The PFL was created to play during the long off-seasons of my EA Sports College Football game. Shoving all of the college football data into databases took time during which I needed a break and still wanted to play the actual game. The league also served as a way of teaching my then girlfriend (now wife) how to play the game; eventually the league lasted long enough to teach my step-daughter how to play the game. Season 8 was to be her first season in the league after several seasons in the PFL2/PDFL (Developmental league).
The earliest recorded mention of the PFL was September 23rd 2012, a 13-0 victory for my then girlfriend (now wife's) Orlando Mustangs over the Fargo Knights.
I never would have guessed EA sports would stop making the game a few years later. After a new version of the college football game was no longer put out each year, the writing was on the wall. The previously infinite slots to create teams on EA sports teambuilder website were capped and some teams were wiped out without notice or warning. Some people lost dozens of slots for teams, others reported their catalogs were hardly touched. All of this was discovered while season 7 was still taking place, or perhaps during season 6, I can't remember. In any case that meant the end of expansion for the league.
The hope was to limp the league along either until EA returned to making the college game (and therefore their teambuilder site would return) or another solution could be found. Although new teams couldn't be added, old ones could still be updated, so the league churned on.
I wrote a previous blog about the hope that Axis football could take up that mantle, alas that currently isn't the case. Although Axis Football boast its own even more detailed team, the creation of teams takes a great deal of time and Photoshop skills I have barely enough of. What I have even less of is time, so for now the league will be disbanded; each team will be released from their contract with the league in order to pursue opportunities in other leagues. We would still like to approve of such transitions first and some coordination may need to take place as the teams are no longer visible online.
For some teams this isn't the first time this happened. The real life UFL teams were recreated and brought into the fold of the PFL just as we had promised when the UFL circled the drain and even ceased operation. Some time had to pass as false vows of returning the UFL to operation turned out to be false.
Another crucial factor in the decision to close the league is that both my wife and my step-daughter were still just getting the hang of the EA College Football platform, trying to make up the 30 year gap between myself playing video football games and them. To start over with newer games would feel unfair. Also, their run heavy offenses from EA College game wouldn't translate into success on the Axis Football platform. This is not the fault of Axis Football, more an exploit in the last incarnation of the College football game. You can line up in any Ace (meaning one running back) formation and churn out yards against teams much greater than your own. Dive plays are easy to learn and my wife's Orlando Mustangs and my step-daughter's Rockport Explorers made a living on this. Towards the end, my wife had a favorite and deadly (especially against any computer team) play action pass she was utilizing.
Lastly, because I can no longer access the PFL teams in teambuilder, the teams are effectively locked into place. No roster changes, no uniform fixes, and no retooling the Tallahassee Sunbirds to match my step-daughter’s chosen method of play.
I still view the league as a success and plan to keep the twitter handle up @go_pfl to follow any moves by former teams and cheer them on. For now though, some final stats for the league:
551 regular season games
23 playoff games
7 championships and 2 Hawaii bowls
29756 total points
A little more than 7 years of operation.
1 marriage
2 new children.
