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Arena Football League reschedules draft, again...


Ez Street

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What would happen to af2?

All indications at the moment are that there will be a season there. (So get your Peoria Pirates tickets now!) They have a schedule and are much healthier financially than the mother league at the moment (apparently). Whether or not the af2 gets "renamed" or some very late additions remains to be seen.

How does that happen?

Not having your (now former) commissioner apparently take out a huge line of credit against the league some years ago, and an official weekly salary of $200(?). Not to mention smaller markets have cheaper arenas.

There's also something to be said for having gate receipts (i.e. ticket sales) as your dominant source of revenue as opposed to TV deals, corporate sponsorships, ads, etc. That may mean the league makes less money than more prominent, corporatized and TV-dependent leagues, but at least the revenue sources they do have won't suddenly dry up all at once when the economy goes south. See also the National Lacrosse League, an outfit known for its high rate of franchise turnover, not only going full steam ahead with its 2009 season, but doing so without any franchises having folded or moved since last season for a change.

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Current very strong rumor is Colorado, Dallas, Georgia, and Orlando are done at the least, likely with Columbus and Kansas City.

On 8/1/2010 at 4:01 PM, winters in buffalo said:
You manage to balance agitation with just enough salient points to keep things interesting. Kind of a low-rent DG_Now.
On 1/2/2011 at 9:07 PM, Sodboy13 said:
Today, we are all otaku.

"The city of Peoria was once the site of the largest distillery in the world and later became the site for mass production of penicillin. So it is safe to assume that present-day Peorians are descended from syphilitic boozehounds."-Stephen Colbert

POTD: February 15, 2010, June 20, 2010

The Glorious Bloom State Penguins (NCFAF) 2014: 2-9, 2015: 7-5 (L Pineapple Bowl), 2016: 1-0 (NCFAB) 2014-15: 10-8, 2015-16: 14-5 (SMC Champs, L 1st Round February Frenzy)

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I'm reading all sorts of rumors, everything from individual teams being folded to the AFLPA giving massive concessions (they need to) in order to keep things afloat or else the entire league's shutting down... all unsubstantiated BS but entertaining to read.

Personally I hope they decide to go forward, but right the ship. Get the players to go back to reasonable (for the AFL) salaries. Fold what franchises are in real trouble, but keep at least 8 alive in the stronger markets where cost containment would make the difference between profit and loss. Go back to a 14-game (or even 12-game) season to reduce costs and make attending an AFL game more of a happening in the communities where there are teams. Go back to scheduling the season in pre-NBC days (i.e., earlier in the year). Put together a five-year plan that builds a strong foundation - without expansion in at least the first three years - and sets the AFL on a course toward permanence and solvency. Go to the television outlets and renegotiate their deals to the extent that it's possible, trying to get some more revenue where they can.

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Current very strong rumor is Colorado, Dallas, Georgia, and Orlando are done at the least, likely with Columbus and Kansas City.

Doubtful that Blank will drop the Force. He runs them like they're apart of the Falcons.

Eagles/Heels/Dawgs/Falcons/Hawks

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Current very strong rumor is Colorado, Dallas, Georgia, and Orlando are done at the least, likely with Columbus and Kansas City.

Doubtful that Blank will drop the Force. He runs them like they're apart of the Falcons.

True. But if Dallas goes, you'd have to think that the NFL circle will go with them.

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I enjoy arena football very much and would be extremely disappointed if the league went down the tubes. If what I've read in previous posts that at least 4-6 teams are done then the league might as well completely fold, especially if one of those teams is Orlando. They have been a staple in the AFL for 18 seasons and if they can't make it through these times, I can't imagine many other teams could.

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I enjoy arena football very much and would be extremely disappointed if the league went down the tubes. If what I've read in previous posts that at least 4-6 teams are done then the league might as well completely fold, especially if one of those teams is Orlando. They have been a staple in the AFL for 18 seasons and if they can't make it through these times, I can't imagine many other teams could.

the war on I-4 is no more?

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Nothing offical, though the one or two rumors over on AF are positive.

Just as well, I was tempted to warn you that if you went to an af2 format for fantasy leagues that Peoria's coach likes to keep his roster a revolving door.

On 8/1/2010 at 4:01 PM, winters in buffalo said:
You manage to balance agitation with just enough salient points to keep things interesting. Kind of a low-rent DG_Now.
On 1/2/2011 at 9:07 PM, Sodboy13 said:
Today, we are all otaku.

"The city of Peoria was once the site of the largest distillery in the world and later became the site for mass production of penicillin. So it is safe to assume that present-day Peorians are descended from syphilitic boozehounds."-Stephen Colbert

POTD: February 15, 2010, June 20, 2010

The Glorious Bloom State Penguins (NCFAF) 2014: 2-9, 2015: 7-5 (L Pineapple Bowl), 2016: 1-0 (NCFAB) 2014-15: 10-8, 2015-16: 14-5 (SMC Champs, L 1st Round February Frenzy)

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Im wondering why The AF2 is having more success than the AFL. Might make some sense to merge the two leagues

Simple, smaller cities take pride in having their minor league teams compared to major cities that see this as a niche sport.

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Im wondering why The AF2 is having more success than the AFL. Might make some sense to merge the two leagues

Simple, smaller cities take pride in having their minor league teams compared to major cities that see this as a niche sport.

That plus the operating costs of AF2 are essentially what AFL costs were back in the early 90's. The "move to big time" for the AFL also meant a move toward more expenses - bigger fees for leasing facilities, bigger player associated costs, etc.

