The Stars Football League (SFL) is an American football league operating primarily in the Southern United States. The league is headquartered in Grosse Pointe, Michigan.[1] Its inaugural season began June 30, 2011 with two teams;[2] the league phased two more teams into the schedule over the course of the 2011 season to finish the season with four teams. Three of the four inaugural teams were located in metropolitan areas that have National Football League franchises.
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The league follows standard American football rules, with two exceptions. Field goals of over 50 yards are awarded four points instead of three, as in NFL Europe. The league also offers a three-point conversion from ten yards, just as the XFL did in its playoffs. These rule changes are intended to help teams that fall behind in a game to catch up more quickly.[3] The league will not use instant replay (the league has no television contract, making instant replay impossible).[4] The league also will use a slightly shorter play clock.[2]
Teams are restricted to 36 players on each roster,[2] with any person 18 years of older eligible to play.[5][6] Its level of play can be classified somewhere between minor league and semi-professional; players are compensated between $100 and $500 per game, on par with most indoor football leagues, but must pay their own travel expenses for away games.[7]
Brokered station WWNN in the Fort Lauderdale area carried Barracudas games and a weekly talk show devoted to the league; WWNN also broadcast those events on the Internet. Mark Perl served as the play-by-play announcer.
| Team | City | Stadium | Head coach |
|---|---|---|---|
| Daytona Beach Racers | Daytona Beach, Florida | Municipal Stadium | Dahryll Brown |
| Ft. Lauderdale Barracudas | Fort Lauderdale, Florida | Lockhart Stadium | Maxie Pete and Marty Culpepper |
| Michigan Coyotes | Pontiac, Michigan | Traveling team | Al "Jitter" Fields and Ron Johnson |
| New Orleans Jazz | New Orleans, Louisiana | Tad Gormley Stadium | Blaine Bond |
The Racers starting quarterback, for the first few weeks of the season was PeeJay Jack, who later served as starting quarterback for the Rome Rampage of the Ultimate Indoor Football League. Lester Ricard served as starting quarterback for the Jazz. Indoor football veteran Torrey Grissett, who played for Fort Lauderdale in 2011, signed with the Cleveland Browns practice squad at the end of the 2011 season.
The league released its 2011 schedule on July 2, 2011; said schedule was abruptly cut short in early August after several on-the-fly schedule and venue changes. In the end, each of the four teams played two of the other three teams at least once, with Daytona Beach and Fort Lauderdale playing each other three times, due to their proximity to each other. Winners of each game are underlined.
TEAM W-L ( PCT ) -------------------------- --- ------- New Orleans Jazz 2-0 (1.000) Daytona Beach Racers 3-1 ( .750) Fort Lauderdale Barracudas 1-3 ( .250) Michigan Coyotes 0-2 ( .000)
The league did not name a champion, due to the irregular schedules.[8]
The SFL announced the addition of the Canton Bulldogs for Canton, Ohio (presumably to play at Fawcett Stadium) and the Tampa Orange for Tampa, Florida. Like most SFL teams, these two teams are within the metropolitan areas of NFL teams (Tampa Bay and Cleveland, respectively).