The
Arena Football League (
AFL)
was founded in
1987 as an
indoor American
football league by
Jim
Foster. It was played indoors on a smaller field than American
football, resulting in a faster-paced and higher-scoring game. The
sport was invented in the early 1980s and patented by Foster, a
former executive of the
United States Football League
and the
National Football
League.
The AFL would play 22 seasons from 1987 to 2008 before large debts
forced the league to suspend operations in search of a more
profitable business model. In December 2008 the league's owners
canceled the 2009 season to begin work on developing a long-term
plan to improve its economic model.
Unable to agree upon a viable economic plan for the future of the
league, the AFL suspended operations indefinitely on August 4,
2009, with
Chapter 7 bankruptcy
liquidation likely. On September 28, 2009, the
Arena Football 1 league was formed,
containing multiple former AFL and
af2 teams
including
Orlando Predators and
Arizona Rattlers, as well as a
possibility for the
Tampa Bay Storm
and
San Jose Sabercats to join by
October 9, 2009. Additionally, new teams were formed in former AFL
markets Salt Lake City and Chicago.
History
Jim
Foster, a promotions manager with the National Football League,
conceived the idea of indoor football while watching an indoor soccer match at Madison Square
Garden
in 1981. While at the game, he wrote his
idea on a 9x12 envelope from his briefcase with sketches of the
field and notes on gameplay. His presented the idea to a few
friends at the NFL offices, where he received praise and
encouragement for his concept. After solidifying the rules and
business plan, supplemented with sketches by a professional artist,
Foster presented his idea to various television networks. He
reached an agreement with
NBC for a "test
game".
Plans for arena football were put on hold in 1982 as the United
States Football League was launched. Foster left the NFL to accept
a position in the USFL. He eventually became executive
vice-preseident with the
Chicago
Blitz, where he returned to his concept of arena football. In
1983, he began organizing the test game in his spare time around
his job with the Blitz. By 1985, he had devoted all his time to
arena football, and on April 26, 1986, his concept was realized
when finally staged the test game.
"Test game"
The test game was played in Rockford, Illinois at the Rockford
MetroCentre. Sponsors were secured, and players and coaches from
local colleges were recruited to volunteer to play for the teams,
the Chicago Politicians and Rockford Metros, with the guarantee of
a tryout should the league take off. Interest was high enough
following the initial test game that Foster decided to put on a
second "showcase" game.
The second game was held on February 26, 1987
at the Rosemont
Horizon
in Chicago with a budget of $20,000, up from $4,000
in the original test game. Foster also invited
ESPN to send a film crew to the game; a highlights
package aired on
SportsCenter.
The AFL logo from 1987–2002.
Inaugural season
Following the successes of his trial-run games, Foster moved ahead
with his idea for arena football. He founded the Arena Football
League with four teams: the
Pittsburgh
Gladiators,
Denver
Dynamite,
Washington
Commandos, and
Chicago
Bruisers.
The first game in Arena Football League
history was played between the Gladiators and Commandos at Pittsburgh Civic Arena
in front of 12,117 fans. The game was
deliberately not televised so that it could be analyzed and any
follies and failures would not be subject to national public
scrutiny. Following the inaugural game, tweaks and adjustments were
made, and the first season continued. Each team played six games,
two against each other team. The top two teams, Denver and
Pittsburgh, then competed in the first-ever AFL championship game,
ArenaBowl I.
Patenting the game
On September 30, 1987, Foster filed an application with the
United States
Patent and Trademark Office to patent his invented sport. The
patent application covered the rules of the game, specifically
detailing the goalposts and rebound netting and their impact on
gameplay. Foster's application was granted on March 27, 1990.
During the term of the patent, 20 years from the date of filing the
application, any other league that formed to play
indoor football would be forced to use rules
and equipment that did not fall under Foster's patent; no indoor
football league would be able to use the goalposts and rebound
netting found in Foster's arena football. The patent expired on
September 30, 2007, allowing indoor football leagues the chance to
use some of arena football's innovations.
Early years
From its inception, the AFL operated in a state of semi-obscurity;
many Americans had heard the term "arena football" but knew little
to nothing about the league itself.
From the 1987 season until the late 1990s, the most exposure the
league would receive was on
ESPN, which aired
tape-delayed games, often well after midnight. The league received
its first taste of wide exposure in 1998, when
Arena Bowl XII was televised nationally as part
of ABC's
Wide
World of Sports.
One of the league's early success stories was the
Detroit Drive.
