Global Football League

**Global Football League**
 **No. of teams:** | 30

The **Global Football League** (**GFL**) is a worldwide professional American football league that competes at the highest level in the springtime. The league consists of 30 teams that are divided into five divisions. The GFL was formed in 2022, and began play in 2023. The league features teams in seven nations spanning three continents. The league's membership represents the EU, the U.K., the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. Though the GFL itself is a "single-entity" league, the teams are run by the league's investors, each of whom is assigned a territory and classified nominally as an "owner" of that territory's team. Some clubs are run by groups of investors, while others are run by a single investor.

## History

On February 13, 2022, a group of friends got together to watch Super Bowl LVI. After the game, they all expressed disappointment that football season was now over. None of them wanted to wait until August for the next NFL preseason to start. They all wished that the NFL could somehow continue throughout the spring and summer. These friends all happened to be billionaire business owners, and it was then and there that they came up with the idea for the GFL.

The first things they did the day after the Super Bowl was contact their friends overseas, who themselves are international billionaire businessmen. Citing the example of the LIV Golf Tour, these business owners from the U.S. and around the world all got together to form a new pro football league, to be played in the spring with emphasis on fan experience.

Initially, critics said that a new major pro football league would never work, since many have tried in the past and many have failed. But the founders of the GFL pointed out that with a second pro football league in place, the NFL would be able to reduce the number of concussions its players suffer, simply by virtue of spreading its vast offensive and defensive line talent out among more football teams. With fewer fierce tacklers and hard hitters on each team, the chances of players getting knocked out is greatly reduced. When the NFL heard this, they decided to work with the Global Football League by offering each GFL team working partnerships with the NFL's own teams.

## Season format

The GFL season runs from February, with the regular season starting on the weekend after President's Day, to the last Sunday in July, when the Globe Bowl championship game is played. One week of preseason games takes place prior to the regular season, followed by 18 regular season games played over 19 weeks. Games on Friday night are a regular event in the GFL, and Saturday games, both in the afternoon and at night, are also common. Of course, games also take place on Sunday afternoon and night, as well as Monday night. After Memorial Day, some games even take place on Tuesday and Wednesday. Occasionally, some Thursday night games take place throughout the season. In the league's inaugural season (2023), there were games scheduled every single day between June 2 and June 13. By rule, a team must have at least four full days rest before its next scheduled game, meaning that games for any given team must be scheduled at least five days apart.

Teams get three standings points for regulation wins, two for overtime or shootout wins, one for overtime or shootout losses, and zero for regulation losses.

## Playoffs

The playoffs feature the five division champions and six "wild-card" qualifiers. The division champs get byes into the quarterfinals, while the six best teams not to win their divisions play in the first round. Qualification and seeding is determined by standings points earned by each team. The qualifying teams are seeded 1-11 in a March Madness-style bracket. To minimize travel, each half of the bracket takes place at a neutral site. The neutral sites are different for each half of the bracket, but every round of the playoffs is played at the same two neutral sites. If the European Division champion is one of the top two seeds, that team's half of the bracket will see its games played in Europe. Otherwise, the games take place in North America.

There are a few exceptions to this rule. If a European club is initially scheduled for a playoff game in North America as a higher seed against a non-European club, then the European team shall have the option of playing the game in Europe. Likewise, if a North American club is initially scheduled for a playoff game in Europe as a higher seed against a European club, then the North American team shall have the option of playing the game in Europe. Also, if the Hawaii Kahunas are the higher seed in a playoff game, then the Kahunas have the option of playing the game in Honolulu. These exceptions do not apply to the Globe Bowl.

The two remaining finalists each year square off in the Globe Bowl, which takes place at a predetermined neutral site. Cities that host the Globe Bowl cannot also host a playoff game in earlier rounds the same year, notwithstanding the Hawaii exception mentioned above. The inaugural Globe Bowl was played in Philadelphia on July 30, 2023.

