The One Minute General Manager
Scott Miller
Tuesday March 18, 2003
ARENAFAN: The league is getting a lot of exposure with the NBC television contract and attendance is up for the league. Is there any downside? Is there anything you would like to change?
Mike: The coverage is terrific. The analogy most often used is the opening of a restaurant and you get everyone in town to eat at your restaurant once. The NBC contract lets us do that. Then, we have to try and keep people interested and make them arena football fans.
ARENAFAN: It’s halfway through this season. What rules might the owners change for next season? (The AFL made several rule changes this year designed to lower the total playing time and reduce penalties including an automatic first down for defensive offside penalties and making all timeouts in the last minute of a half 30-second timeouts.)
Mike: I don’t expect there to be any changes. The changes instituted this year are working. The average number of penalties is down to around nine per game. Total game time is down. This is good for the fans. Today’s game is an aberration. (Note: the Gladiator – Rush game had 34 penalties.)
ARENAFAN: Do you think the AFL will adopt an instant replay rule?
Mike: The officials do a great job. However, I wouldn’t be surprised (if the league adopted a rule). There are a few more challenges for officials, such as, ‘Did the ball hit the net?’, than in other football games.
ARENAFAN: Can you offer your prediction for the Arena Bowl?
Mike: There is so much parity in this league. It depends on which teams stay healthy. It depends on who has a good run at the right time.
ARENAFAN: Are there any expansion rumors the fans should know about?
Mike: Not from me.
Scott Miller is a professional computer geek and talk show host in Las Vegas. His show is streamed live from klav120am.com on Fridays at 8PM. Archives of his show, The Usual Suspects can be found at his website.
