Should FCFL Play 7v7 or 8v8 Football?

OMG!  The FCFL is going to let the fans decide some of the key items in the league’s rule book!  Shortly after completion of the ICO, fans will be able to use their newly acquired FAN Tokens to vote on a number of major decisions about the brand of football that will be played in the FCFL.

The first one of those decisions to be revealed is…whether FCFL football will be 7v7 or 8v8.  In a detailed and well explained article here, FCFL Special Football Advisor Shawn Liotta has laid out the tradeoffs involved in the decision whether to play 7v7 or 8v8.

If I can paraphrase his main points, I’d describe the basics as follows…

Eight vs. eight is traditional for arena/indoor football.  It’s played with three OL, a QB and four eligible receivers. Typically, one of those is a RB and the rest are WR.  Due to some of the rules that are often paired with eight vs. eight football, almost all teams run very similar schemes and there is little tactical innovation in these leagues.

In seven vs. seven football, one of the eligible receivers is removed from the mix.  By creating more open space on the field, Liotta believes that a wider variety of tactics become viable and there’s more room for innovation.  I think we know which side of this vote he’ll be rooting for!

I have to admit that I found that a bit surprising and counterintuitive.  I would have thought that the more players involved, the more complexity and variety of strategies that would work.  However, I’m a complete novice when it comes to indoor football and far from an expert at football schemes in any format.  Coach Liotta lays it all out very clearly with a series of diagrams and detailed explanations in this blog article.