A7FL Nevada Division Launched

The A7FL Nevada Division Will Begin Play In April 2022 as the League Expands from  4 To 8 Divisions

Following the announcement of the newly formed A7FL Boston Division as a part of an expansion to 8 divisions in 2022, we are proud to call Nevada our next division. Nevada has proven itself as a great sports market with the introduction of the NHL Vegas Golden Knights in 2017 and the NFL relocation of the Oakland Raiders to Las Vegas in 2020. Now it’s time for the A7FL’s 7-on-7 style of play to enter the market and bring Spring football action with local players, on a national platform.

“Opening up the A7FL in Nevada and specifically starting out in the Las Vegas area is an exciting and strategic move for us.” said A7FL Co-Founder & CEO, Sener Korkusuz  “This highly visible and dynamic area will give the A7FL exposure to an ever-expanding market as well as tourists coming into town. Having a solid community owner in Derek Duncan adds to our commitment to Nevada”

Players – sign up for more information about playing in Nevada –  CLICK HERE!

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Get To Know… Derek Duncan, A7FL Nevada Division Ownero

By Marlon LeWinter

As American 7s football’s popularity grows, so does our expansion into new markets. For 2022, the A7FL will go from 4 to 8 divisions and planning is well underway. Today we are thrilled to introduce the new owner of one of those divisions, Derek Duncan, who will take the helm as we expand into Nevada.

Duncan has a background as a player and coach in multiple sports including baseball, football, softball, and basketball. As a football player, he’s done it all including competing in high-level recreation, semi-pro, flag and indoor leagues.

What made you want to be an AF7L Division owner?

As a former player who transitioned to full contact flag and bounced back and forth between contact flag and padded tackle for 20 years, this brand of football is exactly what I would have wanted to play had it been around during my playing career.  If I never have the hear the term “flag guard” again it will still be too soon!  Flag football is fun and there’s a lot of good blocking, but the element of tackling and stiff-arming being removed from the game is a disservice to the flow and entertainment.

Why do you believe you have a great market for an A7FL division?

Las Vegas is the fastest-growing sports city in the country with the Raiders, Golden Knights, Silver Knights, the unnamed IFL team owned by Bill Foley (the Golden Knight primary owner), our FC Lights Soccer team, the Aviators, and Oakland A’s AAA MLB affiliate all moving or being developed in Vegas in the last 3 years. The combat sports – both MMA and boxing – are already here and see Vegas as home.  And both the NBA and MLB both have plans to come to Vegas.  There’s no other city even close to that kind of growth.

For football, Vegas is an untapped potential market.  We are on an island when it comes to football.  There’s no major city within 4 hours of Vegas which makes it problematic for scouts to visit here. I see the A7FL as the future premier spot where recruits have an opportunity to get game film on tape, be seen on TV, and fight for that spot on the roster at every level above and on par with the A7FL.

We also have a very robust flag league in town and I expect the folks from that league to be interested.  If you’ve got testosterone and you play football, you want to hit.  We’ll be the easiest path to do just that and in a protected and structured environment.

Do you have names for any of your teams picked out?

No, I don’t.  I hope that local corporations will fall in love with our naming rights strategy so that their corporate name and logos will be the backbone of our Nevada Division.  I envision teams like the MGM Lions, Caesars, Boyd Bull Riders, Stations Locomotives, Tesla Electric, Amazon Fire, and Google Droids being the backbone of our future.  But if not, I have a few ideas based on teams I developed and played for in the past.

What are your goals over the next three years?

I’m going to answer this in reverse because it makes the most sense to me.

• Raise brand and sport awareness. If the layperson knows what the A7FL is, the positivity we bring, and how we operate it makes every other goal achievable.

• Create adult, high school, middle school and kids rec leagues based on the A7FL rule set.

• Develop an annual combine for all athletes to attend and show off their skill and strength.  We want all the performance sports training companies in the area to contribute to and help run this combine so we can showcase the area’s talent as well as its technology.

• Develop a vibrant and competitive eight-team A7FL professional league with full rosters and practice squads.

• Develop corporate sponsorship and a team naming rights platform and structure to support the financial wealth and strength of the league from a fiscal standpoint.

What do you think the future holds for the A7FL?

I think the A7FL’s future is to be the spring league that football fans have been looking for, and that football players at all levels have absolutely needed.  I’ve always heard that the biggest challenge for kids trying to make it to the NFL is equipment and exposure.  The league has already removed the need for most of the equipment and if the exposure we already have is any indication of what’s to come, then both of those roadblocks are gone.  The A7FL is positioned to be the alternative that all football fans want and need, right next to the NFL and maybe, in the not-so-distant future, running right alongside it.

Stay tuned over the coming weeks as we introduce you to our new A7FL division owners!