CLEVELAND, Ohio – While playing for Texas A&M, Johnny Manziel is often compared to a video game character with his incredible elusiveness and ability to catch the miraculous. It is fitting, therefore, that the former Browns full-back will try to revive his pro career in a new league that combines the best parts of live football and video games.
The league announced on Wednesday that Manziel’s last return attempt will be with the Zappers of Fan Controlled Football.
“We can no longer be excited about having Johnny Manziel join the FCF,” FCF co-founder and CEO Sohrob Farudi said in a release. “Having one of the most talented and exciting players in the history of college football is a historic moment for the FCF, and for our fans who get the chance to call the plays for Manziel.”
“Football has always been a big part of my life, and the opportunity to join the FCF was too good to pass up,” added Manziel, who ran in 2019 as a member of the Memphis Express of the Alliance of American Football. “FCF is doing something new and original in the field of sports, a league that the fans are really about and allows them to name all the shots. I can not wait to get started – it’s going to be fun. ‘
Manziel’s tune has changed since June, when he told the Lubbock Avalanche Journal that his playing days were “in the past, probably.”
“It has a lot of potential to just be a good time and still be football-centric,” he told ESPN on Wednesday. ‘They’re going to let the people [who] join this league, be who they are and enjoy it and be a little more free than football sometimes is. This is definitely what appealed to me. ”
FCF will encourage players to stream their off-field activities live and connect directly with fans in the same way that players do. Since being cut by the Browns in 2016, the player, formerly known as “Johnny Football”, has played in the Spring League and the Canadian Football League, in addition to the AAF. Manziel also struggled with drug abuse, depression and was diagnosed with bipolar disorder.
Fan Controlled Football, which consists of four teams, will be just that. Fans will say about everything – from the design of the uniforms and the implementation of league rules to the choice of starting line-up and real-time calls. The 7-to-7 matches will last about an hour and will be broadcast live on Twitch from a facility in Atlanta. Registered fans compete in interactive contests, earn special badges and unlock special rewards.
“The long-term vision is to create a whole new world that sits between gaming and traditional sports,” Farudi said in a release.
The league has yet to announce when its six-week schedule will begin.