Arena Football: Return of Glory Days?

[Tyrano123]

I'm sitting here currently watching the Spokane Shock and the Tampa Bay Storm and I'm thinking back to 2008 where the arena football league had a REALLY solid TV deal, excellent football markets (in my opinion), of course uniforms, etc. Now the league is almost, but not quite, a joke to me. I still enjoy the sport but I can't seem to place my finger on what's missing about it. There just doesn't seem to be a "spark" with it any more. So I'm wondering, what do you all believe needs to be done to get the Arena Football league back to the glory days of 2000-2008? What about new football markets, it could perhaps be a new playoff format if you will. What would you do differently if you were commissioner of the AFL today?

[Evil G]

We could try to bring back the 90s.

[TBGKon]

The glory days of the AFL were late 90s-early 2000s. Yes, the national TV package was big for visibility, but it was also the beginning of the end of the true AFL. The AFL is a niche sport and works well in certain places, which is why places like Iowa and Spokane are successful teams, with the mix ins of Tampa, Orlando, Arizona, etc.

The 2009 restructuring was necessary, and now we're starting to see the fruits of that adjustment. With the additions of Portland, LA, and Vegas in 2015 it's only getting better.

[rams80]

Liquidate all my assets, change my name, take what money I can get, and run.

The arena league is unsalvageable.

[Raysfan12]

I have always a soft spot on Arena Football since I watched the Louisville Fire of the AFL2 league (minor-league version of the AFL). I hope one day Arena Football returns to Louisville and can grow it's posture nationally.

[JH42XCC]

What I would like to see is the AFL returning to New York. We had the Dragons back then.

[The Six]

KISS will rejuvenate it.

[AnPheitseog]

Getting rid of the iron men is what made it go downhill, in my eyes

[pats2000]

ive always watched the afl since it was on nbc. i really want the league to return to where it was before it folded. that shock storm game tonight was really good. BRING BACK THE CRUSH!!

[NJTank]

They need a team in the New York metro area, preferably Newark.

[Seadragon76]

Hmm... here's my idea for the rebirth of the Arena League

-24 teams (2 conferences of 6 team divisions)

American Conference

Eastern Division

Cleveland Gladiators

Philadelphia Soul

Pittsburgh Power

New York Dragons

Massachusetts Marauders [plays in Boston]

Washington Commandos

Southern Division

Jacksonville Sharks

New Orleans VooDoo

Orlando Predators

Tampa Bay Storm

Carolina Cobras [plays in Charlotte]

Georgia Force [plays in Atlanta]

National Conference

Central Division

Iowa Barnstormers

San Antonio Talons

Chicago Rush

Colorado Crush [plays in Denver]

Dallas Desperados

Milwaukee Mustangs

Western Division

Arizona Rattlers

Los Angeles KISS

Las Vegas Avengers

Portland Thunder

San Jose Sabrecats

Spokane Shock

Regular Season format: 18 game schedule. 10 games against division rivals, 6 games against opposite division in conference and 2 games against the opposite conference's team who finished in the same position of the following season.

Playoffs: Top two teams in each division advance to playoffs where division A champ hosts division B runner-up and visa versa. Winners meet in conference championship game with the team who has the better record hosting. Winners then meet in the ArenaBowl, held by the team with the best overall record in the league.

[Norva]

I think the league should reduce the schedule back down to 16 or even 14. 18 games when over half the league gets in the playoffs makes for a lot of pointless games. It is a great sport though and I do think little by little it's getting back to a good place.

[LMU]

The league is starting to bring back the celebrity owners (Simmons/Stanley, Neil). If they stay the course and not expand too quickly, the league should be in good shape. Certainly not like it was in the early 2000s, but not in the dire 2008/2009 situation.

[TBGKon]

In reply to Seadragon's alignment, I'm not too sure on the status of both Jacksonville and San Antonio. With Vince Neil being included in the Jacksonville ownership group a few months prior to the Vegas announcement, it wouldnt surprise me to see Jax make the move out west. As for the Talons, I found the following link about their financial issues from a few months ago.

http://www.expressnews.com/business/local/article/A-big-fumble-5084892.php#/0

Louisville might actually work, as they were one of the better attended AF2 teams back in the day, very similar to Spokane.

[Mac the Knife]

So I'm wondering, what do you all believe needs to be done to get the Arena Football league back to the glory days of 2000-2008?

What would you do differently if you were commissioner of the AFL today?

Nothing will resurrect Arena Football to its 'salad days,' which probably weren't in the 2000's but rather the early to mid 1990's. From a business case study perspective, the AFL was already on its slope toward going under as early as 2000.

I'm not sure of what step two would be, but step one would be to have Jerry Kurz shot out of a confetti cannon from the 25-yard line. He's the epitome of everything that's wrong with both the game and the business model of 21st century Arena Football.

The glory days of the AFL were late 90s-early 2000s. Yes, the national TV package was big for visibility, but it was also the beginning of the end of the true AFL. The AFL is a niche sport and works well in certain places, which is why places like Iowa and Spokane are successful teams, with the mix ins of Tampa, Orlando, Arizona, etc.

The 2009 restructuring was necessary, and now we're starting to see the fruits of that adjustment. With the additions of Portland, LA, and Vegas in 2015 it's only getting better.

