AAF Betting and Odds
Everything You Need to Know About AAF Betting
On February 9, 2019, the sports betting world welcomed a new league into the family: the Alliance of American Football, or AAF for short. It’s the latest league hoping to gain a place at the football table, which has been dominated by the National Football League (NFL) for the past century. Other leagues have come and gone, but the AAF has already proved popular with bettors; AAF betting lines are already available at Bodog Sportsbook for this inaugural season.
Unlike the NFL, the AAF was made with bettors in mind. When TV executive Charlie Ebersol and former NFL general manager Bill Polian (Buffalo Bills, Indianapolis Colts, Carolina Panthers) founded this league in early 2018, they had an eye on the ever-growing gambling sector. Alliance of American Football betting has been supported by MGM Resorts International from the get-go, and great pains have been taken to keep the football as entertaining and competitive as possible.
Hiring some well-known names from the NFL and college ranks has helped. The AAF front office includes former Pittsburgh Steelers Troy Polamalu as Head of Player Relations, and Hines Ward as Head of Football Development. Among the league’s head coaches: Mike Martz, Steve Spurrier, Dennis Erickson and Mike Singletary. And the first crop of AAF quarterbacks features the likes of Garrett Gilbert, Aaron Murray, and yes, Christian Hackenberg. Add a slick TV presentation with ample support from CBS and other networks, and you’ve got a viable football product that has already generated positive reviews from fans and bettors alike.
AAF Teams Worth Betting On
**Odds as of March 13, 2019.
Orlando Apollos EVEN
Arizona Hotshots +500
Birmingham Iron +500
San Diego Fleet +550
San Antonio Commanders +700
Atlanta Legends +2500
Salt Lake Stallions +2500
Memphis Express +7500
There are eight teams for the inaugural AAF campaign, four each in the Eastern and Western Conferences. And there’s no doubt which is the best team after four weeks of action: the Orlando Apollos. They’ve won all four games thus far at 3-1 ATS, shredding the AAF betting odds with a league-best plus-55 point differential. The Apollos are coached by Spurrier, the former Heisman winning quarterback and long-time coach of the Florida Gators, and they’ve received excellent results from Gilbert, who started for the Texas Longhorns in 2010 before transferring to the SMU Mustangs for another two seasons under run-and-shoot maestro June Jones.
The only other winning team in the AAF after Week 4 is the Birmingham Iron (3-1 SU, 2-2 ATS). They’re second behind Orlando in the East, with the league’s second-best point differential at plus-44, but unlike the Apollos, Birmingham have gotten it done on defense – allowing just 33 points combined in four games. Head coach Tim Lewis was a cornerback at the University of Pittsburgh, and spent 20 years coaching defense in the NFL, including stints as the defensive co-ordinator for the Pittsburgh Steelers and New York Giants.
How is the AAF Different From the NFL and CFL?
Other than the time of year (February through April) they play, there are many differences between the AAF and the top two professional football leagues in North America: the NFL, and the Canadian Football League (CFL). Instead of each team being a separately-owned entity, all eight AAF teams are owned and operated by the league itself. Every player for the inaugural season was signed to the same contract: three years and $250,000, plus incentives for performance and fan interaction. Each team has partial regional rights, based primarily on where the players went to college. For example, Orlando have dibs on players from the Gators and the Miami Hurricanes, while Birmingham’s region includes the Alabama Crimson Tide and Auburn Tigers.
The AAF also has a number of unique rules designed to make the game more fan-friendly. It’s still four-down football like the NFL, but there are no kick-offs or points after touchdown. Teams start possessions at their own 25-yard line (unless they just scored a safety, in which case they get the ball at the 35), and must attempt 2-point conversions after every major. In addition, there are no onside kicks, the play clock runs 35 seconds, and if there’s overtime, the same “Kansas Playoff” rules that are used in high school football will apply.
There’s one more AAF rule that’s at the forefront of the game: The officiating crew includes an eighth member known as the sky judge, who reviews every single play off the field. The sky judge is allowed to call penalties as well as overturn them, with some limitations – pass interference corrections, for example, have to happen within the last five minutes of the fourth quarter. All the on-field officials hired by the AAF for Year One have experience working FBS college football games.
How to Bet on the AAF
Betting on the AAF looks exactly the same as betting on the NFL or CFL. Games are played on Saturdays and Sundays; AAF odds are posted in the days leading up to each game, with point spreads, moneylines and totals all going up on the board. Futures bets can also be made on which team will win the AAF championship, which will be decided on April 27.
In case you’re new to betting on football, here’s the closing line from the Week 4 game on March 2 between Orlando and the Salt Lake Stallions:
Orlando Apollos –3.5 (–110) –170 O 40.5 (–105)
Salt Lake Stallions +3.5 (–110) +160 U 40.5 (–115)
As the home team, the Stallions were listed at the bottom. The first set of numbers next to the team name represents the point spread. In this case, the Apollos were 3.5-point favourites, as indicated by the negative sign next to their odds. That means they needed to win by more than 3.5 points in order to cover the spread and pay out their supporters. The Stallions were 3.5-point underdogs, meaning they could lose by fewer than 3.5 points and still cover. If the spread is a whole number like four points, and the favourite wins by exactly that number, the result is a push – all bets returned.
The (–110) included in the point spread indicates the juice, also known as vigorish or vig, that bettors pay the sportsbook in exchange for processing their bets. The juice is represented using the American odds format, and is typically set at –110 for most games, meaning you bet $110 to win $100 (larger and smaller multiples are allowed). The sportsbook can move the spread and/or the juice after the lines first hit the board, up until just before the game in question kicks off. As more people bet on one team, the odds will change to give a better price on the other team, in an attempt to balance the action on both sides and reduce the book’s risk of exposure – that’s when so much money was bet on the winning team that the book doesn’t have enough money to pay everyone out.
The next set of numbers to the right of the point spread represents the moneyline for both teams. This is the old-school way of betting on sports; you pick either the favourite or the underdog to win straight-up, and your payout is based on that team’s likelihood of winning, as determined by the marketplace. Again, the American odds format is used, with Orlando the –170 favourite (bet $170 to win $100) for this game, and Salt Lake the +160 underdog (bet $100 to win $160).
Lastly, the numbers on the right represent the total, also known as the over/under. Instead of betting on one of the two teams, you’re betting on whether they’ll combine to score Over or Under the posted total, which was 40.5 points for this game. The line on top (with the capital O) is for the Over, and the line on bottom (with the capital U) is for the Under. The numbers in parentheses show you the vigorish for making these bets. As it turned out, Orlando beat Salt Lake 20-11, so people who bet the Under were paid out $100 for every $115 wagered.
For AAF futures bets, each team that’s still in title contention is given odds for winning the championship, once again using the American odds format. At press time, the Apollos are +150 favourites, while the Atlanta Legends and Memphis Express are tied for last at +4000. Futures bets are paid out after the championship has been decided.
AAF Live Betting: Bet on the AAF on Your Mobile
As with the NFL and CFL, AAF live betting is available at Bodog Sportsbook. You can bet on the games while they’re in progress, including special prop bets like whether the next play will be a run or a pass. You can also place AAF mobile bets at Bodog using your tablet or smartphone. Live betting on your mobile isn’t just the future of betting on sports – it’s the present. And the AAF is all about giving people the best football betting experience possible. If you haven’t already, we encourage you to use these relatively new innovations to take your betting to the next level. You can find out more by consulting our Help guide, and if you have any further questions, our Customer Service team is happy to assist you anytime, day or night.
