadcast to 1.5 million residents in parts of Alabama, Florida, Texas (not Houston) & Arkansas

KTBU 55:
Will broadcast to 623,000 residents in Houston, TX

Bright House Networks:
Will broadcast to 800,000 residents in Orlando, FL

Local Broadcast Stations:

Birmingham -- Charter 15
Tuscaloosa -- Comcast 29
Little Rock -- Comcast 23
Knoxville -- Comcast 33
Gainesville -- Cox 67
Ocala -- Cox 68
Atlanta -- Comcast 45
Detroit -- TBD

Team Draft Locations:

Team Alabama -- The Wynfrey Hotel (Birmingham, AL)
Team Arkansas -- Embassy Suites (Little Rock, AK)
Team Florida -- Hilton University of Florida (Gainesville, FL)
Team Michigan -- Ann Arbor Marriott Ypsilanti at Eagle Crest (Ypsilanti, MI)
Team Tennessee -- Knoxville Marriott (Knoxville, TN)
Team Texas -- Westin Oaks at the Galleria (Houston, TX)
AAFL League Headquarters -- (Atlanta, GA)

Draft Pool Eligibility:

• Players must have attended a combine, workout or tryout; or player must have a written scouting report from an AAFL coach or League personnel on file at the League office
• Player must have signed AAFL Draft Eligible Player Agreement
• Player must have verification of a college degree (official transcript) on file at the League office

Protected Players:

Each team has protected a list of players who played college football in the team's home state or in one of that team's protected states. Those players will be introduced to the public during the draft. Depending on the number of players each team has protected, that number of draft picks in the middle rounds will be filled by those protected players. (For example, if Team Alabama protected 40 players, the first five draft selections will be players from the unprotected draft pool, as will the last five selections. Draft selections 6-45 would be filled with players that had been protected.)

Protected States by Team:

Team Alabama -- Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi
Team Arkansas -- Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma
Team Florida -- Florida
Team Michigan -- Michigan, Illinois, Indiana
Team Tennessee -- Tennessee, Kentucky, South Carolina
Team Texas -- Texas

2008 Draft Order:

1. Team Arkansas  (Head Coach Ron Calcagni)
2. Team Tennessee  (Head Coach Andy Kelly)
3. Team Texas  (Head Coach John Jenkins)
4. Team Florida  (Head Coach Shane Matthews)
5. Team Michigan  (Head Coach John Fontes)
6. Team Alabama  (Head Coach Mike Jones)

Draft Selections by Round:

Round 1: Teams Select in Draft Order
Round 2: Teams Select in Reverse order of Round 1
Odd Numbered Rounds (3, 5, 7, etc.): Teams select in Round 1 order
Even Numbered Rounds (4, 6, 8, etc.): Teams select in Round 2 order

Minutes Per Selection in Each Round:

Round 1:   4 minutes per selection
Round 2:   4 minutes per selection
Round 3:   3 minutes per selection
Round 4:   3 minutes per selection
Round 5 to end of draft:   2 minutes per selection

Player Trades (Drafted Players Only):

• Only Drafted Players are allowed to be traded to a team for another Drafted Player
• Protected Players are not permitted to be traded
• Trading dates are Jan. 28, 2008 at 12:00pm EST -- Jan. 31, 2008 at 6:00pm EST
• All trades must be approved by the League Office

Supplemental Draft:

The AAFL supplemental draft will be held on February 16, 2008. The supplemental draft pool will include all players who were not selected in the draft, players who were recently released or waived from the NFL and players who did not have  verification of a college degree (official transcript) turned in to the League office before the draft on January 26. Each team will select ten (10) players in the supplemental draft, and will be able to protect three (3) players, according to the same protection rules as stated above.

Media Coverage:

Media members are invited to cover all team draft sites.