A11FL
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| Sport | American football |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2013 |
| Inaugural season | 2014 (planned) |
| Ceased | 2014 |
| CEO | Scott McKibben |
| No. of teams | 8 |
| Country | United States |
| TV partner(s) | ESPN |
| Official website | A11FL.com |
The A-11 Football League (A11FL) was a proposed spring outdoor American football league that was announced in 2013 and scheduled its first season for 2014. The league planned to use modified NFL rules that allowed any of the eleven offensive players to be eligible receivers depending on how they line up at scrimmage (known as the A-11 offense).
The A11FL had announced plans to play two "showcase games" in the spring of 2014, but cancelled these events in April 2014. On July 9, 2014, the league announced on their Facebook page that read: "For the last few months our investment team has been actively working on financing for a new Professional Spring Football League that will feature NFL rules. Details about the new league name will be released when we are able, but as of today the new league will no longer be branded as the A11FL."
There have been numerous attempts to establish a spring football league in the last thirty years, the best-known being the United States Football League (1983–85), the NFL-sponsored WLAF/NFL Europe (1991–92 and 1995-2007); and the XFL (2001). Others include the Professional Spring Football League (PSFL), which folded before playing any games in 1992; the Regional Football League (RFL), which lasted a single season in 1999; the Spring Football League (SFL), which played just four games in 2000; and the Stars Football League, which intended to be a national league but spent most of its three-year existence (2011–13) as a regional semi-pro league based in Florida.
California high school football coaches Kurt Bryan and Steve Humphries developed the A-11 offense in the mid-2000s by using a loophole in rules concerning allowable punting formations to design an offensive scheme in which "All 11" players were potentially eligible receivers. While some high school coaches began to adopt the offense, many more felt that it was "unsportsmanlike" and "against the spirit of the rules". In 2009, the loophole which allowed the A-11 to be used was closed by the National Federation of State High School Associations by a 46-2 vote. In 2011, Bryan and Humphries began planning a professional football league that allowed the A-11 offense, which they felt made for a safer and more wide-open game.
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