A primary team for some of the AFL's most
highly regarded players, including George LaFrance, Gary and Alvin Rettig, as
well as being a second career chance for quarterback Art Schlichter, the Drive regularly played
before sold out crowds at Joe Louis Arena
, and went to the ArenaBowl
every year of their existence (1988-1993). The AFL's first
dynasty came to an end when their owner,
Mike Ilitch (who also owned
Little Caesar's Pizza and the
Detroit Red Wings) bought the
Detroit Tigers baseball team and sold the AFL
team.
Although the Drive left the league, the AFL had a number of other
teams which it considered "dynasties", including the
Tampa Bay Storm (the only team that has
existed in some form for all twenty seasons), their arch-rival the
Orlando Predators, the
San Jose SaberCats of the present decade,
and their rivals the
Arizona
Rattlers.
In 1993,
the league staged its first and only All-Star Game in Des Moines,
Iowa
, the future home of the Iowa Barnstormers, as a fundraiser for
flood victims in the
area. The National Conference defeated the American
Conference 64-40 in front of a crowd of 7,189.
While the aforementioned teams have enjoyed success, many teams in
the history of the league have enjoyed little to no success.
There are
also a number of franchises which existed in the form of a number
of unrelated teams under numerous management groups until they
folded (an example is the New York
CityHawks whose owners transferred the team from New York
to Hartford
to become the New England Sea
Wolves after two seasons, then after another two seasons
were sold and became the Toronto Phantoms, who
lasted another two seasons until folding). There are a
number of reasons why these teams failed, including lack of
financial support from owners, lack of media exposure, to the
city's plain disinterest in the team.
The new millennium
The year 2000 brought a heightened interest in the AFL.
Then-
St. Louis Rams quarterback Kurt
Warner, who was
MVP of
Super Bowl XXXIV, was first noticed
because he played quarterback for the AFL's
Iowa Barnstormers. While many sports
commentators and fans continued to ridicule the league, Warner's
story gave the league positive exposure, and it brought the league
a new television deal with
TNN, who, unlike
ESPN, would televise regular season games live. While it was not
financially lucrative, it helped set the stage for what the league
would become in the new millennium. Also, the year also brought a
spin-off league, the
af2, intended to be a
developmental league, comparable to the
National Football League's
NFL Europe. There was a lot of expansion in the
2000s. Expansion teams include the
Austin Wranglers,
Carolina Cobras,
Los Angeles Avengers,
Chicago Rush,
Detroit
Fury,
Dallas Desperados,
Colorado Crush,
New Orleans VooDoo,
Philadelphia Soul,
Nashville Kats,
Kansas City Brigade, and
Utah Blaze. The Wranglers, Cobras, Fury, Kats,
VooDoo, and Avengers no longer compete in the AFL, however.
There were also several rule changes. In 2003, the season expanded
to 16 games. In 2005, players were no longer allowed to run out of
bounds. The only way for a player to go out of bounds is if a
player is tackled into the side boards. 2005 also marked the first
year the ArenaBowl was played at a neutral site. In 2007, free
substitution was allowed. And in 2008, the Jack Linebacker was
allowed to go sideboard to sideboard.
Decline
After 12 years as commissioner of the AFL, David Baker resigned
unexpectedly on July 25, 2008, just two days before
ArenaBowl XXII; deputy commissioner Ed Policy
was named interim commissioner until Baker's replacement was found.
Baker explained, "When I took over as commissioner, I thought it
would be for one year. It turned into 12. But now it's time."
Three months later, "based on circumstances currently affecting the
league and the team", Tom Benson startlingly announced that the New
Orleans VooDoo were ceasing operations and folding. Shortly
thereafter, an article in Sports Business Journal announced that
the AFL had a tentative agreement to sell a $100 million stake in
the league to Platinum Equity; in exchange, Platinum Equity would
create a centralized, single-entity business model that would
streamline league and team operations and allow the league to be
more profitable. Benson's move to shut down the VooDoo came during
the Platinum Equity conference call, leading to speculation that he
had folded because of the deal.
Due to the sudden loss of the New Orleans franchise, the league
announced in October that the beginning of the free agency period
would be delayed in order to accommodate a dispersal draft. Dates
were eventually announced as December 2 for the dispersal draft and
December 4 for free agency, but shortly before the draft the league
issued a press release announcing the draft had been postponed one
day to December 3. Shortly thereafter, another press release
announced that the draft would be held on December 9 and free
agency would commence on December 11. However, the draft still
never took place, and instead another press release was issued
stating that both the draft and free agency had been postponed
indefinitely. Rumors began circulating that the league was in
trouble and on the verge of folding, but owners were quick to deny
those claims. It was soon revealed the players' union had agreed to
cut the salary cap for the 2009 season in order to prevent a
cessation of operations.
