When Birmingham plays its first Alliance of American Football game in February, expect plenty of players from Alabama and Auburn to be on the field.

The AAF announced its player-allocation policy on Thursday, and Phase 1 involves pairing former college stars with regional AAF teams.

Each AAF team controls the rights to players from at least 13 college programs. For Birmingham, the colleges include 13 state schools as well as South Carolina, Mississippi State, Louisiana Tech, North Carolina State, Maryland and Missouri. In addition to Alabama and Auburn, the state colleges on Birmingham's assignment list include UAB, South Alabama, Troy, Alabama A&M, Alabama State, Jacksonville State, Samford, Miles, North Alabama, Tuskegee and West Alabama.

"If the Birmingham team has (former Alabama running back) Trent Richardson, we think that will be something that would be a significant gate attraction," league co-founder Bill Polian told ESPN.

For players from unaffiliated colleges, the allocation process moves to Phase 2, which assigns players based on their most recent NFL or Canadian Football League team.

Birmingham's NFL affiliates are the New England Patriots, Buffalo Bills, Cleveland Browns and Pittsburgh Steelers, with Montreal Alouettes and the Ottawa Redblacks as the CFL affiliates. Birmingham was the only franchise to receive two feeder teams in the CFL.

Finally, players from unaffiliated colleges who have never been signed by an NFL or CFL team are free agents and can be offered a contract by any Alliance team.

Here is everything you need to know about The Alliance Player Allocation process.



Associated college and professional teams will be released by Alliance City Team. Get ready to #JoinTheAlliance pic.twitter.com/AtN2cMCrYi — The Alliance (@TheAAF) July 12, 2018

"When a player is cut or he is not in the NFL or CFL, the first thing is we look for a college affiliation," Polian told The Associated Press. "His rights are your property if he is affiliated with one of your colleges. If his college is not assigned, we go to his pro team. If the NFL team does not work, and he is in the CFL, we go to that. Finally, if he is completely unallocated, he can be put on the rights list first-come, first-serve."

AAF players will sign non-guaranteed contracts worth $250,000 over three years. They'll have the opportunity to earn more through a variety of bonuses tied to performance, statistics and fan engagement. Players who complete one season in the league will earn an educational stipend.

The other franchise affiliations announced on Thursday included:

Atlanta: Georgia, Clemson, Louisville, North Carolina, Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech, Virginia, Georgia Southern, Georgia State, Kennesaw State, Mercer, Savannah State, Albany State, Clark-Atlanta, Fort Valley State, Morehouse, Shorter, Valdosta State and West Georgia in college; the Jacksonville Jaguars, Carolina Panthers, Atlanta Falcons and Washington Redskins in the NFL and the Toronto Argonauts in the CFL.

Memphis: Tennessee, LSU, Arkansas, Ole Miss, Memphis, Kentucky, Vanderbilt, Middle Tennessee, Austin Peay, Chattanooga, East Tennessee State, Tennessee State, Tennessee Tech, Tennessee-Martin, Carson-Newman, Lane and Tusculum in college; the Tennessee Titans, New Orleans Saints, Indianapolis Colts and Cincinnati Bengals in the NFL and the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in the CFL.

Orlando: Florida, Florida State, Miami (Fla.), UCF, South Florida, Florida Atlantic, Florida International, Bethune-Cookman, Florida A&M, Jacksonville, Stetson, Florida Tech and West Florida in college; the Miami Dolphins, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, New York Jets and New York Giants in the NFL and the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in the CFL.

Phoenix: UCLA, Oregon State, Arizona, Arizona State, Illinois, Texas Tech, Washington State, Nevada, Northern Arizona, New Mexico, New Mexico State, Northwestern and UTEP in college; the Arizona Cardinals, San Francisco 49ers, Chicago Bears and Baltimore Ravens in the NFL and the Edmonton Eskimos in the CFL.

Salt Lake City: California, Oregon, Utah, Oklahoma State, Utah State, Boise State, BYU, Wyoming, Air Force, Southern Utah, Weber State, Colorado State, Northern Colorado, Idaho, Idaho State and Dixie State in college; the Seattle Seahawks, Denver Broncos, Minnesota Vikings and Green Bay Packers in the NFL and the Calgary Stampeders in the CFL.

San Antonio: Texas, Texas A&M, Oklahoma, Baylor, Rice, Houston, SMU, TCU, North Texas, UTSA, Texas State, Abilene Christian, Houston Baptist, Incarnate Word, Lamar, Prairie View, Sam Houston State, Stephen F. Austin, Texas Southern, Angelo State, Midwestern State, Tarleton State, Texas A&M-Commerce, Texas A&M-Kingsville, Texas-Permian Basin and West Texas A&M in college; the Dallas Cowboys, Houston Texans, Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles in the NFL and the Saskatchewan Roughriders in the CFL.

San Diego: Southern Cal, Stanford, Washington, Colorado, San Diego State, Fresno State, San Jose State, UNLV, Hawaii, California Davis, Cal Poly, Sacramento State, San Diego, Azuza Pacific and Humboldt State in college; the Los Angeles Rams, Los Angeles Chargers, Oakland Raiders and Detroit Lions in the NFL and the British Columbia Lions in the CFL.

Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @AMarkG1.