Tiebreakers for the playoffs are determined as follows:

Note: Ties for division champion are broken first. If three or more clubs are tied at the end of the season, and two of those clubs remain tied after one or more clubs are eliminated during any tiebreaking step, tiebreaker restarts at Step 1 for surviving clubs. If three or more clubs are tied for a wild card spot and two are from the same division while the rest are from any other division, apply division tiebreaker first for applicable clubs, then apply non-division tiebreaker for surviving clubs. If two or more clubs are eliminated in any single tiebreaker step involving three of more clubs, tiebreaker restarts at Step 1 to break tie between eliminated clubs.

## Rules

The rules of play are modeled after the NFL rulebook, with the following exceptions:

* Overtime is divided into two 5-minute halves. If the OT period lasts five minutes or longer, the two teams will switch ends of the field and continue play until the outcome is decided.
	+ The home team calls the coin toss as the start of OT, as opposed to the visiting team at the start of the game. The team who wins the toss gets to choose whether or not to take the opening possession of OT at its own 5-yard line, or make the other team take the opening possession at *its* own 5-yard line.
	+ The team taking the first OT possession must either score or give up possession before the first half of OT expires. Failure to do so will result in the other team taking possession to start the second OT half at its own 20-yard line.
	+ If the game is still tied after ten minutes of OT, then a shootout will take place where each team will take turns attempting two-point conversions in a best-of-3 format. The winner of the shootout gets one point added to its final score and is declared the winner. If both teams are still tied after three rounds of the shootout, then one additional round at a time will be added until one team comes out on top.
	+ Overtime rules are the same for both the regular season and the post-season

* Kickoffs take place from the 35-yard line. Touchbacks on kickoffs or punts result in the receiving team getting possession at its own 20-yeard line.
	+ Kicks and punts that initially land out of the back of the end zone are penalized just like other out-of-bonds kickoffs, with the receiving team getting possession at its own 40-yard line.
	+ Punts that travel 45 or more yards beyond the line of scrimmage can be recovered by the kicking team even if the ball has not been touched by the receiving team.
	+ Teams that receive a fair catch on a kickoff will begin possession at the spot of the catch, unless it is a touchback.
* Extra-point kicks must be drop-kicked in order to be successful. Field goals may still be placekicked. Teams still have the option to go for two points on the PAT attempt.
* Coaches can challenge plays involving pass interference or potential pass interference.
	+ All plays involving scores, turnovers, failed 4th down conversions, or anything where a reversal could potentially result in any of those things, are automatically reviewed.
* Assisting the ball carrier by means of pushing is prohibited.

## Broadcasting

The GFL has television deals with several networks around the world. In the United States, CBS bought huge shares of the league in exchange for broadcast rights. CBS shows games most Saturday and Sunday afternoons, as well as Monday nights except the day of the NCAA Men's Basketball championship game. ESPN, Fox, and NBC each bought smaller shares of the league and have limited broadcast rights. ESPN shows late-season afternoon games on the weekend, as well as Friday night games all season long. Fox shows early-season afternoon games on the weekend. NBC shows Sunday night games all season long.

Saturday night games are shown by NBC (early season), CBS (mid-season), and ESPN (late season). Games played at other times during the week are also carried by ESPN or ESPN2. Occasionally, games might be broadcast on ABC, FS1, or Paramount Network, the sister channels of ESPN, Fox, and CBS, respectively.

Internationally, the BBC and BBC America carry many games featuring the London Silly Nannies, and throughout the European Union, several regional channels take up the broadcasts of the GFL's European clubs. CBC in Canada broadcasts Toronto Canadians games, while Telemundo, sister network to NBC, sends its affiliates in North America Spanish-language broadcasts of GFL games featuring Águilas Ciudad de México.

In the U.S., the Globe Bowl is broadcast on the major networks in rotation. The inaugural Globe Bowl was shown on NBC; in succeeding years it will be broadcast by ESPN/ABC, CBS, and Fox, in that order. This rotation will repeat every four years.