A-11 Football League

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. (Several other proposed spring leagues never got past the planning stage; for instance, the International Football Federation was set to begin play in 2000, but never made it past their initial press conference.)[6]

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.[7][8] 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.[9]

The creation of the A11FL was announced on April 16, 2013 with a call for investments and business partners.[10] The league was designed to start as single-owner entity in which all franchises were to be owned and operated by the league office.

At press conference on February 6, 2014, A11FL commissioner Scott McKibben announced six of its eight inaugural teams, leaving the final two teams and home stadiums to be announced at a later date.[11] At the same press conference, McKibben announced that the league had reached an agreement with ESPN to broadcast two "showcase games" and the 2015 regular season.[12] The showcase games were scheduled to be played at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa in May 2014 and at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas in June 2014.[13]

The league announced via Twitter on March 28, 2014 that it would be redirecting efforts towards a "new opportunity" that would "secure the formation of the league for many years". On April 11, 2014, the league announced via Facebook that "things are coming together just as we said in our announcement. No need to read between the lines. Big news ahead." Later that same April, the A11FL canceled its two showcase games and announced that previously introduced franchises in San Francisco and Los Angeles would not be included in the league due to the cost of workers' compensation insurance in California. However, commissioner McKibben stated at the time that the A11FL still planned on fielding eight teams for its inaugural season, which was still planned for the spring of 2015.[3]

On July 9, 2014, the league announced via Facebook that it was dropping the A11FL name and the A-11 offense would attempt to "rebrand" as a "new league", effectively folding the A11FL.[4] The league released what would have been the logos for the eight originally proposed teams on December 28, 2014, in an effort to promote the graphic design company that had designed the logos.[14] In February 2015, the A11FL announced via Facebook that officials of the league were planning on organizing a different football league not based on the A-11 offense. No further plans or news about the proposed league have been announced since then, though former league officials Kurt Bryan and Scott McKibben were named head coach and team president of the Oakland Panthers, an expansion team in the Indoor Football League.[5] However, the Panthers suspended operations before playing a game due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the franchise is in indefinite "dormancy".[15]