[WEIRDWOLF]

Originally Posted by Silverhorse 228

2. What about NFL copyrights? Could we display all of our hand painted players without issues?

This is in fact part of the overall issue with presenting this idea to a ESPN or other broadcaster. There is currently no company with a NFL liscense that is interested in taking this to another level. Excalibur owns the only NFL liscense for electric football type items and they simply are not going to invest that much time and energy into it.

Miggle has some college liscenses but they have never attempted this course as far as I know. A good marketing company for Miggle would of pursued this. It is seemingly a hobby business for them at this point and they seem content to be at the level they are at.

This leaves fantasy teams as the only option to present and that simply does not have the allure that the NFL has.

Anthony has a very valid question in how are we percieved and what are we doing about it? I don't have the answers to this. I do know that we are doing some things that impress the newcomer. Realism in figures and stadiums and fields is one step. Competitions with universal rules is another. Norbert is researching the Tabletop Hockey guys to see how they got there association up to its international level. Part of that, had to do with player rankings and standardized cometitions as well as sponsors and prizes but even they have seperate divisions such as Coleco Rules competitions, Stiga Competitions. This compares to say a Buzzball event or a Miggle event or Shootout style event. It is Ok to have seperate styles but each of those styles needs a coroporate or financial sponsor willing to invest. We need to find someone who can blanket us with there NFL liscense and is willing to watch this develop. I am personally working on getting in with companies likes Dick's sporting Goods and The Sports Authority to play a game there once a month or more. Two guys playing and 1 or two explaining the action along with some displays of the custom stuff. The problem then arises with the question of "where do I get this" and that answer is very diverse and in some ways overwhelming. The only complete set all in one box that a beginner can pick up to start out with is Miggle and you can only get it online. That is a problem!

We desperately need a NFL blanket liscense, a sponsor and more commitment from the coaches in existence to get out and display and play the game in front of other audiences. To get on TV we need an organized set of rules with player rankings, high end prizes and true to form competition. Again, we could have 3 seperate or more recognized family of rules each with there own national champions and sponsors but if we could ever get us on one page just for one time a year where we could make a huge showing would be a key in my mind.

I think that if the Shootout Rules leagues would have one convergence each year with a national shooutout rules champion you would have one set to go from. Then all leagues who play a Rules 2000 family of rules could have one national championship day. Most of the rules out there are from a family tree with Tudor as the root expanding to Rules 2000 and then branching out in many directions. Most leagues play very similar stes of rules but have distinct family characteristics with other leagues and only simple adjustments are needed to play between these different families. Much like the AFL and the NFL had distinct rules differences but they were still able to combine to play a national championship because they were in the same family.

Shootout Rules could be one family
MPFL another
Miggle another
Buzzball and other Rules 2000 based leagues another

Maybe I have started rambling but stuff just started pouring out and maybe it will inspire further discussion.