The Alliance of American Football will hold a “Protect or Pick” quarterback draft, live from the new Esports Arena Las Vegas at The Luxor on November 27, 2018. CBS Sports Network will broadcast the first-of-its-kind draft for The Alliance at 8:00 pm ET/5:00 pm PT. Former Super Bowl champion and head of football development for The Alliance, Hines Ward, will host the draft.

“From combines held over the summer, to our upcoming quarterback camp in San Antonio, our experienced group of GM’s and scouts from each team continue to be impressed with the level of talent on display and available to them,” said Bill Polian, co-founder and head of football, The Alliance. “Our regional allocation system and the ‘Protect or Pick’ draft format were designed to strike a competitive balance across the league and fuel local market interest. The quarterback position is critical to a team’s success, so we knew the importance of making sure each Alliance team had a top-tier quarterback at the helm. We’re confident this group represents the best available players in the market. They are looking forward to the opportunity to begin, extend or revitalize their professional careers, and we’re going to do everything in our power to help them succeed on and off the field.”

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The “Protect or Pick” draft format begins with each team deciding if they want to protect one quarterback that has been allocated to them from their region. If a team elects to protect, they name the player they are protecting as their first selection in the draft. If they decide to pick, they wait until every other team has made their decision. Once each team makes their decision, the teams that elected to not protect a player make their selection, in the order of the draft, from the remaining pool of all available quarterbacks regardless of region. All selected quarterbacks must be under contract to The Alliance at the time of the draft. The Alliance quarterback draft will be comprised of four rounds. The San Diego Fleet have the first pick in the draft, followed by the Birmingham Iron, Arizona Hotshots, Orlando Apollos, Atlanta Legends, Salt Lake Stallions, Memphis Express and San Antonio Commanders.

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“We look forward to working closely with CBS Sports Network to tell the stories behind this amazing group of talented, determined and motivated quarterbacks — live from Las Vegas,” said Charlie Ebersol, co-founder and CEO, The Alliance. “Our unique ‘Protect or Pick’ format adds intrigue to our first-ever live broadcast while ensuring we stay true to our guiding principles of putting high quality football on the field and creating strong, authentic connections with our local market fans by keeping hometown favorites, home.”

Quarterbacks are allocated based on where they competed in college. If a player’s college is outside The Alliance footprint, he is allocated based on his last NFL/CFL team. If a player’s college is outside The Alliance allocation footprint and he did not play in the NFL or CFL, then he is unallocated.

The Alliance will hold a quarterback skills camp November 12-14 at the Alamodome in San Antonio, where player personnel groups from each team will be present to further evaluate signed quarterbacks ahead of the draft.

The Alliance 2019 and 2020 Championship games will be held in Las Vegas, with the 2019 championship taking place Saturday, April 27, 2019, at 8:00pm ET / 5:00pm PT on CBS.

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Draft Order

Round 1

San Diego Fleet
Birmingham Iron
Arizona Hotshots
Orlando Apollos
Atlanta Legends
Salt Lake Stallions
Memphis Express
San Antonio Commanders
*(Round 1 slots 9-16 are tentative based on each team’s “Protect or Pick” decision in slots 1-8)
San Diego Fleet
Birmingham Iron
Arizona Hotshots
Orlando Apollos
Atlanta Legends
Salt Lake Stallions
Memphis Express
San Antonio Commanders

Round 2

San Antonio Commanders
Memphis Express
Salt Lake Stallions
Atlanta Legends
Orlando Apollos
Arizona Hotshots
Birmingham Iron
San Diego Fleet

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Round 3

San Diego Fleet
Birmingham Iron
Arizona Hotshots
Orlando Apollos
Atlanta Legends
Salt Lake Stallions
Memphis Express
San Antonio Commanders

Round 4

San Antonio Commanders
Memphis Express
Salt Lake Stallions
Atlanta Legends
Orlando Apollos
Arizona Hotshots
Birmingham Iron
San Diego Fleet

SOURCE: The Alliance of American Football