2 maps to help you decide which AAF team to support

The new spring pro football league can mean a chance to support either a (somewhat) local team or some of your school’s former players.

The AAF’s Eastern Conference has teams in Atlanta, Memphis, Birmingham, and Orlando. The Western Conference has teams in Phoenix, San Antonio, Salt Lake City, and San Diego. But if you don’t happen to live in one of those eight cities, you might be wandering who you should cheer for.

Everyone knows geography is one of the best ways to pick a team, and that is where the map below comes into play.

This shows which team is closest to every county in the US.

If you care more about which team has players from your favorite college, here is another map which shows the team with the most players from each.

(Slide this map from left to right and back, in order to see which schools are going into each AAF team’s territory.)

This shows the closest county to every school with at least two players on a single AAF roster, then maps that to the team with the most players from those schools.

The AAF builds its rosters off of each region, and that can be seen in this map.

South Carolina is unusual on this map because Birmingham and Orlando are tied in Palmetto State alumni.

The Orlando Apollos are loaded with Floridian talent, which is one reason Steve Spurrier’s roster has the league’s highest of number of formerly touted high school recruits.

The AAF teams with the heaviest ties to specific in-state schools might be Birmingham, which has 15 players from Alabama and Auburn alone, and Utah, which has 10 former Utes plus several BYU and Utah State players.

The broadest roster belongs to the San Diego Fleet, which makes sense for a team essentially named after the Navy.

And here are some other local ties that might be of use:

Atlanta Legends

• Stadium: Georgia State Stadium
• Coach: Kevin Coyle, most recently a defensive analyst for LSU
• Notable Players: QB Aaron Murray, RB Denard Robinson

Birmingham Iron

• Stadium: Legion Field (UAB’s stadium)
• Coach: Tim Lewis, former defensive back coach for the San Francisco 49ers
• Notable Players: RB Trent Richardson, QB Blake Simms, K Nick Novak

Memphis Express

• Stadium: Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium (Memphis Tigers’ stadium)
• Coach: Mike Singletary, former Baylor and Chicago Bears linebacker and San Francisco 49ers head coach
• Notable Players: QB Christian Hackenberg, QB Zach Mettenberger

Orlando Apollos

• Stadium: Spectrum Stadium (UCF’s)
• Coach: Steve Spurrier, former Florida and South Carolina head coach
• Notable Players: QB Garrett Gilbert, WR Akeem Hunt

Arizona Hotshots

• Stadium: Sun Devil Stadium (Arizona State’s)
• Coach: Rick Neuheisel, former head coach of Washington, Colorado, and UCLA
• Notable Players: QB Trevor Knight

Salt Lake Stallions

• Stadium: Rice-Eccles Stadium (Utah’s)
• Coach: Dennis Erickson, former head coach of [deep breath] the Seahawks, 49ers, Miami, Washington State, Oregon State, Arizona State, Wyoming, and Idaho
• Notable Players: RB Matt Asiata

San Antonio Commanders

• Stadium: Alamodome (UTSA’s)
• Coach: Mike Riley, former head coach of Nebraska, Oregon State, and the Chargers
• Notable Players: RB David Cobb

San Diego Fleet

• Stadium: SDCCU Stadium (San Diego State’s)
• Coach: Mike Martz, former Rams head coach
• Notable Players: DE Demontre Moore, RB Bishop Sankey (suffered injury in the preseason)