No "Hut Hut" This Fall: China Arena Football League Delays 2nd Season to Spring 2018

Football fans, brace yourself for some bad news: the China Arena Football League's second season won't take place this fall as expected (and unlike the the debut season, which began in the autumn of 2016). Instead, this season will be delayed all the way until the spring of 2018.

"By moving to a spring/summer season, our research shows that we can better attract the Chinese fans to our arenas, and to our video platforms," said Marty Judge, the CAFL founder and chairman, via Life In the Huddle.

However, already established fans eager to glimpse their favorite players toss the ol' pig skin can take heed in some potentially thrilling, albeit far from confirmed news. As consolation, Judge excitedly speculated: “I have always dreamed of a true World Championship for professional arena football. By moving our CAFL season to the spring, we will mirror the season of the United States Arena Football League, the 30-year established leaders in the sport, which could make that game possible.”

The thought of such a large scale football tourney would surely excite the sport's burgeoning China fanbase. And while that's only a larger possibility at this point, some more solid good news comes from the league's newly announced leap from six teams to eight for the new season, "as no doubt the extra time off will allow the league to prepare for such an expansion.“

This comes on the heels of previously announced changes like the replacement of the Dalian Dragon Kings and Shenzhen Naja with the Shenyang Black Rhinos and Wuhan Gators, the former two teams finishing at the bottom of the table in the league last season. Though news about the forthcoming seventh and eighth teams in the league is still scant, fans won't have to wait until the new season next spring for updates, seeing as the draft will be held far earlier, on July 11 at 8am.

For more information on the draft, check the CAFL's official website. That page bills the league as "China’s only Professional American Football League," adding that each of its teams has 22 players, each evenly divided between 11 Chinese and 11 foreign players, most of the latter being American. Nevertheless, that regulated split should certainly help spurn on local talent in the ensuing years. The league is officially partnered with China’s Sports Bureau’s China Rugby Football Association (CRFA).

News about the two new teams will surely make the second season worth the wait for China's still small, but eagerly involved and steadily growing football contingent.

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Photos: Life in the Huddle