FFL

FFL

Current season or competition: 2020 FFL season
Sport	Amorian football (Florian rules)
Founded	2018
Commissioner	Edwin Lee
Inaugural season	2018
No. of teams	24
Nation(s)	Floria
Most recent champion(s)	Westlake Patriots
Most titles	Northsilver Jaguars Westlake Patriots (1)
Qualification	President Bowl
TV partner(s)	Red Sports Sportsworld FFL Network ESN
Related competitions	National College Football Association
Level on pyramid	1

The Florian Football League (FFL; Alexandrian: Ligue Florian de football, LFF) is a professional Gridiron football league consisting of 24 teams, all listed in major Florian cities and divided equally between two conferences. The league is one of the five major professional sports leagues in Floria and is the highest level of professional gridiron football in the world. The league has a 17-week regular season running from early September to late December and following the conclusion of the regular season, 12 teams (top two teams from each conference plus four wildcards) advance to the playoffs, culminating in the President Bowl which is held on the first Sunday of February and is played between the champions of each conference.

The league was formed in 2018 originally as the Florian National Football League (FNFL) following traditional Amorian football rules but before the start of the 2019 FFL season the league decided to create its own rules of gridiron football and eventually renamed itself the Florian Football League. The current champions are Westlake Patriots for winning President Bowl II in the league's second season.

Teams

The Florian Football League consists of 24 clubs divided into two conferences of twelve each. Each conference is divided into three divisions of four clubs each. Every FFL team is based in the Florian mainland and the league is the only major sports league in the Florian Republic to be truly based in the mainland alone. The 24 teams are organised into six geographic divisions of four teams each. These divisions are further organized into two conferences, the Apollonian Conference and National Conference.

FFL Apollonian Conference clubs
Division	Colours	Club	Established	Location	Stadium	Capacity*
East		Birmingham Bears	2020	Birmingham	Eastpak Stadium	34,500
		Las Andreas Redhawks	2019	Las Andreas	Las Andreas Park	52,000
		Longsight Lions	2020	Longsight	Steinfield	54,074
		Victoria Buccaneers	2019	Victoria City	Victoria Stadium	65,000
Central		Newmarsh Broncos	2018	Newmarsh	Newmarsh Olympic Stadium	60,000
		Newmarsh Jets	2018	Newmarsh	Newmarsh Olympic Stadium	60,000
		Northcliff Falcons	2018	Northcliff	Farrar International Stadium	83,000
		Westlake Patriots	2018	Westlake	Noir Group Stadium	66,829
West		Coldley Cowboys	2019	Coldley	Florian Telecom Stadium	80,000
		Havenbarrow Dolphins	2018	Havenbarrow	Havenbarrow Dolphins Stadium	65,000
		Meadowedge Colts	2018	Meadowedge	Meadowedge Stadium	45,500
		Northcliff Brownbears	2018	Northcliff	FastEnergy Arena	67,895

FFL National Conference clubs
Division	Colours	Club	Established	Location	Stadium	Capacity*
East		Dragonmoor Chargers	2018	Dragonmoor	Thomas Lemery Stadium Dragonmoor Stadium (2021 onwards)	55,000
		Dragonmoor Raiders	2018	Dragonmoor	Red Bear Park Dragonmoor Stadium (2021 onwards)	60,000
		Oldhaven Ravens	2018	Oldhaven	Oldhaven Park	72,000
		Oldhaven Titans	2018	Oldhaven	Oldhaven Park	72,000
Central		Blackoak Buffalo	2018	Blackoak	City of Blackoak Stadium	55,097
		Blackoak Tigers	2018	Blackoak	Hook Solutions Stadium	65,515
		Bridgemoor Cardinals	2020	Bridgemoor	Agricultural Institute of Bridgemoor Stadium	63,000
		Stonehall Rams	2018	Stonehall	Stonehall Hotspur Stadium	54,329
West		Echo City Chiefs	2019	Echo City	Archery Field	76,000
		Newhedge Steelers	2018	Newhedge	Ketchup Field	69,690
		Northsilver Jaguars	2018	Northsilver	Northsilver Stadium	45,000
		Vice City Superhawks	2020	Vice City	Millennium Field	68,740

Season format

The FFL season format consists of a four-week preseason, a seventeen-week regular season, and a twelve-team single-elimination playoff culminating in the President Bowl, the league's championship game.

Pre season

Each FFL team is required to schedule four preseason games, two of which must be at its home stadium. Preseason games are exhibition matches and do not count towards regular-season totals. Because the preseason does not count towards standings, teams generally do not focus on winning games; instead, they are used by coaches to evaluate their teams and by players to show their performance, both to their current team and to other teams if they get cut.

Regular season

Currently, the seventeen opponents each team faces over the 17 game regular-season schedule are set using a pre-determined formula: The league runs a seventeen-week, 192-game regular season. The season traditionally begins a week after the first Monday in September and concludes are week after Christmas. Most FFL games are played on Sundays, with a Monday night game typically held at least once a week and Thursday night games occurring on most weeks as well.

Playoffs

Following the conclusion of the regular season, the NFL Playoffs, a twelve-team single-elimination tournament, is then held. Six teams from each conference are selected: The winners of six divisions and three wildcards. These teams are seeded according to overall record, with the division champions always ranking higher than any of the wild card teams. The top two seeds from each conference are awarded a bye week, while the remaining six teams (seeded 2–7) from each conference compete in the first round of the playoffs, the Wild Card round, with the third seed competing against the sixth seed and the fourth seed competing against the fifth seed. The winners of the Wild Card round advance to the Divisional Round, which matches the lower seeded team against the first seed and the higher seeded team against the second seed. The winners of those games then compete in the Conference Championships, with the higher remaining seed hosting the lower remaining seed. The Apollonia Conference and National Conference champions then compete in the President Bowl to determine the league champion.

Media coverage

In the Confederate States of Floria, the FFL has a substantial television contract with major TV networks,Red Sports, ESN and Sportsworld. The contract covers every regular season and playoff game with Sportsworld covering Apollonian Conference games and National Conference games covered by Red Sports. All FFL matches are shown on designated channels and red button services. Matches played on Thursday nights and Saturday nights are broadcast on the FFL Network whilst Monday night games are provided by ESN. All matches are televised nationwide unlike the other major competitions in the country. Matches can be streamed on a streaming service similar to what is used in the Florian Super League, for countries which do not have a broadcasting deal with the league.

Draft

The League operates an entry draft for college players who have graduated. Unlike the ICHL, there is no draft lottery and the team which finishes last in the overall standings receives the first pick. There is a total of three rounds. Undrafted players may enter the League as a free agent and a total of four rookie free agents are allowed to be signed for each team.