Cancelling the 2009 season
Following a conference call on December 10, a league press release
announced that the league had not voted to suspend operations; many
media outlets had been reporting that the 2009 season had been
canceled. Within the week, however, a second conference call
resulted in enough votes from owners and cooperation from the AFLPA
to suspend the 2009 season in order to create "a long-term plan to
improve its economic model". Teams cut office staffs to only the
most essential personnel, and players were forced to find
alternative work for the upcoming spring. Efforts to reformat the
league's business model were placed under the leadership of
Columbus Destroyers owner
Jim Renacci
and interim commissioner Policy. The league set a March 1, 2009
deadline to vote on a revised business model, but no business
decisions were announced at that time; instead, the league set a
new deadline of March 31 and extended players' health insurance
benefits. It was soon announced that the Players' Association had
agreed to a revised collective bargaining agreement that cut the
salary cap and moved the league closer to returning to play. In
addition, plans were also announced to revive the New Orleans
VooDoo and add a Pittsburgh expansion franchise for the 2010
season.
High hopes for the AFL's return began to wane when interim
commissioner Ed Policy announced his resignation, citing the
obsolescence of his position in the reformatted league. Two weeks
later, the Los Angeles Avengers announced that they were formally
folding the franchise. Meanwhile, efforts to revitalize the league
continued, and the new business plan was ready to be presented to
the owners. One month later, the league missed the deadline to
formally ratify the new CBA and announced that it was eliminating
health insurance for the players. Progress on the return stalled,
and no announcements were made regarding the future of the
league.
Bankruptcy
On July 20, 2009,
Sports Business Journal reported that
the AFL owed approximately $14 million to its creditors and were
considering filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Owners
were also exploring the expansion franchise in Pittsburgh in order
to use the expansion fees to help pay off the debts and infuse
enough cash into the league to hold the 2010 season. In early
August 2009, numerous media outlets began reporting that the AFL
was folding permanently and would file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy.
The league released a statement on August 4 announcing that while
the league is not folding, it is suspending league operations
indefinitely. Several teams commented that they were still pursuing
arena football in 2010 with the possibility of using the
financially independent
arenafootball2. Despite
this, several of the league's creditors have filed papers to force
a Chapter 7 liquidation if the league does not do so voluntarily.
This request was granted on August 7, though converted to a
Chapter 11 reorganization on August
26.
Less than two months after the announcement, and a few weeks after
the suspension forced the dissolution of
af2,
the
Arizona Rattlers and
Orlando Predators defected to
Arena Football 1, a startup league
consisting mostly of former af2 teams. The 16-team league expects
to expand to "24 to 30" teams prior to the start of their inaugural
2010 season, and is in negotiations with at least seven other teams
from the AFL to join, including the
Tampa Bay Storm and the
San Jose Sabercats.
All assets of the Arena Football League were auctioned off on
November 25, 2009; arena football breakaway league
Arena Football 1 was accepted as the
stalking horse bidder with a starting bid of $2.5 million. .
Postseason
From the league's inception through ArenaBowl XVIII, the
championship game was played at the home of the highest-seeded
remaining team. The AFL then switched to a neutral-site
championship, with ArenaBowls XIX and XX in Las Vegas.
New Orleans
Arena
, home of the New Orleans VooDoo, served as the site
of ArenaBowl XXI on July 29,
2007. This was the first professional sports championship to
be staged in the city since
Hurricane
Katrina struck in August 2005. The
San Jose SaberCats earned their third
championship in six years by defeating the
Columbus Destroyers 55-33. Arena Bowl
XXI in New Orleans was deemed a success, and the city was chosen to
host Arena Bowl XXII, in which the
Philadelphia Soul defeated the defending
champs San Jose Sabercats.
Rules
An AFL goalpost
- The Field: An indoor padded surface wide and long with
endzones. Goal posts are wide with a crossbar height of (NFL goalposts are wide with the
crossbar at ). The goalside rebound nets are wide by high. The
bottom of the nets are above the ground. Sideline barriers are high
and made of high density foam rubber.
- The Equipment: The official football is the same size and
weight as the National Football League ball.
- The Players and Formations: Eight players on the field; 20-man
active roster; four-man inactive roster.
- Substitution: Free substitution is allowed, but some players
play both ways either by choice or to step in because of injury.
- Formation: Four (4) offensive players must line up on the line
of scrimmage. Three (3) defensive players must be down linemen (in
a three or four-point stance). Only the "Mac Linebacker" may blitz
on either side of the center. Alignment is two (2) or more yards
off the line of scrimmage. No stunting or twisting. Offensive
motion in the backfield: One receiver may go in a forward motion
before the snap.
