The 1st Ever AAL Draft: A Look Back

Table of Contents

0.1 By Cool McCain

1 Collaborative Efforts

By Cool McCain

The American Arena League was brought back this season. At the beginning of the season, the 1st-ever draft was held in Columbus, GA. Year one saw 4 teams drafting, and the AAL incorporated a 4-round snake-style draft. This meant the order alternated each round. This means round one was 1, 2, 3, 4; round two was 4, 3, 2, 1; and so on.

Collaborative Efforts

We could go into draft-specific details, but I’d rather explore the impact of the draft now that the teams advancing to the championship game have been decided. As we work to crown champions in both AAL & AAL2, let’s focus on the effect of the 1st ever AAL draft. From my perspective, several positive things were accomplished by this monumental event.

The planning for this event showed that the league and the owners could work together to put on an event that hadn’t happened in the Arena world previously. This is important because teams and ownership in every league don’t necessarily have a positive relationship where they can collaborate this way leaguewide. This has to be considered a contributing factor to this not happening previously.

I was in the building covering the draft. I had the opportunity to talk with and get to know coaches, owners, and players from the teams in the AAL. These guys were laser-focused on pulling this off and making the best picks for their organization. Special shoutout to Roger Beck, owner of the Columbus Lions, and his staff for hosting this event. With no previous information to fall back on, I believe this was a great 1st draft.

2026 AAL Draft is About Providing Opportunity

Players from the AAL2 got a chance to submit their videos and put their names into the draft pool. While there were only 16 selections in the draft, having the opportunity to be seen by the AAL teams helped some other guys to get opportunities in professional leagues. Every opportunity won’t lead to a permanent roster spot, but experience is never a bad thing.

League publicity is another positive takeaway from the draft. Not every comment about the draft was positive, but it was being discussed, which is a positive. This goes back to the statement that all publicity is good publicity. When what you are doing is being discussed, you are doing something right. And what does a returning league with a new concept in that arena want? Publicity!!

The players, our network, as well as others who covered the draft and the league, the AAL & AAL2, the coaches, and owners pulled off & covered a 1st time event. Moving forward, there can never be another 1st Arena Football draft. There can, and I believe, will be improvements now that the league has experience after year 1. I am looking forward to seeing where the draft can go and enjoying being along for the ride.

In closing, the 1st ever Arena Football draft was a success, and there will be many more. Change will come, that’s inevitable, but it was a great 1st offering and will go down in history. Kudos to AAL & AAL2 for pulling this off!

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