The Carolina Cobras for example leased Raleigh's arena for $50,000 a game, and didn't receive any revenue from parking, concessions, etc. That's $700K a season (at the time) with gate revenue as your only source of income to offset that cost, as well as player salaries, front office staff, league assessments, etc. My sources from back then told me that the team had to take in roughly $5 million a season to break-even, a figure they never came close to in Raleigh - and fell woefully short of when the team moved to Charlotte.

The AFL also is/was grossly mismanaged. David Baker surmised that by generating a higher profile for the league, it would gain wider acceptance and money would eventually flow in as a result - that didn't happen. He envisioned AF2 as a minor league which would have teams in 100 cities - that didn't happen. He made deals (ones with NBC and EA Sports come immediately to mind) that gave away chunks of the league's ownership (the AFL is unique in that it's a for-profit LLC, while the NFL, NHL, NBA and MLB are each unincorporated non-profit associations, which don't have direct owners per se) to gamble the AFL's future on television, on video games, and the like, all without investment from the parties who were getting slices of the ownership pie. He also apparently took out loans using the league's ownership (well, what was left of it after giving away pieces to NBC, EA, etc.) to keep things afloat without hitting individual teams with fat assessments (annual dues payments to run the league operations), then pissed away that money on things like gigantic championship trophies and ArenaBowl parties, promotions, etc. Finally, they to this day haven't a solid process in place for vetting potential ownership groups with respect to expansion. While it's obviously not a concern today, the league would've been on much firmer footing had they simply taken the time to properly vett applicants to make sure they were prepared to absorb the kinds of losses an AFL team generated year to year.

Indoor football can work as a business, and it can work as a nationwide league. To do so however, it needs to reorganize and do some things significantly different than the AFL currently does:

(1) It needs to commit itself, financially and in all other respects, to operating in a specific number of cities (8, 10, whatever), and then keep teams there, no matter what for at least five years. One of the AFL's biggest problems in its 22 years has been franchise movements and teams simply closing up shop.

(2) It needs to reorganize into a hybrid-style ownership. One where the bulk of a franchise owner's success (say, 60-75%) is based on how they operate their franchise, but the rest is tied to how everyone else operates theirs. Not revenue sharing, but a true, total business partnership, where they collectively sink or swim together.

(3) It needs cost containment with respect to players. This can be assured only one way - making active players true partners in the league as a whole, and giving them a fixed percentage of profits rather than revenues, with contracts structured in a fashion that guarantees individual players a piece of the player's "profit pie." If the league succeeds, the players prosper. If it doesn't, then the players are motivated to do whatever they can to make the business work in conjunction with the league, but at the same time you don't have teams folding left and right at the drop of a hat.

(4) It needs multiple television outlets, no matter how much revenue gets generated by a 'secondary' network. Have a Friday night game on TNT, a Saturday night game on Versus, a Sunday game on ESPN and a Monday night game on a fourth outlet every week. The ratings might blow, but at least the game would get a broader base of exposure. The AFL on NBC failed, true, but why? Because network television expects higher ratings for its programming than the AFL can provide. I missed a ton of AFL games the past few years simply because I forgot they were on, or had something else to do on my Sundays. Spreading out your TV schedule rather than having a game on a single outlet mitigates that at least a little.

(5) Embrace the Grand Rapids and Iowas of the indoor football world. Indoor football is unique in that you can put a franchise in any decently-sized area that has a suitable arena. You don't need to be in New York City and/or have a state of the art, 20,000-seat facility to play in. Personally, if I were an AFL owner I'd rather own the only pro sports team in a Mobile, Alabama than to have one of six competing for discretionary income in Birmingham.

(6) Cater to your fan base, not your television audience. TV's great don't get me wrong, but indoor football's revenue comes from gate receipts, first and foremost, same as hockey. The AFL did a wonderful job in the early and mid-90's in this area, but seemed to lose its way as soon as the "Fan's Bill of Rights" was announced. Have booster clubs like minor league hockey clubs. Have events in your city where the players can meet and greet the fans. Hell, even allow fans to buy into the teams and be part owners, a la the Green Bay Packers.

(7) Have a leader who is more than a showman. David Baker was the AFL equivalent of P.T. Barnum. A league Commissioner in the 21st century needs to have his focus squarely on building (or maintaining) the league and its operations. While there's a lot involved in that simple statement to be sure, it seemed as though Baker was invariably chasing the next thing with a dollar sign attached, robbing Peter to pay Paul, or grasping for a brass ring that simply wasn't there instead of realizing what the AFL actually was and then working within its capabilities to build that brand. Simply put he tried to build it into something it wasn't, and now it's backfired.

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So would a merge of AFL and AF2 be a good thing? I think it might, as long as they follow the AF2 model for sometime to rebuild itself. AF2 has small markets (Spokane, Stockton, Fort Myers) as well as medium to medium-large ones (Oklahoma City, Milwaukee, Little Rock). Add in the remaining AFL teams that stand on their own and you'll have a good league to start over with and go back to the original AFL's roots.

Anyways, what teams are pretty much safe to stay?

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I'd add one more suggestion to Mac The Knife's list: Consider a promotion/relegation system between AF1 and AF2, allowing the small-market AF2 teams the opportunity to play their way up to AF1.

Here's how it could work: Reorganize the leagues to put, say, the 16 largest-market remaining teams in AF1, and the rest in AF2, with four divisions at each level that correspond geographically to one another. After each season, promote each AF2 division winner to its corresponding division in AF1 and demote the last-place team in each AF1 team to its corresponding AF2 division. Any future expansion teams would start out in AF2 and have to win their way up to AF1. If the AF2 divisions/conferences get too big, they could be treated as self-contained regional leagues for scheduling purposes (i.e. they would only play within their division/conference during the regular season, and mix only during the AF2 playoffs).

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