I wonder if other have imputs on different league identities?
I will only list the active current leagues, as defunct leagues are probably not worth commenting about.
(remember that these are just my opinions, and I'm posting them to get your opinions)
WFL-The Olympics! The best of the best coach wise, and ton's of talent. The world stage gives it an awesome feel, and international competition identity. Low rules, ton's of talent, player and coach wise.
USFA-Arena Football League! The lowest rules, and the highest scores. It's a shootout, with picks, buttsniffers, and anything else that you can do being pretty much legal. Low-Low-Low rules, and the player talent level is rising. There are some elite coaches, and some journeymen.
NCFL-College Football Baby! With each team being a university, it's fun to recruit real college players to your program. 5 years is the longest a player will stick around, so you really get to rebuild pretty damn often. The rules are medium level, no catch defense allowed, and the player talent level is probably the highest in any league. There is a 1AA division for newbie coaches, and a number of veterans coaches hanging around dominating 1A.
SPMFBL-Swedish Football League! Founded by a Swede for Swedes, and is still going, but not necessarily in sweden anymore, but on the internet. The league has the best of all the online tools, thanks to commish Mike Coyne(PMFB.net Guru), and a really good group of coaches. The talent level is medium, more flawed players than in any other league. The top coaching level is as high as any league, but there is a lower tier of coaches as well.
(these are less complete as I know less)
APFL-AAA Baseball? Runs fast, medium rules, and some prep-machine coaches. Looks like the league is retooling with new coaches, but the power of the league is in commish George Nebesnik, who singlehandled does jobs that take some league 10 guys to do. Not the highest level of coaches, but some definte powerhouses.... the up and coming coaches seem to dominate the league.
PFL-USFL... I hear that the PFL is dieing... though I do not know for sure.... it used to be the most strict rules league, but with a definte campy flavor, much like I remember the USFL to be. Some of the coaches in the PFL are all time greats, maybe one of the top 5 coaches all time won more championships there than I can count.
EFL-NFL-The EFL is the most strict rules league active, and they are strict to try to emulate the NFL to the max. They probably do the best job of any PMFB league today. The limited PB distribution is an interesting twist, coming from the old MFL, but does allow playbooks a much longer usfulness. Many coaches enjoy the attempt at reality of the EFL.
UFL-XFL? The UFL was a breakoff contingent of the EFL, but has what I gather is a little more flavor. Strikes me a bit like the XFL tried to be, but the UFL probably does a better job!
GFL-???-GFL is a hibernating but still alive(?) points league. Rather than being a draft league(or a recruit league like the NCFL) the GFL you get to create your PMFB players as you like. It has point limitations, and pretty strict roster limitations, but fairly easy rules. Points leagues use to be the standard fare of PMFB, and today there are none active.
How bout a quick contest of the tops:{My choices in brackets}
Toughest to Win: {WFL}
Most fun for a GM: {NCFL}
Nicest Coaches: {SPMFBL}
Most fun for an Offensive Coach: {USFA}
Most fun for a Defensive Caoch: (NCFL}
That's probably enough, enjoy...
f.
If a man were to try to climb Mountain A, let's say 5X and was successful at making it to the top twice and almost made it 3 other times, could that man rightly say that after attempting another mountain, Mountain B 5X and not even coming close to duplicating the same success that Mountain A is harder to climb than Mountain B? The logic doesn't add up, with that being said, how can you say that the WFL is tougher than other leagues when you have won that league twice and never won the NCFL despite good results with Tennessee and Notre Dame and have never won the SPMFBL with the Gargoyles and haven't made the playoffs in that league for the past 2 seasons (and have had losing records to boot) and 3 of the last 4? The USFA records show that you are doing well with the Seadogs (3rd best record in the league) but the league history is not available.
My point is, perhaps the WFL is the toughest league (which would not be true according to logic) but at least for you, wouldn't the SPMFBL league be tougher, where you haven't posted a winning record in over two seasons nor won a playoff game in the past 5 seasons? Perhaps even the NCFL would be tougher considering you have only won a divisional championship there but according to common logic at seeing success in one arena not being able to be duplicated in others would lead anybody with a brain to believe that the WFL would be the easiest of the 4 leagues you are in. Also, it seems very few of the coaches from the APFL compete in other leagues so it should be more difficult to evaluate their coaches as you can't compare their success in the APFL and to other leagues and also because their (along with the EFL's) playbooks have significantly more rules (and players are far less talented) they won't be nearly as competitive against playbooks as the less strict leagues.
Also, how could (and I really don't have any idea on this one) could the NCFL be the most fun for a GM when you write that they have the most talent available to the coaches? I would think that the less talent that's available the less important it is to have or be a good GM as talent is always readily available. I think GM'ing in less talented leagues such as APFL or SPMFBL would be more fun as it is tougher to acquire good players and there isn't tons available whether you are good or not.
In reply to the "user" unnamed....
