Posted on 12/15/2008 11:57:31 AM PST by Zakeet
The Arena Football League will suspend the 2009 season as it tries to improve its long-term economic model, the league's board of directors announced Monday.
"Every owner in the AFL is strongly committed to the league, the game, and, most importantly, the fans," said acting commissioner Ed Policy. "Owners, however, recognize that, especially in light of the current unprecedented economic climate, the AFL, as a business enterprise, needs to be restructured if it is to continue to provide its unique brand of this affordable, fan-friendly sport."
A source told the Cleveland Plain Dealer that the "deal-breaker was ESPN saying it would not televise a six-, seven- or eight-team league." The league, which has been operating since 1987, had 16 teams in the 2008 season. The owners of several teams said they wanted to leave the league unless its financial model was changed.
"We, the owners of the Arena Football League, realize we have the most fan-friendly, affordable and accessible sport anywhere," said Jon Bon Jovi, co-owner of the ArenaBowl champion Philadelphia Soul. "These are trying economic times. The revamping will ensure that the AFL continues to provide value to its fans and not only survives but thrives in the years to come."
Two players told the Plain Dealer that they doubted the league would come back if the 2009 season was scuttled, but owners strongly disagreed.
(Excerpt) Read more at sportingnews.com ...
Sigh.
They might try some new team names.............
I kinda wonder how Rod Smart(He Hate Me)ended up. My guess is he didn't make that much money and is probably just scraping by.
Arena football is boring to watch on TV, but it is tons of fun in person.
That, imho, is the problem. The money to be made with any sport today is via TV revenue. If you can’t attract TV viewers, you can’t make any money.
I may be one of the few Freepers who enjoyed arena football.
Lots of action and high scoring games too.
I saw many games where a 21-point lead in the fourth quarter was never a guarantee of victory.
I certainly hope they will reorganize and be back in 2010.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rod_Smart#All_American_Football_League
Smart was selected by Team Tennessee during the inaugural draft of the All American Football League on January 26, 2008.
he played 4 yrs. with the Carolina Panthers, mainly on special teams. Was released in ‘06 and I presume he has now retired.
As far as the Arena league goes, if a tree falls in the forest....
One of my sons played briefly for the OKC Yarddawgz. He saw guys who had their careers ruined by drugs, injuries, or plain bad luck. I feel bad for the guys and the teams but Arena Football just never really caught on like it needed to in order to survive.
At least we stil have the Ultimate Fighting Championship!!
There’s still AF2 and plenty of minor/independent leagues, althought they call it “indoor football”
An NHL game is an awesome spectacle to witness in person, but difficult for casual fans to appreciate on TV.
No more Lingerie Bowl. :(
The good news? The Puppy Bowl isn’t going anywhere.
Phew!
Who needs the Arena Football League when you have the Big 12? (ducking for cover!)
Translation: He's dead, Jim.
“Who needs the Arena Football League when you have the Big 12? (ducking for cover!)”
The Big 12 is pretty good this year.
The ACC (I hate to say it, because I root for GA Tech), Big 10, and Pac 1 have all been pretty lame this year.
Maybe if they had the team names from Baseketball:
Milwaukee Beers
Miami Dealers
New Jersey Informants
San Francisco Ferries
Roswell Aliens
L.A. Riots
Dallas Felons
Detroit Lemons
Hey there should be a bailout-if we’re going to save white collar America (first bailout), and blue collar America (big 3 bailout), what about athletic collar bailout!
Here's our Pensacola AFL team. Barracudas ain't so bad a name.............now.........
Gee, didn’t see that coming...(sarcasm)
And yet the GYNBA remains...
Only because many NBA owners have year long leases on the stadia or building debt and need to put something inside in the summer months or pay for an empty building.
NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!1!
It had a lot of potential. Clearly the money was behind it and it had some powerful people backing it, but it was too NFL-like for its own good.
You might chuckle, but I thought that a better strategy would have been if Vince McMahon had made it more WWE-like and less NFL-like (not in the sense that the games are rigged). Forget tying teams to cities; rather, the team should adopt the persona of its coach and basically barnstorm. No fixed schedules; rather, a wrestling or boxing-like challenge ladder should exist such that the defending champ might only play a handful of times a year, but always to defend its title. I would have also liked to have seen a rule for no fixed contracts.
But it wasn't to be. The XFL was an NFL copycat with sub-par players and will forever be remembered for "He Hate Me." It was doomed to fail from the beginning. AFL is closer to something unique, but it never really had the money it needed to compete, as witnessed by today's decision.
Smart played five seasons in the NFL for Philadelphia and Carolina and played in a Super Bowl. Might even have stayed in long enough to get into the pension plan.
The last AFL champion will be the Philadelphia Soul, who gave the Phillies the blueprint on how to win a title!!!!!
/sarcasm off
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