The American Football Association's Services

The AFA's major focus is that of providing information services to minor league/semi pro football organizations. After 22 years in this business, we are stable, professional and on solid ground, having been endorsed as the premier minor league/semi pro football organization in the USA. There are no other organizations in the world that bring to the table, the resources, experience, network and tools that we do, targeted at this level of football. You may say to yourself that you can provide a lot of these services for your organization but before you do, take a look at the following paragraphs below then ask yourself the question; "how can I provide these services for my organization?"

Information is pivotal to the success of any organization and more so for football teams/leagues at this level. Since most of us cannot afford to purchase outright TV airtime or full page newspaper ads, we have to rely on sponsorship. To get sponsors, you need to be known. Getting to be known can only be achieved by getting the information out about your organization, covering as many bases as possible, a daunting task to say the least. The tools and resources that the AFA provides for its membership are focused upon making these tasks easier, thereby ensuring the ultimate success of your organization. We have a definite advantage when it comes to providing information services because this niche is our primary focus. As a result, we will always have state of the art tools and processes available to help minor league/semi pro football organizations with their information service needs.

1. To Establish an Internet Presence
One of our major initiatives has been that of establishing a web site to provide low cost information services to our members with the overall objective of promoting minor league/semi-pro football. The growing Internet technology is allowing us to reach more and more of the public each day.

Our current hit count reflects over 100,000 visitors since October 1996. We continue to get requests for information, goods and services from around the world regarding minor league football. We have established partnerships with Football Central, Broadcast.com and numerous sponsors to continue to improve our presence bringing more attention minor league and semi pro football. We are currently ranked in the top10 web sites on every search engine on the Internet.

Our partnership with eteamz has made available to any team, leaguer or player, personalized websites. The user interface is easy and requires no knowledge of html code.

2. To Network & Provide Recognition
A lot of what passes for business is simply nothing more than making connections with other people. Every smart businessperson knows it's not what you know, it's whom you know. Passing out your business card is part of every good meeting. With the implementation of the AFA Message Board and Press Release Links on our web site, we have provided the tools for all minor league teams, coaches and players to network efficiently. These tools have allowed teams to schedule exhibition games, post season games, put players in contact with teams in their area and publicize existence of teams.

Currently in their infant stages, the AFA Player's & Coaches Associations are organizations of national scope established to provide a means for players and coaches to network and exchange ideas. As this organization grow, they are expected to become a major force in providing more focus to minor league/semi pro football.

The AFA's Minor League Hall of Fame is the only organization in the world endorsed and recognized as providing acknowledgement of minor league/semi pro football players, coaches and administrators for their achievements on this level.

The AFA's National Championship All Star Selections each year provide recognition to our membership's best leagues, teams and players.

3. To Make Organizational Information Available
We provide league listings, weekly schedules, scores and ratings/rankings for teams/leagues around the nation thus successfully providing timely information to the public. We even included our AFA Hall of Fame agenda, hotel info and driving directions to Canton, Ohio on our web site. We focus on timely game result reporting via the AFA’s web site, member league listings, AFA/member league media events, AFA All Star Selections, AFA Hall of Famers and links to AFA member team web pages & web sites.  The AFA in conjunction American Football News has also developed a system for scores reporting and rating for every minor league/semi pro football team in the nation on the AFA's web site. Keeping the public informed will only add credibility to your organization and result in more support. We have the most extensive database of scores and records in all of minor league football.

4. To Heighten Public Interest
We have had several media organizations contact the AFA regarding interest in providing features on semi-pro/minor league players and teams during the last year; they found out about the AFA via our web site. Examples include the a Sports Illustrated article on Buffalo Bills Director of Player Personnel, A.J. Smith, and an American Airlines in flight magazine article on AFA Hall of Famer Bob Blechen just to name a few. Weekly press releases to 50,000+ media outlets, advertisement of the AFA's web site (we're in the top 10 on every search engine) continues to be our focus. More heightened interest will mean more support; more support provides more potential for successful promotion of team/league organizations.

American Football News is the official publication of the AFA, United States Football Federation,  and Minor Pro Football Hall of Fame. The focus of this newspaper tabloid is to provide printed media information regarding minor league/semi pro football.

5. To Release Time Sensitive Materials
Our weekly press releases posted on the AFA’s web site and sent to our distribution list via e-mail continues to satisfy this objective. Our AFA Championship Game between Kalamazoo and Topeka received coverage in major newspapers around the country like the Chicago Times. Currently our press releases reach just about every media outlet in existence in the USA and several thousand others outside of the USA! As a result of this, a fair number of our member teams continually receive significant pre-game and post game coverage. We continue to grow our press database to map directly to our member's geography/demographics with the ultimate objective of more coverage from the Associated Press and all major television networks.

