The Spring League


The Spring League is an American football league and scouting event that began play in 2017 and founded by Brian Woods. Aimed at professional athletes but not paying a salary or expenses, the league's goal is to "serve as an instructional league and showcase for professional football talent."
The Spring League was the second football property to be established by Brian Woods, following the Fall Experimental Football League from 2014 to 2015. The 2017 season consisted of six games that were played during April. There was an additional game called The Spring League Showcase that was played in July 2017.

Background

The National Football League has not had an official developmental league since 2007 with NFL Europe. Several other developmental leagues unaffiliated with the NFL have popped up, the FXFL, Gridiron Developmental Football League and the Rivals Professional Football League. On September 2, 2016, the FXFL, after two abbreviated seasons of operation, announced it had suspended operations in hopes of finding a more effective business model. A developmental league continued to be an internal NFL discussion as of December 2016 with a decision deadline of February 2017.

Business plan

Like the FXFL, The Spring League is built upon the concept of serving as a second opportunity to allow players to advance to more established professional leagues, yet The Spring League has some prominent differences from the FXFL. While The Spring League's core player is around 24 years old, it also took in experienced professionals, which the FXFL discouraged. All four teams are brought to one location, and at first not have distinctive identities or home cities/franchises. Rather, the games are more showcases for the NFL and Canadian Football League scouts in the spring and summer months. Also unlike the FXFL, which paid a per-game stipend for its players, The Spring League paid only for room and board. Woods said that the lack of payment is out of financial necessity. To be eligible to participate in the league, a player may not be under contract with a pro league nor be eligible for the current year's draft. Players must also pay a $350 application fee. The league also assists in developing NFL referees. Players must also cover their own health insurance. The Spring League earns revenue from a subsidy that the state of Texas provides to hold its events there, as well as from organizations seeking to test equipment and rules changes. In 2019, the XFL served as The Spring League's largest revenue source, paying the league "six figures" to test-run its rulebook.

History

2017 season

CEO Brian Woods founded The Spring League in early 2016. On December 22, 2016, SiriusXM NFL Radio initially reported the league as being owned by the NFL, but retracted that by the end of the day. The NFL informed its teams of the league's existence and its plans to operate from April 5 through April 26, 2017. The Spring League's 2017 season consisted of a four-team, three-week single round-robin tournament in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia at The Greenbrier resort in April, and a two-team "Showcase" game in Napa, California in July. The teams in each tournament were only identified with vague geographic names such as North, South, East, West and California. A game streamed on Facebook received 60,000 views while a practice received 30,000 views.
Coaches with long NFL experience included quarterback coach Terry Shea, Steve Fairchild, Donnie Henderson and Art Valero. For the April games, the league had four teams and 105 players. Its players included NFL veterans Fred Jackson, Anthony "Boobie" Dixon, Ben Tate, Greg Hardy, Ricky Stanzi, McLeod Bethel-Thompson and Ahmad Bradshaw. The players ranged from two to 10 years out from college. The league indicated two CFL and 10 NFL teams had their scouts visit the league while another 20 made requests for video footage. Following the April games, roughly two dozen players were invited to NFL rookie mini-camps. The Carolina Panthers picked up six for their rookie mini-camp.
After the first season, NFL scouts seemed to like the league structure but otherwise gave mixed responses. Value was perceived by scouts as they got updated information on forgotten players or saw a player with a conditioned arm, but otherwise the talent level was below what NFL teams expected for an established developmental league. Some scouts expected younger players that had been to a couple NFL training camp but in the wrong system. Woods indicated that the older and big names brought attention to the league, which has a secondary purpose of providing a veteran annual showcase.
On July 15, 2017, the Spring League Showcase was held at Napa Memorial Stadium in California between Spring League California, coached by Terry Shea and Spring League East, coached by Donnie Henderson. Flofootball.com's FloPRO subscription service streamed the game. David Ash started the game for the California roster and lead several scoring drives. He had 96 passing yards and 9-of-13 passing, including a 4-yard touchdown pass to Anthony Dixon with an interception and 3 runs for a total of 10 yards with his longest for 9 yards. For the East, two quarterbacks, Casey Pachall and Trenton Norvell, made touchdown passes. Pachall completed 4-of-6 passes for 84 yards and a 67-yard touchdown. The game's top rusher was Paul Harris of the East team, who rushed twice for 74 yards and a 6-yard touchdown. East defeated California 23–19.
Notable players for each team:
The following players signed with NFL or CFL teams following their involvement with The Spring League in 2017:
The league had try-outs in various cities in October and November 2017 and February 2018. On December 7, 2017, The Spring League announced it would play its second season in Austin, Texas beginning in late March 2018. The league was also to have a football-specific tech forum and a joint internship program with the University of Texas’ Center for Sports Leadership & Innovation. Turner Sports announced in mid-January 2018, while the league games would be on its new streaming service, the league was also finalizing a deal to practice and play games at Circuit of the Americas near Austin, Texas. On February 14, the league announced the signing of Heisman Trophy winner and former Cleveland Browns first round pick Johnny Manziel to the league playing on the South team. Games to be played on April 7 and 14. Other former NFL commitments to the league were former Cleveland Browns first round pick Kellen Winslow Jr. and former Baltimore Ravens running back Lorenzo Taliaferro. On March 3, the league did not execute on the contract to play the 2018 season at the Circuit of the Americas and instead announced events to take place at Kelly Reeves Athletic Complex in Round Rock, Texas. Following the April games, the another Summer Showcase was announced for June 2018.
DateTeamscoreopponentscore
April 7North13West30
April 7South7East11
April 12South17West34
April 12North27East10

