Why Has The American 7s Football League Succeeded While Other NFL Competitors Have Failed?

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The sports market draws tens of billions of dollars in revenue each year, and in North America alone that number is expected to grow to $83 billion by 2023. While the pandemic put many aspects of society on hold, it highlighted the importance of live sports as entertainment yet many who’ve tried to break into this market have failed. That story is particularly true for American football.

The most recent attempt, Alliance of American Football, existed for a mere eight weeks before toppling in 2019. The Fall Experimental Football League, which closed shop in 2015, survived only two years. The United Football League, XFL and Pacific Coast Professional Football League all tell the same story, which stretches as far back as 1940. While the XFL and USFL have made announcements that they are going to try to play again, to date they have only made announcements and not played a single down.

Against this backdrop, the National Football League (NFL) remains tremendously popular yet faces its own problems. The 2021 Super Bowl recorded its second-lowest attendance in history, and younger fans are snubbing the sport for the more-contemporary and fast-paced esports substitutes. A study that found 110 of 111 NFL players had chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), which provides what is likely the heaviest blow to NFL fans (and youth participation), prompting rule changes and vehement criticism from media and stakeholders. 

As these problems persist and more data shows the aging of the NFL fandom demographic, the American 7s Football League (A7FL) - now entering its 8th season with 36 teams in 9 divisions across the country - aims to provide an updated version of the sport that America loves. As a professional, no-helmets, no-pads tackle football league, the A7FL highlights the athleticism and excitement of traditional football in an up-close and personal style that is tailor-made for younger fans and social media.

Since its first iteration as a Craiglist-organized pick-up game, A7FL has grown significantly, including new distribution partners and over 750k social media followers. It has raised $617,120 on Start Engine from over 800 investors.

The founders claim they’re just getting started.

The Story So Far

When concussions forced Co-Founder Ryan DePaul to give up college football, he envisioned a safer but still tough seven-on-seven street football game. As he continued to add players and promote the games, it began to gain traction, and DePaul recognized the potential. DePaul also saw that despite its counterintuitive reasoning, A7FL’s bare-bone playing experience was safer than more traditional formats and added a new level of excitement to the game. “You could play an entire game in the A7FL and not hit your head one time,” commented DePaul. “It is impossible to play the game of football with helmets on and not hit your head almost every single play.”

Joining forces with Sener Korskusuz, an entrepreneur who started the successful internet company Earth Skater, the two spread the name of the new game across the United States. When UFC C-Founder David Isaacs saw the action, he was “100% certain that [he] wanted to be involved,” and he dubbed this new version of the sport “the future of football.”

Since the formation of this partnership and DePaul’s first pick-up game, A7FL now encompasses 36 teams with 9 divisions across the US and will be launching its eighth season, with a record amount of prize money at stake, on March 27. Throughout A7FL’s first seven seasons, this “Rucker league for football” has built a strong connection with younger audiences, more than twice as many advertiser-coveted 18 to 34-year-old fans than the NFL. Last year it exceeded 120 million video views online and its social media accounts attracted more than 750,000 followers.

To expand its viewership, A7FL has secured key partnerships with distributors including Amazon AMZN’s Twitch, Meta Platforms Inc. FB’s Facebook Watch and, new in 2021, Triller-owned FITE TV as well as Fubo Sports Network FUBO.  In the third quarter of 2021, A7FL’s videos featured by digital partner WAVE.tv delivered more than 32 million video views, and ESPN’s SportsCenter shared a highlight that went viral with 20 million views and 30,000 comments.

In addition to its New Jersey and Baltimore divisions, the league added San Diego and Orlando divisions last year, and has sold 5 divisions - in Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Cincinnati, Boston and Washington, DC - for its upcoming eighth season which runs from March 27 to July 17.

Moving Forward

A7FL’s business model reflects those of established sports leagues, combining rights licensing, sponsorships, merchandise and ticket sales as well as selling new divisions and expanding into new revenue streams such as betting and NFTs. In 2021, the league’s long-term strategy of building from the ground up started to pay off as revenues grew 1000% and its investment campaign topped $600,000. 

Prize money offers a window into the A7FL’s growth. The league first offered prize money, a total of $2,500, in 2020. By 2021, the award had increased eight-fold to $20,000 and attracted new players - many with outstanding college and high school football credentials -  into the A7FL talent pool. For 2022, the A7FL is offering over $50,000 in total prize money, a record amount, as it looks to continue to encourage more top players to join (note: the league already has severalf former NFL players).

But the A7FL says it’s not done growing; the league’s goal is to have 128 teams across the country in the next five years. While the league is still in its relatively early stage, the founders believe this is the right time for investors to get involved.

“Imagine if you could have owned some of the NBA or NFL when they first started,” says Ryan Depaul. “We’re creating our own version of America’s most popular sport, and we need your help. Invest now, so we can reinvent football — the game we all love together.” 

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This post contains sponsored advertising content. This content is for informational purposes only and not intended to be investing advice.