I really didn’t know what to expect.

Was the AAF going to feel like a pickup football game? Was it going to have a minor league baseball vibe? Was it going to be fun?

I went into the opening weekend of the new pro spring football league with an open mind. Hopefully you did, too.

I made the half-hour drive to watch the debut of the Orlando Apollos at Spectrum Stadium. I took in the action, and instead of getting caught in the moment, I let my thoughts marinade about what I saw and what I’ll see in the future.

Here were my thoughts from watching it up close in person:

1. The timing was perfect

You couldn’t have picked a better weekend for the AAF to debut. The first weekend without the NFL to look forward to meant there was a wide-open slot for something new. That seemed like a no-brainer to maximize viewing and satisfy the football itch.

The Super Bowl hangover is always present because it’s accepting the reality that there’s no more football. Americans love being able to flip on CBS or NBC and watch football in primetime. That’s why the AAF got a better overnight rating than the NBA game on ABC.

That’s another part of this. The NBA and NHL are 2 months from their playoffs, which means the competition from a viewing standpoint is few and far between. Mainstream America is still at least a month away from going all in for college hoops, too.

By having simultaneous games kick off on the Saturday night after the Super Bowl, the AAF knew it was going to be the national story of the weekend, even if the product wasn’t great. We’ll see how that changes a couple months from now when the AAF is playing critical games and competing with those 3 sports having meaningful games, but it’s hard to pick a better time to kick off a league than that.

2. There’s a vastly different approach than the XFL, which is good

The XFL is the natural comparison for this because it also started the weekend after the Super Bowl. But by night’s end, I saw how different the approaches were.

The XFL tried to sell a mix of wrestling-like entertainment, complete with half-naked cheerleaders and cheesy marketing. It ran promotions glorifying its lawless approach, which Vince McMahon claimed would make it a better product than the NFL. It had unorthodox rules like the opening scramble and the later overturned “bump and run” coverage rule that essentially allowed defensive backs to tackle receivers when the ball went in the air.

The AAF wasn’t any of that. It was just the football we know and love.

It had some rule changes, but not radical ones. They felt like necessary tweaks to the NFL rule book. Shoot, it wouldn’t be surprising if the NFL took some of those rules like the no kickoff thing, or the “sky judge.” It almost felt like all of the AAF rule changes were fan-friendly decisions that enhanced the viewing experience (no T.V. timeouts, shorter play clocks, no extra points, etc.).

The AAF is run by people with plenty of NFL experience who aren’t trying to reinvent the wheel. Instead of going the XFL route and acting like they’re going to replace the NFL, they’re actually more of a complement to the league. That’s why the NFL Network agreed to broadcast some AAF games.

The AAF would have been foolish to try and market itself as an NFL competitor. If all things go according to plan, the AAF will be an NFL enhancer. But I’ll get to that more later.

3. There are still some tweaks to work through

Despite those positive opening weekend reviews, there are a few things I noticed that needed tweaking. From a marketing standpoint, I felt like everything I saw leading up to the opener was on Twitter or on local billboards here in Orlando. In terms of TV ads and Facebook ads, I thought those were lacking somewhat. I’m not sure the average, non-diehard sports fan knew the details of when it was on or what the league was called.

Another thing I noticed. I was in-house media on Saturday night, which meant I was able to access in-game stats using a login and a password on a protected site. But I believe the only way for the general public to access in-game stats was by downloading the AAF app on their smart phone. It helped the AAF app reach No. 1 in terms of overnight downloads, but I’m not convinced that’s a sustainable way for people not in attendance to track the game.

As for the on-field product, close, high-scoring games are what’ll make this league fun for the average person. Three of the 4 games had a team held to 6 points or fewer.

I was at one of those games, where the Atlanta team was an offensive mess. Why? Well, it had to replace offensive coordinator Michael Vick a day before the opener. A month before the opener, offensive-minded head coach Brad Childress resigned. It showed.

