Tim Tebow has the chance to play football in Denver again, but not for the Broncos. Tebow’s reps have been approached about the former NFL quarterback playing for a new spring, outdoor professional football league.
The A-11 Football League (A11FL) has Denver on a short list for one of its last teams. The league is open for business, and its inaugural championship game is scheduled for the weekend of July 4 in 2015.
“Tim would be a great football player for this league. … The offer is there; we’d love to see him take it,” A11FL Commissioner Scott McKibben told The Denver Post’s radio show, The Press Box.
The A11FL will host two showcase exhibitions this May and June at Raymond James Stadium and the Cotton Bowl between the Tampa Bay Bandits and the Dallas Wranglers. The league’s other franchises include the New Jersey Generals, the Chicago Staggs, the LA Express and the Bay Area Lions.
The teams for the new league will play 14 regular-season games from March-June next year, with five advancing to the postseason. McKibben told The Denver Post that the league will have eight teams, leaving two spots open.
“Today, the leading candidates for the remaining two franchises are the Denver Gold and the [Detroit] Michigan Panthers. Obviously, we know of the popularity and history of pro football in Denver,” he said.
McKibben added, “We would love to have Tim Tebow join our league. We have talked with his lawyer and his agent, and we have made an offer,” which reportedly includes a piece of team ownership.
Other alternate football leagues have failed—the USFL, the WFL, the XFL and the UFL—but McKibben said A11FL—which plans to complement, not compete with, the NFL—should be taken seriously.
“We’re not making mistakes other leagues did. We always will be a spring league,” the former newspaper publisher and Rose Bowl executive director said. “We’re an aspiration league. There are hundreds of quality players who aspire to play in the NFL, and we’ll provide them with a chance to prove themselves. We’ll be playing in major population and media markets in NFL stadiums, and we have the No. 1 sports network partner in ESPN.”
ESPN currently employs Tebow as a football commentator. The former Florida All-American, who was cut by the New England Patriots before this season, will be on the SEC Network’s pregame show starting in August.
Tebow’s first SEC Nation program is set to air Aug. 28 before Texas A&M starts its season at South Carolina, a game that will be shown exclusively on the SEC Network. The spring A11FL wouldn’t interfere with the job, which offers an out clause if Tebow signs with an NFL team.