The following players signed with NFL, CFL or AAF teams following their involvement with The Spring League in 2018:
The Spring League announced a "Fall Showcase" for Miami, Florida to take place November 6–9, 2018, which the league intends to prepare players for the AAF and XFL, which play winter/spring seasons.

2019 spring season

For the 2019 season, The Spring League partnered with the XFL to test rule changes the new league hoped to implement for its own 2020 season. One rule change, originally proposed by Pro Football Talk in 2017, was replacing overtime with a two-point conversion shootout occurring simultaneously at both end zones with five rounds in the TSL. Also tested was the tap rule, which allows a referee to send a player to the sideline for less than a penalty level offense. Both rules and the kickoff formation were later implemented in the XFL.
2019 season practice began March 31, 2019 with double headers on April 6 and 11, 2019. Each of the four teams played two games. For the first time, one of the teams had a brand name; the Austin Generals was named after its host city of Austin, Texas, and used the logo and colors of the former New Jersey Generals of the United States Football League. The remaining three teams will retain their generic North, East and West brandings.
The Spring League was hired by the XFL to hold three mini-camp style tryouts. With this revenue source, the league's revenue exceeded one million dollars and would have its first profitable year. The two leagues are in preliminary discussions of the Spring League becoming the XFL's official development league.
The league held its second Summer Showcase on July 30, 2019 in Mission Viejo, California with 100 pay to play players in a four day camp and a six quarter scrimmage. XFL executives and coaches and ESPN and Fox staff were on had to view rule tests and in-game technologies with the broadcaster giving feedback on how it would effect broadcast coverage.

2020 season

For 2020, TSL announced a showcase game against the Japan national American football team at the Ford Center at The Star March 1 and the main competition March 7 and 11 at Sam Boyd Stadium. The designated home team was dubbed the Las Vegas Hughes, named after Howard Hughes, who spent much of the end of his life as a recluse in Las Vegas. Mettenberger agreed to return as a quarterback.
DateTeamscoreopponentscore
March 7Las Vegas14North7
March 7North14East7
March 7Las Vegas3East0
March 11Las Vegas17East6
March 11Las Vegas0North7
March 11NorthEast