Finally, a trial former NFL QB Michael Vick can brag about!
Of course, when I tell what the trial is for you’ll see he’s gone to the dogs.
That’s because Vick is returning to the gridiron in a new professional flag football league trial that is testing out the concept in a game next month.
The American Flag Football League—AFFL, I guess—aims to launch eight league-owned franchises in 2018 and is hosting a game featuring Vick, and former NFL running back Justin Forsett at Avaya Stadium in San Jose, California, on June 27.
Not surprisingly, the idea is brainchild of a guy that has too much money – financier Jeff Lewis – who got the idea while watching his son play flag football, that grown-ups could do it, too.
"I just thought to myself, 'what would this look like if great athletes played this?'" Lewis explains. "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."
Well he’s about to find out, as the 7-on-7 games will be played on a full 100-yard football field with 60-minutes of game time.
And here’s a tech-y catch they hope will grab viewers, the league's flags, and are attached via magnets instead of the typical Velcro so that when a flag is detached, a sensor detects it and an official will be able to see the exact point on the field when the flag came off, thus ceding the guesswork to science—and in something that I will applaud—would call for less replay.
But unlike good old fashioned Velcro, this league probably won’t stick. And unlike the Legends Football League – it’s not gonna be any more entertaining to watch.