6. Membership Programs
The AFA executive board has agreed to allow all 500 teams playing semi-pro football across the country to have an opportunity to join the AFA national association as either dues paying Members or Associate Members (no charge). Dues paying teams will receive premium benefits, including access to low cost liability insurance though our carrier and weekly ratings from AFANews. Each Member Team will receive an AFA/ActiveAdvantage Membership card good for discounts on travel, rentals cars, hotels and more. This is in addition to a colorful AFA National Membership Certificate with their team name printed on it.
We worked hard to build a member savings program as part of our AFA Membership that SAVES YOU MONEY on flights, hotels, car rentals, sports gear and more. Whether you're saving up to compete in your regular season, league championship, national playoffs or national championships, the new AFA/ActiveAdvantage Membership Package will get you there for LESS.

7. To Make Pictures, Sound and Film Files Available
The AFA's strategic alliance with Broadcast.com (NASDAQ: BCST) , allows us to provide the capability to simulcast via radio or provide delayed/live broadcast video of football games as a service to AFA member teams. The Internet simulcast of the AFA's Championship Game (Kalamazoo vs. Topeka) and the Marlboro Shamrocks game vs. the Oregon Thunderbolts were firsts in the history of minor league football. As broadcast television and the Internet converge, the ability to provide access to programming and top quality online video streaming will become one of the primary forces for reaching the public. Over 100 million people around the world have the technology to watch streaming video on the internet and with Broadcast.com's audience of over 2 million unique users daily, the potential for market penetration, recognition and the building of a fan base is unprecedented! The AFA strongly suggests that teams/leagues seriously consider this service, through sponsorship solicitations, as a way to further promote their organizations.

It has been said that a picture is worth a thousand words and that being the case we will continue to add more multimedia features to the AFA's web site in the form of radio and video broadcasts (Broadcast.com), video clips, more audio and pictures. All of this will serve to inform your public supporters; no brochure will do this. The broadcast of the June 1999 AFA Coaches Clinic and Hall of Fame Inductions is currently available on our web site.

8. To Answer Frequently Asked Questions
Our current implementation of the AFA’s web site provides tools that address frequently asked questions (FAQs). We list contacts, organizational history and basically all of the "who, what when, where, how" types of questions that may come up.

Whoever answers the phones in your organization can tell you, their time is usually spent answering the same questions over and over again. These are the questions your supporters and potential supporters want to know the answer to before they deal with you. The AFA provides services to remove another barrier to supporting your organization and free up some time for that harried phone operator.

9. To Create a 24 Hour Service
The information as implemented today on the AFA’s web site provides a 24-hour information service to the world. It continues to serve the press, the public and AFA member teams 24/7,  while also allowing us to customize information to match needs and collect important information that has put the AFA way ahead other organizations.   With the advent of the AFA's Weekly Newsletter, we provide timely and practical news and tools for use by the public and our niche.

10. To Allow Feedback from Supporters
Our implementation of message boards, guestbooks and feedback links address this subject. AFA member leagues will receive any feedback directed to their organizations. We are accessible and as a result our staff responds instantly to inquiries about any AFA member team.

11. To Reach the Media
As we’ve mentioned previously, every team needs the exposure that the media can bring, as we touched on in reason #4, "To Heighten Public Interest". The media is the most wired profession today. Since their main product is information, they can get it more quickly, cheaply and easily on-line, thereby making it easier for them to provide AFA members with the coverage they need and deserve. The AFA's media interface capabilities and databases are unsurpassed regarding this kind of service.

12. To Serve Your Local Market
We have the power to serve the world with the AFA's web site. How about your neighborhood? If you are located in San Francisco Bay Area, the Raleigh, NC area, Boston or New York, there is probably enough local support with Internet access to make it worth your while to consider a web page or site. The AFA offers web development & consultation services, Internet access and domain name registration. Just remember that with your own web page/site, all of the aforementioned advantages are applicable and an order of magnitude more effective for your organization.

13. Establish Administrative Tools
The AFA's web site includes a plethora of administrative tools targeted toward football teams/organizations. The implementation of our new "Web Portal" allows visitors to our site can access anything on the net from travel, to newspapers, search engines, calculators, stock market quotes/trades, and maps. Our chatroom implementation allows on line conferences, sharing of data files, video conferencing and even group guided web surfing. The recent addition of our BUSINESS RESOURCE CENTER provides legal forms at no cost; basic contracts, debt collection and even pre-nuptial forms are availble!

The AFA has developed a manual of operations that is provided to  member leagues to answer basic questions regarding team operations, fund raising, non profit status, etc.

As previously mentioned, the AFA is focused solely upon providing services to minor league/semi-pro football and elevating the visibility and ultimate success of our membership. Do you send out press releases? Can you hit 50,000 media outlets with your releases? Can your reach an audience of several million via the Internet? Can you provide the services above for your organization? If you answered no to any of these questions, then you need to stop and think seriously about where you are headed relative to promoting your organization.

Our plan is to continue to pursue and implement partnerships with major businesses that compliment our niche, with the objective of providing discounted services to our members. Our current discount team liability insurance, legal protection services and Active Advantage Travel services are prime examples of this.

Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions or even suggestions for more services. Our e-mail address is amerfoot@aol.com; our web site address is www.americanfootballassn.com, please bookmark this is your browser.

Dave Burch

AFA Executive Vice President