Lets have a think about nexts years EFA compared to this, while we have a week to spare
Here are my thoughts on what the season was like and what I suggest needs thinking about....
- The big 4 weekend, was it a success? Yes and no ! Having a home team in game 1 worked but Sunday was a poor turn out. If it is done again it might better to play both games on the same day say 3PM and 7 PM.
Alternatively go back to semi finals at the top seeds home stadium but have a bye week after the last regular season game to give the teams time to sell tickets. Then the following week the championship game at a predetermined stadium and sell tickets from January.
All teams have solid home stadiums except Paris. They need to play in the city and preferably in Stade Bauer, if this means front loading home games to help then this should happen. How is the building work at Stade Bauer will it finish for next season?
Team identities and the marketing of them. In a league with only 6 teams ( soon to be 7) you have 2 teams using the exact same colours. 4 teams whose main helmet and jersey are black/very dark blue this makes it hard for the non-fan and casual viewer to distinguish the teams. More thought should be given to making each team stand out.
a] Prague are fine
b] Tirol could do with a third colour I think though the silver helmet and logo are good
c] Frankfurt are now embracing the purple orange look so time to ditch the black helmet. A purple helmet with the orange logo would be great.
d] Nordic Storm have played in black white and grey helmets. Time to settle on a non black colour I think
e] Paris, why pick such a dark blue? I think the blue should be lighter more like the French flag or the NY Giants colour.
f] Munich, no a fan of the logo but I can see that black and blue colours work for them. How about just using the bird face on the helmet and ditching the words, make the logo bigger. Perhaps play in blue jerseys
g] London, looks like red and black will be the prominent colours but another black helmet would be a mistake. I would like to see a silver-gold helmet as used by the mounted horse guards. Don't think they will listen though.
Keep using youtube.com for the live feeds, the league needs visibility for now to grow it's brand across the whole of Europe but hopefully adverts can be added at the stoppage point. This visibility is more important than the paywall that the AFLE are using. The youtube production was a bit shaky at the start of the season but got far better as it went through the weeks, a big plus I think. Are there any "numbers" on views or the reach the games had. The highlights appearing quickly also was a good sign.
Did the season work? Mostly yes but having 2 teams way better than the other 4 needs addressing for many it was obvious that Nordic and Munich would reach the final. A bit more parity needs to be developed