It’ll be easy for teams to look bad if there’s sudden turnover like that. It could have just been that it was opening weekend and for some guys, it was their first time playing in a real game in a couple years. Whatever the case, the AAF wants to sell a competitive, offensive-driven product. That’s why it made tweaks like having only 5 rushers allowed.

The good news? Those aren’t major tweaks, and they could be corrected in a hurry.

The other necessary tweak is the ticket prices. The stadium was roughly half full, which wasn’t bad all things considered, but I’m not sure why they’re still so pricey on the secondary market. There are tickets on the 50 for the next Orlando home game going anywhere from $100-$220. I’m not sure who’s paying that.

There should be $20 seats galore for something like this. I can’t imagine paying more than maybe $50, and that’s only if I had the best seat in the house. I’ll be interested to see if that gets tweaked by the secondary market over the course of the season.

4. Steve Spurrier is the main attraction in all facets

I’ve long held the belief that if Spurrier were mic’d up all the time, I’d watch it. Going to the grocery store? Count me in. Doing his taxes? I’m down. Coaching a football game? Point me in whatever direction that is.

Spurrier mic’d up is a viral moment waiting to happen.

https://twitter.com/ftbeard_17/status/1094726335212077056

Between that soundbite and Spurrier running his take on “Philly Special,” the in-game product was all sorts of entertaining. Shoot, so was the postgame. Spurrier had a viral comment about winning openers even with the Washington Redskins, and he talked about being disappointed that the Apollos only hung 40 instead of 50.

Oh, and I asked him why he wasn’t rocking his trademark visor on the sidelines. Rain was the reason, “but that won’t happen again.”

The guy is a walking ball of entertainment — or limping because of his back issues — for all ages and all fan bases to enjoy. It’s no wonder why he was the first person to get on board with the AAF. He’s perfect for it. He’s also perfect for this era in which it’s so easy to get shareable videos.

I’ll say this. Next to maybe Johnny Manziel, I’m not sure there was a more marketable person for the AAF to build around than Spurrier. As long as he’s scoring points and being Spurrier, there’s a reason for any random person to consume AAF content in a given weekend.

5. It surpassed my low expectations, and it can be sustained

We always want to do this thing were we put everything in a box. We want to know what the long-term future of the AAF is after 1 weekend. Some believe it’s the XFL 2.0, and others are sold on it being this great thing that’ll inevitably last forever.

Sitting here today, it’s impossible to see into the crystal ball and know exactly how this is all going to play out. The AAF still has so many major decisions to be made in terms of marketing, rules and just the overall product it presents that’ll determine its future.

But as of right now, I’m more of the belief that this thing has some legs. I say that because it isn’t trying to do too much. It isn’t going after the NFL like the XFL did. There’s room for a spring developmental league played on American soil under relatively normal rules. The latter is what differentiates this from the CFL and the Arena League, both of which have sustained business their own way.

In a sport that doesn’t have a true minor league system — college is treated like one by default but it isn’t actually a farm system — the AAF can fill a void. It can give showcase opportunities to players who didn’t make it in the NFL for whatever reason. And for while the product is never going to be comparable to the NFL, the level of play is going to be better than some think.

Jalin Marshall scored the first touchdown in AAF history. Three years ago, he left Ohio State for the NFL after his redshirt sophomore year. Six years ago, he was a 5-star recruit. The guy who threw him the pass was Garrett Gilbert, a former 5-star recruit who spent time at Texas and SMU but didn’t stick in the NFL.

There are dudes like this, too:

I think stories like that one are going to be what will help drive interest with this league. Getting players that fans want to root for and feel some sort of emotional attachment to can outweigh the fact that it won’t be the best players in the world. Narratives are key for getting people to tune in.

There’s definitely the possibility that some of these guys get back to the NFL. The timeline is set up perfectly for it with the season ending in April (another difference between the AAF and the CFL).

Time will tell if the league will make enough money to sustain itself. Selling tickets and ads will obviously be a major factor in that, and it’s too difficult to tell after 1 week what those numbers will look like 6 weeks from now.

But all in all, whatever my expectations were, the AAF exceeded them.