- Timing: Four 15 minute quarters with a 15-minute halftime. The
clock stops for out-of-bounds plays or incomplete passes only in
the last minute of each half or when the referee deems it necessary
for penalties, injuries or timeouts. Each team is allowed three (3)
time-outs per half. In the last minute of the game, the clock stops
if the team with the lead has the ball and fails to advance the
ball past the line of scrimmage; this discourages teams with the
lead from "taking a knee" (i.e., having the quarterback kneel
shortly after taking the snap from center) near the end of a
game.
- Movement of the Ball and Scoring: Four (4) downs are allowed to
advance the ball ten (10) yards for a first down, or to score. Six
(6) points for a touchdown. One (1) point for a conversion by place
kick after a touchdown, two (2) points for a conversion by drop
kick and two (2) points for successful run or pass after a
touchdown. Three (3) points for a field goal by placement or four
(4) points for a field goal by drop kick. Two (2) points for a
safety.
- The Kicking: Kickoffs are from the goal line. Kickers may use a
one-inch tee. Punting is illegal. On fourth down, a team may go for
a first down, touchdown or field goal. The receiving team may field
any kickoff or missed field goal that rebounds off the net. Any
kickoff untouched which is out of bounds or hitting an overhead
structure (i.e. scoreboard) will be placed at the 20-yard line or
the place where it went out of bounds, whichever is more
advantageous to the receiving team. If a kickoff goes beyond the
end zone and stays in bounds (such as kicking it into the field
goal "slack net" or if the ball goes under the net), the ball will
come out to the 5-yard line. The same is true if a missed field
goal attempt goes beyond the end zone and under the net. If the
receiving player chooses not to take the ball out of the endzone
(takes a knee) or is tackled in the endzone, the ball is placed on
the 2 1/2-yard line.
- Passing: Passing rules in Arena Football are the same as
outdoor NCAA football in which
receivers must have one foot inbounds. A unique exception involves
the rebound nets. A forward pass that rebounds off of the endzone
net is a live ball and is in play until it touches the playing
surface.
- Overtime Rules: Overtime periods are 15 minutes during the
regular season and the playoffs. Each team gets one possession to
score. If, after each team has had one possession and one team is
ahead, that team wins. If the teams are tied after each has had a
possession, the next team to score wins.
Growth of the league
Average attendance for AFL games were around 10,000-11,000 per game
in the 1990s, though during the recession connected to the dot-com
bubble and the
September 11,
2001 attacks average attendance dropped below 10,000 for
several years. Since the start of the 2004 season, average
attendance has been above 12,000, with 12,392 in 2007. Eleven of
the seventeen teams in operation in 2007 had average attendance
figures over 13,000. In 2008, the overall attendance average
increased to 12,957, with 8 teams exceeding 13,000 per game.
Television
Beginning with the 2003 season, the AFL made a deal with
NBC to televise league games, which was renewed for
another two years in 2005. In conjunction with this, the league
moved the beginning of the season from May to February (the week
after the
NFL's
Super
Bowl) and scheduled most of its games on Sunday instead of
Friday or Saturday as it had in the past. In 2006, because of the
XX Winter Olympic Games, the
Stanley Cup playoffs and the
Daytona 500, NBC scaled back from weekly
coverage to scattered coverage during the regular season, but
committed to a full playoff schedule ending with the 20th
ArenaBowl. NBC and the Arena Football League
officially severed ties on June 30, 2006, having failed to reach a
new broadcast deal.
Las Vegas
owner Jim Ferraro stated during a radio interview that the reason
why a deal failed is because
ESPN refused to
show highlights or even mention a product being broadcast on
NBC.
For the 2006 season only, the AFL added a national cable deal with
OLN (now
Versus) for eleven
regular-season games and one playoff game.
On December 19, 2006, ESPN announced the purchase of a minority
stake in the AFL. This deal includes television rights for the ESPN
family of networks. ESPN will televise a minimum of 17 regular
season games, most on Monday Nights, and 9 playoff games, including
ArenaBowl XXI on
ABC. The deal resulted in added exposure on
ESPN's
SportsCenter.
The AFL also has a regional-cable deal with
FSN, where FSN regional affiliates in AFL
markets carry local team games.
Expanding the season
The practice of playing one or two preseason
exhibition games by each team before the
start of the regular season was discontinued when the NBC contract
was initiated, and the regular season was extended from 14 games,
the length that it had been since 1996, to 16.