I have won the NCFL. Loren hunt and I won it years ago(ncfl7?).
I don't think the WFL is the toughest because I've won it twice, that would be flawed logic. I think it's the toughest because of the quality coaches who have yet to win it. I have 11 seasons of WFL play and 2 titles to show for it. I have given no other leage that length of time commitment, or I am sure I would have more titles in it.
The more rules leagues(PFL, EFL, UFL...) can for sure be more difficult, and different coaches will excell at them. I guess I try to judge by the coaches that are in multiple leagues. My EFL/WFL comparasin(for example) would be based much on dennis monbarren and some on Jeff Stout... guys who have done well in both.
I think the gm fun to the NCFL is in recruiting players rather than drafting them, and the fact that they only stay for 4 years. It's just my take too. There are definitely more difficult leagues to GM in than the NCFL, it's not tough to field a great roster in the NCFL with a poor GM job.
I think that answers all the pertinent questions...
f.
A few add-ons to the lesser knowns Bo mentioned:
EFL: heavy schools based player improvements allow coaches to spend points they earn on player improvement 3 times a yr intertwined with 2 normal player 'terminators' and an offseason workout program as well. dominated by guys trying to beat the big boys lately, with 3 coaches well respected game-wide as far as playbooks. You only get your opponents playbooks from that week and one scout book per team per year. Speed is a PREMIUM here. Only 1 100spd HB and 4 100spd CB in the league.
APFL: converted to salary cap structure combined with George's College emulation that generates the players as well as very interesting prose throughout the yr. More or less dominated by 3 coaches, one which just went on sabbatical and one who is too addicted to retire so he keeps winning. Schools are simple and plentiful for player improvements where rookies can be self-molded and others have a 33% chance. Speed is becoming premium here but not like the WFL, USFA, WFL, NCFL, VNFL; yet.
NCFL, hibernating VNFL, and others: My only quam about some of the faster leagues I've participated in that use moderate to strict rules is the lack of advancement in use of team editors. The default pmfb team isnt 'new' anymore and there are a plethora of great team makers out there that give full access. I think this would expand interest in these 2 leagues for sure, if not all that still limit themsselves to the default team file restrictions. Just imagine NCAA and NFL emulators, the use of 2 stud HBS....Auburn did it last yr; or of using Sean Alexannder AND Stephen Davis on field at the same time. Imagine, then, as they say in Starsky and Hutch, "Do it, Do it. Do it."
IFL: unstarted as of yet, but 2 years in the works, I plan to have small rosters with players playing both sides of the ball, with EFL style rules but a bit more speed. I'd also like to have round robins once a month that total a season, meaning multi-game prepped books with single game playoff books.
email me if you're interested, we're on pmfb.net.
multi league guys give all of us a broader comaprison. Monbarren and Stout are in EFL as well, and both in other leagues than the few we've mentioned as well. To compare strength of coaches using Monbarren, he is the ultimate bridesmaid in EFL so far in 9 yrs, still trying hard. Jeffery Stout is the only other coach to win one other than a Loukes or Ken West. Having won plenty of divisions but ony once been to the semis myself, I judge not only myself but the leagues in general on those 4 who've won titles, using Fulgin's thinking [not a dig, just same thoughts]. The EFL is open to expansion by 6 and welcome anyone up for the challenge but we do push realism so please consider this.
I think to say one league is better based on a brief look is not very accurate, I think there are many many leagues with coaches in both and several struggle in one or the other and do well in a different one. We're just finishing season 16 in SPMFBL and the WFL's powerhouse coach, Bo Fulgin, put in his 2nd consecutive losing season and missed the playoffs for 3 of the past 4 teams and another WFL coach that did extremely well in Moloney finished 5-9 (tied with the Gargs) and well out of the playoffs. Then again, WFL's Calvin Curd had a losing season in WFL and made the playoffs in SPMFBL, so to say one is better than the other based on a brief look and not backed up by facts and stats leaves the door open to being inaccurate.
In terms of some head to head:
The USFA champ played the WFL champ under USFA rules and the USFA champ won.
The APFL champ played the SPMFBL champ under APFL rules and the SPMFBL champ won.
We could not get the game set up between the USFA champ and the SPMFBL champ, but I gaurentee it would be a great game.
To say one league is better than the other is silly... some have more tough coaches, some have more active coaches, some are more dynamic, some are slower paced... all leagues are different.
f.
Isn't that what you were originally saying?
For the record, it seems as though only a few leagues now remain:
EFL
PFL
APFL
SPMFBL
the leagues that now seem to be dead are:
USFA
WFL
NCFL
VNFL
The UFL is VERY much alive. Season 8 is weeks away from kickoff. Lots of very active coaches ( On average 2 static playbooks on each given week - which seems to be a low number).
Yeah, I erred in saying the PFL was still around, it was the UFL. In the SPMFBL this past season I think we had 4-5 static playbooks the whole season, the season before we may have done even better.