| 2017 The Spring League season | |
|---|---|
 | |
| League | The Spring League |
| Sport | American football |
| Duration | April 15 – 25 |
| Number of games | 2 per team (planned) |
| Number of teams | 4 |
| TV partner(s) | Facebook/ FloSports (Showcase only) |
| Season champions | Orange |
The 2017 The Spring League season was the first overall in league history, which was played in Sulphur Springs, West Virginia at The Greenbrier resort.
CEO Woods founded The Spring League in early 2016. [1] On December 22, 2016, SiriusXM NFL Radio initially reported the league as being owned by the NFL, but retracted that by the end of the day. [2] The NFL informed its teams of the league's existence and its plans to operate from April 5 through April 26, 2017. The Spring League's 2017 season consisted of a four-team, three-week single round-robin tournament in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia at The Greenbrier resort in April, [3] and a two-team "Showcase" game in Napa, California in July. The teams in each tournament were only identified with vague geographic names such as North, South, East, West and California. A game streamed on Facebook received 60,000 views while a practice received 30,000 views. [3]
Coaches with long NFL or college experience included quarterback coach Terry Shea, Steve Fairchild, Donnie Henderson, Dennis Creehan and Art Valero (offensive line). [4] [3] [5]
For the April games, the league had four teams and 105 players. [6] [3] Its players included NFL veterans Fred Jackson, Anthony "Boobie" Dixon, [7] Ben Tate, Greg Hardy, Ricky Stanzi, McLeod Bethel-Thompson [3] and Ahmad Bradshaw. The players ranged from two to 10 years out from college. [8] [9] [10] [11]
| Date | Team | score | opponent | score | Notes | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| April 15 | East | 6 | West | 10 | [12] | |
| April 16 | North | 14 | South | 10 | [13] | |
| April 22 | South | - | East | - | Cancelled | [14] |
| April 23 | North | - | West | - | Cancelled | [15] |
| April 25 | Orange | 34 | Black | 7 | Championship Game | [16] |
The following players signed with NFL or CFL teams following their involvement with The Spring League in 2017:
On July 15, 2017, the Spring League Showcase was held at Napa Memorial Stadium in California between Spring League California, coached by Terry Shea and Spring League East, coached by Donnie Henderson. [38] Flofootball.com's FloPRO subscription service streamed the game. [39] David Ash started the game for the California roster and lead several scoring drives. He had 96 passing yards and 9-of-13 passing, including a 4-yard touchdown pass to Anthony Dixon with an interception and 3 runs for a total of 10 yards with his longest for 9 yards. For the East, two quarterbacks, Casey Pachall and Trenton Norvell, made touchdown passes. Pachall completed 4-of-6 passes for 84 yards and a 67-yard touchdown. The game's top rusher was Paul Harris of the East team, who rushed twice for 74 yards and a 6-yard touchdown. East defeated California 23–19. [40] [41]
The league indicated two CFL and 10 NFL teams had their scouts visit the league while another 20 made requests for video footage. Following the April games, roughly two dozen players were invited to NFL rookie mini-camps. The Carolina Panthers picked up six for their rookie mini-camp. [3]
After the first season, NFL scouts seemed to like the league structure but otherwise gave mixed responses. Value was perceived by scouts as they got updated information on forgotten players or saw a player with a conditioned arm, but otherwise the talent level was below what NFL teams expected for an established developmental league. Some scouts expected younger players that had been to a couple NFL training camp but in the wrong system. Woods indicated that the older and big names brought attention to the league, which has a secondary purpose of providing a veteran annual showcase. [3]
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The 2018 The Spring League season was the second overall in league history, which was played in Round Rock, Texas.