The 2008-09 debacle wasn't a restructuring. The original league folded. The abomination that plays today simply bought the rights to the AFL's trademarks. Had they not done so, and operated as "Arena Football One" as they'd originally announced, they'd have folded the tents by now because they'd be lumped in with the likes of the CIFL, IFL, PIFL, AIFL, and EIEIOFL. This is one of those astonishingly rare cases where the brand proved to be an asset more valuable than the product it supported.

I think the league should reduce the schedule back down to 16 or even 14. 18 games when over half the league gets in the playoffs makes for a lot of pointless games. It is a great sport though and I do think little by little it's getting back to a good place.

Move back to the original schedule (February - May). Go to a 12 game regular season schedule if you're going to have half the teams qualify for the playoffs. If you're going to have a neutral site ArenaBowl, do it like they did in the first year, 1987: base who gets the game on attendance. Granted it might be held in Tampa every year as a result, but it would be a reward for the fans who (well, to the extent they can anymore) fill the stands.

The league is starting to bring back the celebrity owners (Simmons/Stanley, Neil). If they stay the course and not expand too quickly, the league should be in good shape.

If you comb through the CCSLC far enough, you'll find posts where I predicted the demise of the original league starting about mid-way through the David Baker days; and I'm predicting the demise of this bunch within the next five years. What I predicted about the original league came true right down the line, and I'd bet a buck that my predictions about this bastardized version of the AFL will come to pass as well.

This is only an opinion obviously, but I think during his commissionership of the original AFL, David Baker ran the greatest Ponzi operation in sports history. With Arena Football he promoted the hell out of a niche product, to a point where he could sell franchises for hyper-inflated prices ($ 12 million were what the Carolina Cobras and Detroit Fury went for in 2000), the money from which he funneled to existing team owners so they could keep afloat. In markets where that didn't prove sufficient, he'd find a new owner either in the same city or elsewhere, because everyone had access to money in the 90's and suckers were plentiful. AF2 was the second wave of Ponzidom, with small market cities getting sucked into the idea of being "part of the fastest growing sport in America" and paying what amounted to an annual royalty for the privilege of having the AF2 brand associated with what was second-rate indoor football. With that going, attracting a television partner based on over-hyped attendance figures and franchise sale prices was a relatively easy proposition. "Hey, there are 18,000 people in the stands for some of these teams, and expansion franchises are going for $12 million. This is the new thing, so we need to be part of it," the TV guys thought to themselves.

The problem with Jerry Kurz and the AF1 boys (well, those who are left) is that they don't have anywhere near the salesmanship, charisma or personality that Baker has. Instead of tailoring the on-field product to fans, they basically ignore and ultimately alienate them. Instead of putting forth the best PR face they possibly can, they antagonize fan sites such as ArenaFan and allow games to be forfeit because of labor issues that could be resolved with a phone call. Instead of starting in their first season with a mea culpa to fans and a mindset of "Same game, new players, different attitude, better prices for a seat," they went into it with an attitude of "We're back (funny, but you don't look like any of the guys who ran the team two years ago). Support us. Oh, and by the way, pay ticket prices similar to what you were paying for the old league, only for far less impressive levels of talent."

The replacement league also suffers from the burned bridges of its predecessor, and thus it can't replicate its "success." All the suckers who wanted into Arena Football during the 1990's and early 2000's got in, got burned financially, and got the hell out. There's obviously enough fools with money that the two can be separated, but that pool isn't nearly as deep as it was 8-10 years ago. Jerry Kurz can't sell a franchise for $12 million in New York; hell, he can't sell one for $12, because Arena Football's been "tried" there with three (is it three? - Knights, Dragons, CityHawks? Am I missing a fourth?) times, and each time, it's failed. After something fails three times (or even once) in a city, it's hard to find someone else to say, "I'm sure I can make it work."

Net-net (pardon the pun): the "new" AFL isn't the AFL. Never had been, and never will be. There'll be no resurrection of AF2. Ever. The "new" AFL will be gone within five more years, because the number of suckers willing to invest and lose money in indoor football is once again drying up. The financial losses are such that even in places like Orlando, franchises are in jeopardy. The league awarded its Chicago franchise to a woman who wouldn't pay them for it, and after taking it from them awarded it to I believe a convicted felon who barely could afford the bus fare to get him to the press conference announcing he'd taken over. There is no resurrection to be had. Just a long(er than I'd anticipated) death march.

[buzzcut]

To the OP, there is no such thing as glory day when referring to Arena FootballMajor Indoor Tiddlywinks. In fact, using the terms in the same paragraph, let alone sentence, is a violation of the Geneva Convention.

[Ateles fusciceps]

AFL? If rather watch the XFL.

He Hate Me!!!

[TheRicSlick]

AFL? If rather watch the XFL.

He Hate Me!!!

Vince McMahon would be proud.

[MJWalker45]

As for the Talons, I found the following link about their financial issues from a few months ago.

http://www.expressnews.com/business/local/article/A-big-fumble-5084892.php#/0

The hope here is the Spurs will buy the team off of the league but I haven't heard if they'll do it. I think moving to AT&T Center would be more conducive to fan interaction. The Alamodome is too big a space for using so little of it on game day. Granted the rent is probably the reason they use it still.

[Needschat]

Can't return to the glory days without the Albany Firebirds!!