For the 2023 season, the Liga de Fútbol Americano Profesional is going to look very different yjsm it did in 2022.
Their rival league in Mexico, the Fútbol Americano de México, FAM, has folded and the LFA is now the undisputed “professional” American football league in the country.
The effect of the folding of FAM, is that four of their teams moved over to the LFA; Rarámuris de Chihuahua, Reds CDMX, Jefes de Ciudad Juárez and the Caudillos de Chihuahua. This increases the number of teams from seven to 11.
According to sources associated with the league, the LFA is planning for 2023 to be the longest season in its history, with each team playing each other once and the league having five games being played per week. This would give each team one bye week to recoup.
However, there is a caveat that some don’t realize. Ever since its inception, the LFA has had a dedicated week off for all their teams that is usually around the end of March, so that would technically give every team two bye weeks.
Two of the new teams, the Rarámuris and the Caudillos, share the same stadium in the Estadio Olímpico Universitario, so they would more than likely alternate home and away games with each other, especially if they both play on the same day against their opponent. The same situation faces the Reds, who will be sharing the Estadio Jesús Martínez “Palillo” with the Mexicas.
Those are some of the changes affecting the regular season. But as for the playoffs, it is a different story. The league will reportedly stick with the same six-team format in which the top two get a wild-card round bye and home field for the semifinals.
The league decided to keep this format after the expansion even though in 2022 it came under fire with six of the seven teams making the playoffs. It was done because of the extra revenue it produced. However, after the sixth seeded Gallos Negros de Querétaro, who had a dismal record of 1-5 during the regular season, went on a run and reached the championship game, Tazón México V, it was decided to keep the same number of teams in the playoffs since the league has now expanded to 11 teams from seven. With that, the percentage of teams qualifying for the playoffs dropped from 86% down to 55%, making the spots more coveted.
It is still not known when the league will drop the new schedule or when the season will begin, so any other information for the LFA next year is all up for speculation until an official announcement is made.