The Tampa Bay Bandits will play at RJS in May

Spring league to bring game, Bandits to Tampa Greg Auman, Times Staff Writer? ? Friday, February 7, 2014 4:06pm TAMPA -- Another hopeful spring pro football startup will have a showcase game at Raymond James Stadium in May, with plans to resurrect the Tampa Bay Bandits as a franchise in the All-11 Football League in 2015.The A11FL announced six of its eight franchises for 2015 on Thursday at a news conference in California, with a quirky offensive wrinkle -- all 11 players are eligible to catch a pass going into any given play. They'll have an ESPN2 audience May 17 at Raymond James (and a second game at the Cotton Bowl in June) to showcase their product for next year's first season."I think 30,000 would be a good, reasonable (crowd)," said league president Mike Keller, who has worked with the NFL, USFL and XFL and will charge $30 for all seats at the May game. The league will be a single entity with central ownership initially, but Keller said it has already talked with multiple potential ownership groups for a 49 percent stake in a Tampa franchise -- "wealthy interested sports individuals," though he cautioned such an investment would be in the "eight-figure range."The league plans a 14-game schedule plus playoffs in 2015, with rosters of 40-42 players earning standard contracts of between $75,000 and $100,000, Keller said. Coaches will have "NFL and major-college pedigrees," Keller said, and players have the incentive of knowing each week's game check has a 50 percent bonus to the winning team. The league's season comes at a time of year when each NFL team has 80-plus players under contract, so the talent level (like its spring schedule) won't compete with the NFL.Their model calls for an annual payroll of around $4 million per team, and it's the second time in as many years a team has tried to rekindle the USFL's three-year run in the 1980s, when the Bandits were among its most successful teams. A group had acquired the rights to the league's name in 2012 but never got its version up and running; the All-11 announced three teams that share USFL names: the Bandits, the New Jersey Generals and the L.A. Express.Keller said the league has secured the legal rights to use its original USFL team names, and colors and logos will be slightly different from the originals.Mickey Farrell, the Tampa Sports Authority's senior vice president of stadium operations, said Friday that the All-11 league will pay about $150,000 for use of the stadium on May 17, and only the stadium's lower level and one club will be used for the game. Commish of A-11 Football League would 'love' to have Tim Tebow playBy Will Brinson | NFL Writer  CBS SportsFebruary 7, 2014 2:55 pm ETCould Tim Tebow end up in the AF-11?(USATSI) Tim Tebow's stated -- over and over again -- that his dream is to become a quarterback in the NFL. Wonder if he's settle for the A-11?Probably not, but the A-11 would be fine if he was down. Commish (and CEO!) Scott McKibben told the San Francisco Chronicle that they would "love to have" Tebow join the league.“We would love to have Tim Tebow join our league," McKibben said. "Tim Tebow stands for everything we think the game ought to represent -- character, values and role-modeling for young players."So, I guess the next thing is ... Oh right. What is the A-11 league? Excellent question!*Googles A-11 Football League*Turns out the A-11 Football League is a new spring professional league returning the game to its original roots. They will have more updates to share in the coming months.Hmm. Upon further research, it appears there are currently six teams (with two more coming), including the Los Angeles Express, New Jersey Generals, Dallas Wranglers, Chicago Staggs, Tampa Bay Bandits and San Francisco Bay Area Sea Lions."San Francisco Bay Area Sea Lions" will look great on a jersey, no doubt.ESPN, Tebow's current employer, is currently set to broadcast two games. One at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa on May 17 and the other at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas on June 5. An "offer" has apparently already been made to Tebow too."We have made an offer to Tim Tebow," McKibben said. "We've had probably three or four discussions with people in the Tebow camp. We'd love to have Tim Tebow join our league. we think that if Tim came to play in the spring, he could still very much honor his obligations to ESPN."He certainly could. The bigger issue for the league is actually convincing Tebow to play. Yes, it would be good publicity but Tebow has plenty of that. What he doesn't have is a platform for getting him into the NFL as a quarterback.Maybe he's improved as a passer and the AF11 is exactly what will get him there. But for now color me skeptical on all counts.