Video games
The first
video game based on the AFL was
Arena Football for the
C-64 released in 1988. On May 18, 2000,
Kurt Warner's
Arena Football Unleashed was released by
Midway Games for the
PlayStation game console. On February 7, 2006
EA Sports released
Arena Football for the
PlayStation 2 and
Xbox. EA Sports released another AFL video game, titled
Arena Football: Road
to Glory, on February 21, 2007, for the PlayStation
2.
Literature
In 2001, Jeff Foley published
War on the Floor: An Average Guy
Plays in the Arena Football League and Lives to Write About
It. The book details a journalist's two preseasons (1999 and
2000) as an offensive specialist/writer with the now-defunct
Albany Firebirds. The 5-foot-6
(170 cm), self-described "unathletic writer" played in three
preseason games and had one catch for -2 yards.
Teams
This is a list of teams the Arena Football League had at the time
of its August 2009 demise.
| Division |
Team |
City/Area |
Arena |
Founded |
| American Conference |
| Central |
Chicago Rush |
Rosemont , IL |
Allstate Arena |
2001 |
| Colorado
Crush |
Denver , CO |
Pepsi Center |
2003 |
| Grand Rapids
Rampage |
Grand Rapids , MI |
Van Andel Arena |
1998 |
| Kansas City
Brigade |
Kansas City , MO |
Sprint Center |
2006 |
| Western |
Arizona
Rattlers |
Phoenix , AZ |
US Airways Center |
1992 |
| San Jose
SaberCats |
San Jose , CA |
HP Pavilion at San Jose |
1995 |
| Utah Blaze |
Salt Lake City , UT |
EnergySolutions Arena |
2006 |
| National Conference |
| Eastern |
Cleveland
Gladiators |
Cleveland , OH |
Quicken Loans Arena |
1997 |
| Columbus
Destroyers |
Columbus , OH |
Nationwide Arena |
1999 |
| New York
Dragons |
Uniondale , NY |
Nassau Veterans Memorial
Coliseum |
1995 |
| Philadelphia
Soul |
Philadelphia , PA |
Wachovia Center |
2004 |
| Southern |
Dallas
Desperados |
Dallas , TX |
American Airlines Center |
2002 |
| Orlando
Predators |
Orlando , FL |
Amway Arena |
1991 |
| Tampa Bay
Storm |
Tampa , FL |
St. Pete Times Forum |
1987 |
| Georgia
Force |
Atlanta , GA |
Arena at Gwinnett Center |
2002 |
|
Expansion/contraction
The Arena Football League had expanded and contracted many times
throughout its history. At the end, the size of the AFL was 15
teams. Every year in the AFL there has been at least one team who
did not play the previous season with the same name. The league
last expanded in 2006, when it went to 19 teams. The league
conducted an expansion
draft in
September 2005 in order to stock the
Utah
Blaze. Because of
Hurricane
Katrina, the
New Orleans
VooDoo announced that they would suspend operations for 2006.
Players under contract to the VooDoo were transferred to the
expansion
Kansas City Brigade
franchise.
The 2007 season saw the return of Arena
Football to New
Orleans
, only to fully close after the 2008
season.
League expansion plans
During a conference call prior to
ArenaBowl
XX, Commissioner Baker stated publicly the names of several
cities that were under consideration for future league expansion.
More recently, Baker had reiterated these expansion plans and also
stated that the league was considering expansion into international
markets based on twenty-one exhibition games. The expansion rights
to two other markets had been sold to potential ownership groups,
both of which are
National Football League team
owners in those respective markets. Teams were not placed in those
cities, however.
Before the departure of the league, the AFL had set its sights on
expanding to:
In 2008
the AFL released a press release stating that they had partnered
with German marketing group 2Plus to investigate the possibility of
hosting AFL teams in Germany
. In mid-August 2008 an AFL delegation
including Jerry Kurz visited Germany to speak with 2Plus in person
and to visit various possible host cities. During that week a
delegation from Amsterdam traveled to Germany to speak to the AFL
about Amsterdam hosting a team.
The AFL had their sights set on three possible German host cities.
Düsseldorf or Hamburg was expected to host an exhibition game in
2009. Other cities in Europe had also showed interest in housing an
AFL team.
Commissioners of Arena Football
- Jim Foster -
1987-1992
- Joe O'Hara - 1992-1994
- Jim Drucker - 1994-1996
- C. David Baker - 1996-2008
- Ed Policy (interim) - 2008-2009
See also
Notes
External links
(Louisville Fire of
af2)
or San Francisco
, California
(expansion rights are owned by Daniel Snyder)
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