| American Patriot League | |
| Pixels: | 150 |
| Sport: | American football |
| Founded: | 2018 |
| Inaugural: | 2023 (planned) |
| Teams: | 8 (planned) |
| Country: | United States |
The American Patriot League (APL) is a planned professional American football minor league, which is owned by The World Professional Football Association, a single entity corporation, that will manage the business of the APL.[1] It was initially planned to launch in 2019.
The season is supposed to run from April through June as a 14-game season, featuring eight team divided into two divisions: Freedom and Liberty.[2]
The APL will be a single entity corporation, that will consist eight franchises that will be divided into two divisions: Freedom Division and Liberty Division.[2] Each team will play a 14 game schedule consisting of 7 home games and 7 away games. The WPFA had plans to add additional team cities to the APL in 2020 and 2021.[3] To incentivize players from leaving the league for other leagues, the APL plans to offer lifetime health coverage for anyone who stays at least five seasons, along with a minimum salary of $50,000 a season to all players.
The APL management team consists of former football players Keon Lattimore, Marques Ogden, Bob Golic, and Director of Football Operations David Holloway.[4] Golic stated that none of the players who make an APL roster will be allowed to kneel during the national anthem. All team nicknames will be chosen by the fans as part of a naming contest.
Part of the league’s strategy for financial survival includes establishing itself in markets where there is a passion for football and where there are not many (if any) other pro sports franchises in place. Those are the main reasons, according to Ogden, why the league preferred Daytona Beach to Orlando.[2]
The 2019 inaugural season was supposed to last from April 6 through June 8, with the playoffs from June 15 through June 23. The original plan for the Championship Game was to have it played on Navy–Marine Corps Memorial Stadium at the campus of the United States Naval Academy in Maryland during the 4th of July weekend. Instead, the Championship Game was moved to Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium at Canton, Ohio and was to be played on July 6.[5] Broadcasts would've been available with a paid subscription to the Awesome Cloud Network.
Daytona Beach, Florida and Mobile, Alabama were the first locations to be announced by the league,[6] while Sacramento California, Shreveport, Louisiana,[7] Houston, Texas, Canton, Ohio[8] and Ypsilanti, Michigan announced on later date, with an eighth team ("Mystery City") was to be announced as of June 5, 2020. The APL cancelled their planned Little Rock, Arkansas showcase on October 27-28, 2018 but did conduct the two other showcases in Houston on November (10-11)[9] and December (1-2)[10] and added Daytona Beach (January 5-6, 2019),[11] Houston (January 12-13, 2019)[12] and Cocoa Beach, Florida (February 1-10, 2019) showcases,[13] that never materialized. On January the league started allocating players to the teams,[14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] while training camps would been held at Cocoa Beach between January 31 to March 2, 2019.[21]
In February 2019, the APL made an announcement that they were postponing the start of their inaugural 2019 season until 2020,[22] and later postponed it again to 2022, then 2023 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Since the December 2021 announcement the league hasn’t posted anything on its website in regards to the league rebooting anytime soon.
| Club | City | Stadium | Capacity | Head coach | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Canton | Canton, Ohio | Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium | align=center | 23,000 | align=center | Jamie Thomas | |
| Daytona Beach[23] | Daytona Beach, Florida | Daytona Stadium | align=center | 9,601 | align=center | Linwood Wright | |
| Houston | Houston, Texas | Rice Stadium | align=center | 47,000 | align=center | Joe Nixon | |
| Mobile[24] | Mobile, Alabama | Ladd–Peebles Stadium | align=center | 33,471 | align=center | Tim Beckman | |
| Mystery City | TBA | TBA | align=center | TBA | align=center | TBA | |
| Sacramento | Sacramento, California | Hughes Stadium | align=center | 20,311 | align=center | Duncan Anderson | |
| Shreveport | Shreveport, Louisiana | Independence Stadium | align=center | 49,565 | align=center | Erin Henderson | |
| Ypsilanti | Ypsilanti, Michigan | Rynearson Stadium | align=center | 30,200 | align=center | TBA |
The league plans to operate their own minor developmental league called Young Superstars League (YSL). the league will allow players between the age 18-25 years old to play in an organized league of their own and developing the skills necessary to compete in the APL.[25]
YSL will be designed for players that cannot afford to pay for college or may not want to spend time there. The league will allocate funds for players that would like to pursue a college education or business trade after or during their playing days, and will have tutors and online college courses for players so they can continue their education and studies all year.