Johnny Manziel agreed to resume his playing career in a league called Fan Controlled Football, he told ESPN this week.
The league, scheduled to start in February, will feature 7 on 7 games, where fans set up squads, schedule plays and interact in a mix of traditional environments and electronic sports.
“The more I heard about it, the more I felt it was going to be a lot of fun,” said Manziel. “It will be very fan-oriented and something I could support without being extremely, extremely, extremely serious, as my football career has been in the past.”
Manziel, 28, connected with FCF co-founder and CEO Sohrob Farudi through comedian Bob Menery, a mutual friend. Manziel last played football in April 2019 for the Alliance of American Football and has also played in The Spring League and Canadian Football League since the Cleveland Browns released him in 2015.
He said this week that he was not looking to return to football at any level, but was interested in playing the FCF version on his own terms. Since AAF ended, Manziel has moved to Scottsdale, Arizona, where he said he plays golf, plays football in the backyard with friends, watches football over the weekend and has a “normal, relaxed lifestyle” during 2020.
“Life sometimes gives you opportunities to do something that you would still like to do if you were in a different role,” said Manziel. “It has a lot of potential to just be a good time and still be focused on football. They are going to let people [who] join this league whoever they are and have fun with it and be a little freer than football sometimes is. This is definitely what attracted me. They don’t want me to change who I am or anything. They want to go out, launch a good product and have fun with it. “
Farudi said the league will place great emphasis on connecting fans with the lives of players off the field, through social media or other digital integration, making it “built for a guy like” Manziel.
“It’s not just what you can do on the field, but who you are outside the field,” said Farudi. “We want them to connect with fans and be authentic. I think if you look at Johnny’s career, he was electrifying on and off the field. He has a big, bold personality. Of course, he criticized some people the wrong way. But he just has that presence about him.
“He joined those other leagues and, I hate to say it, but it’s like the cuffs are on. You had to act differently. You had to walk and talk differently. He couldn’t just be himself. That’s where we want to be different as a league. We are really embracing the idea of being more than an athlete … We are very comfortable with having great personalities players off the field and doing what they want to do. off the field to connect with the fans, as for football on the field. “
Winner of the Heisman Trophy in 2012 at Texas A&M, Manziel was the 22nd overall choice in the 2014 NFL draft. He played 14 games over two seasons for the Browns, but problems off the pitch and a lack of attention to his work led the Browns to sever ties with him. Manziel said in 2018 that he was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and abused alcohol to fight depression, episodes that often hit social media or were posted there.
Asked where he is now on a personal level, Manziel said: “I wake up with a smile on my face a lot more than before, when people would say I had it all. It’s funny how life works sometimes. You have it all and you can being upset, and when you have a lot less, you can be a lot happier. I’m at a point in my life when I’m 28 years old and I’m still trying to figure out what I’m moving forward and trying to recreate an identity, and that’s what last year for me. “
The main investor in FCF is Lightspeed Venture Partners. The league will start with four teams, each of which will have celebrity owners, including NFL players Richard Sherman, Austin Ekeler and retired Marshawn Lynch. Other owners include hip-hop artist Quavo, boxer Mike Tyson and Menery.
The teams will play a six-week schedule, with games broadcast live on Twitch from a league-rented facility in Atlanta. The games will last about an hour, and the course will have 50 by 35 yards with 10-yard endzones. Players will have experience in Division I and II college programs, along with the CFL, XFL and Indoor Soccer League. FCF recently received a commitment from former Florida State quarterback and Hampton Deondre François.
Farudi described the league’s vision as a “gamification” of the fan experience aimed at the 18 to 35 age group. The fans who register will participate in most of the football operations.
“The younger generation is no longer sitting in a three-hour game,” said Farudi. “They want it to be quick and easy. Part of our concept is, ‘We will give it to them quickly and easily.’ It is an hour game. It’s interactive. You are watching and interacting at the same time. “