Arena Football League
| File:AFL.png | |
| Sport | Arena football |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1987 |
| No. of teams | 19 |
| Country |  United States |
| Most recent champion(s) | Chicago Rush |
The Arena Football League (AFL) sometimes referred to by fans as the Arena League was founded in 1987 as an American football indoor league. The AFL's attendance has increased dramatically over the last few years, rising to over 12,400 people per game in 2005. The AFL also maintains a minor league called af2.
Formation
"Playtest Game"
Eventual Arena Football League (AFL) founder Jim Foster, a former National Football League and United States Football League executive, originally had a contract in hand in 1983 to play an exhibition game on the NBC television network, two decades before the first regular season games appeared on that network. He abandoned the plan, though, when the USFL was formed and did not return to his newly created sport until 1986. The first AFL game was played, called a "playtest game", in Rockford, Illinois at the MetroCentre between the Rockford Metros and the Chicago Politicians. These teams were the first ever arena football teams.
The AFL Begins
The AFL was founded in 1987 as an American football indoor league. The league's inaugural season featured four teams: the Chicago Bruisers, Denver Dynamite, Pittsburgh Gladiators, and Washington Commandos. The teams played a six-game season, culminating in Arena Bowl I, where Denver defeated Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh.
In 1990, Foster was awarded a patent for arena football and the equipment unique to it--the only known instance of a game being patented anywhere in the world. This means that other indoor football leagues must play under significantly different rules.
Early Years
From its inception, the AFL operated in a state of semi-obscurity; many Americans had heard the term "arena football" and would ridicule it for being played indoors, 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 would air tape-delayed games, often well after midnight. The league would receive 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 Mullen, 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). However, the AFL's first dynasty came to an end when their owner, Mike Ilitch (who also owned Little Caesar's Pizza) bought the Detroit Tigers, and sold the team.
Although the Drive left the league, the AFL still has a number of teams today which it considers "dynasties", including the Tampa Bay Storm (the only team who has existed in some form for all twenty seasons), the Orlando Predators, and the Arizona Rattlers. The Albany/Indiana Firebirds, though they only won one championship, could also be considered a dynasty, based on the fact that they achieved the rare feat of remaining in one city for ten years.
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 Seawolves 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. Today, this isn't seen as much of a problem, as team owners typically own other sports franchises as well, receive adequate media coverage from their home cities, and most teams have a sizeable fan base.
The Next 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 millenium. Also, the year 2000 brought a spin-off league, the af2, intended to be a developmental league.
Growth of the League
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, due to 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 is committed to a full playoff schedule ending with the 20th ArenaBowl. On June 30, 2006 the AFL and NBC could not reach a contract extension and is actively seeking a new national broadcast partner.
The AFL also has a regional-cable deal with FSN, where FSN regional affiliates in AFL markets carry local team games. In February 2006, the AFL added a national cable deal with OLN for eleven regular-season games and one playoff game.
Expanding the season
The practice of playing one or two preseason exhibition games by each team prior to 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.
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
Source: [1]
Future of the AFL
In 2006, the season began on January 27, during the week between the NFL's Conference Championship games and the Super Bowl.
The league conducted an expansion draft in September of 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 Kansas City Brigade franchise. The 2007 season will see the return of arena football to New Orleans.
In an effort to further raise the league's profile, the ArenaBowl championship game will be conducted in Las Vegas for at least two years. This started with ArenaBowl XIX on June 12, 2005 and will possibly end with ArenaBowl XX on June 11, 2006. A third ArenaBowl (ArenaBowl XXI) could be played in Las Vegas, but has not been made official by the league.
EA Sports has released a video game based on the AFL, titled Arena Football, on February 7, 2006, for PlayStation 2 and Xbox. Another video game created about Arena football was Kurt Warner's Arena Football Unleashed.
NBC and the Arena Football League officially severed ties on June 30, 2006, having failed to reach a new broadcast deal. The AFL plans to seek a new broadcast partner. [2]
Commissioners of Arena Football
- C. David Baker - 1996-Current
- Jim Drucker - 1994-1996
- Joe O'Hara - 1992-1994
- Jim Foster - 1987-1992
Trivia
- The league also has contracts with Russell Athletic[3], Upper Deck and Foot Locker (through their Champs Sports division).
Possible Expansion
The following cities have been speculated to be possible locations for future franchises, with varying degrees of likelihood.
- Boston, Massachusetts
- Cleveland, Ohio
- Detroit, Michigan
- East Rutherford, New Jersey
- El Paso, Texas
- Houston, Texas
- Indianapolis, Indiana
- Louisville, Kentucky
- Miami or Sunrise, Florida
- Milwaukee, Wisconsin
- Minneapolis or St. Paul, Minnesota
- Oakland, California
- Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
- Portland, Oregon
- Sacramento, California
- San Antonio, Texas
- San Francisco, California
- Seattle, Washington
- St. Louis, Missouri
- Toronto, Canada
- Washington, DC
See also
- Arena football for league rules
- ArenaBowl for information on the AFL's championship game
- Defunct Arena Football League teams
- List of leagues of American football
- List of Arena Football League seasons
- Sports league attendances