Give the Game Back to the Fans
Adam Markowitz
Wednesday May 31, 2006
On Sunday I was lucky enough to be at the bloodbath between Orlando and Philadelphia. The game was truly great from start to finish. It really was. Unfortunately, for those of you that weren’t amongst the 13,205 fans in attendance at the Jungle on Sunday afternoon, you just have to take my word for it. Thanks to a golf tournament going into a playoff, you didn’t see any of the first quarter or most of the second quarter. It’s a crying shame that I have to write this article, but as a writer for the fans, I feel compelled to shout at the top of my lungs to NBC, OLN, Fox Sports Net, all of the local radio and newspaper outlets across the country, and the powers that be in the Arena Football League exactly what we, the fans want.
We want and deserve better coverage of the game that we love. Period.
NBC Needs Better Coverage
Look NBC, we know you want out of your TV contract with the Arena Football League now that you have the NFL and NHL to fall back on. It was apparent with the first OLN game in week 4 that NBC and the AFL were headed in separate directions. We also know, as fans, when you have a loaded sports schedule that things aren’t always going to go according to plan in terms of game length. And yes, if we were golf fans, we would want to see the end of the championship. However, what is MSNBC doing during this time? Why not put the games over on that station until the tournament is over? And whose bright idea was it to broadcast three games at the same time on Wild Card weekend and then piggy back the games this past weekend? And don’t look now, but NBC is broadcasting the French Open the same weekend as the Arena Bowl… anything but a five set match in the final, please…
TV Woes
Commissioner David Baker came out earlier in the season and stated that the television coverage of the AFL was better than ever. Why is it, then, that only 7 of the 11 playoff games (63.6%) are viewable by any particular person in the country thanks to NBC broadcasting multiple games at once? Why were 5 teams not shown on NBC in the regular season (Austin and Utah, which made the playoffs and Grand Rapids, Las Vegas, and Columbus, all of which were still in the playoff hunt going into the last week of the season)? Why was Utah, the team with the league’s best attendance, not shown on any national broadcast until their playoff game against Arizona? Why did the defending champions only have 9 of their 16 games broadcast live? Why was Chicago the only team this season that had all 16 of their games broadcast live? Why was the league average of games shown live on television 12 out of 16 games? Oh by the way, these numbers only apply if you have a satellite dish. But even if you did, the most games you could have possibly seen live this season was 97 out of the 128 games, or a shade over 75% (note: that’s 11.4% better than the playoff games you could see with the same satellite dish). And the OLN deal? It’s a great deal… if you happen to live in an area that OLN is part of your cable package. If you happen to live in Orlando or any other part of the 40% of the nation that doesn’t have OLN as a part of your cable package, you had a hard time finding ANY games during the weeks that NBC didn’t broadcast games.
Friday Night for the Fans
Ask any fan of the AFL that dates back into the mid-90s what the best atmosphere for an Arena Football game was and still is: Friday night football. Is it any coincidence that Sunday afternoon Arena Football means fewer fans in so many arenas? Look at Kansas City. They only had one game this year under 14,500 fans, and that was on their lone national broadcast on NBC on Sunday afternoon. Orlando’s worst showing was in week 8 when they brought in just 12,630, almost 1,300 fans under their average for the season. Same in week 3 for Arizona, when they hosted arch-rival San Jose and could only draw 8,315 fans. Even the defending champs had trouble filling the seats against Orlando, a game which was moved from Friday to Sunday to accommodate television. The result? Colorado drawing 1,600 fans fewer than the average. Yes, there were plenty of teams that were drawing support regardless of what day of the week their games were played on, but it’s no surprise that these franchises are also the same ones that weren’t around when all of the games were played in primetime. The loudest I ever heard the Jungle this season was when Georgia came to town in week 12. The game was on a Friday night, and to no one’s surprise, the game was sold out. It’s also no surprise that the Predators won that game by a 57-41 count. So enough of this Sunday afternoon garbage! The fans don’t want to have to start tailgating at 8:00 for a noon start time, and no one on the West Coast wants to watch a game starting at 9:00 AM. Nothing beats a Friday night fight in the Arena Football League, and unfortunately, it seems as though the league has forgotten its ways with that.
Bust at the Bowl
Speaking of the league having forgotten its ways… What happened to this be the "fan friendliest" league in the world? I’m sorry, the Dallas Desperadoes worked hard this year to finish 13-3 with the best record in the league. No, they don’t have the best attendance in the world, but what better way to promote the league in that city than hosting a championship? I was disgusted watching all of the corporate suits line up at last year’s Arena Bowl, and though the league has done what it can to make the event a fan-friendly experience, it’s not fair for a team like Dallas this year, provided they make the Arena Bowl, to have to travel to go see their team play. This isn’t the NFL. We Arena League fans deserve better than that.
I can hear it now: "But Adam, what about all the fans who wouldn’t get to see the Arena Bowl if it wasn’t in a neutral site?" How are these statistics for you? Including this past weekend, the Arena Football League has had 135 playoff games and 19 Arena Bowls. Any guesses where the neutral site Arena Bowl ranks in terms of attendance? Arena Bowl XIX had fewer fans at it than any other Arena Bowl and ranks 95th all-time for best attendance in a playoff game, meaning there have only been 40 of the 135 games with worse attendance. Of the current teams in the league, only 4 times in the 2nd round of the playoffs or later has there been less of a crowd than the one that was at the Arena Bowl last year. Only two teams had a worse average home crowd than the Arena Bowl had in 2005. And how do you think the Georgia Force felt? A team that went 11-5 and boasted the best record in the Arena Football League had to travel 1,967 miles to get to the Arena Bowl, 1,218 miles less than Colorado had to travel. You think Georgia could have used the 12,714 fans they averaged that season, or the 10-0 home record they built to their advantage? Plain and simple: You were screwed out of a championship, Force fans, and what happened last year represents what’s wrong with the AFL today.
Bill of Rights
We all know that I was critical of the local media in Austin, but blame should be shared equally. I’m not sure about all of the teams, thus I won’t speak for them all, but I remember the good old days when there used to be articles in the Orlando newspaper each and every day leading up to the biggest game of the season, and usually a full two page spread in the paper on game day. I remember local radio reports on a daily basis and promotions for every game. Is it any coincidence that the Predators sold out every game for years in the early to mid-90s versus the two or three a year they have now?
Recently, a member of the staff of a newspaper stated, "…fan interest drives coverage; coverage should not be aimed at driving fan interest." Though I don’t agree with this statement at all and firmly believe that it is the job of the local media to support their local teams regardless of how popular they really are, there is merit to the comment. If you feel as though coverage of your team is inadequate, as a fan, you have the right and, dare I say the duty to call up your local radio stations and newspapers to get your team covered. For each and every Arena Football League city, the team is a part of the town. Things wouldn’t be quite the same without them. You don’t know how many people I’ve spoken to from Indianapolis, Des Moines, Milwaukee, and Albany, cities that treated their Arena League teams like gold, state how sad they are now that their teams are gone. You, the fan are the most important part of your team and you need to take ownership in that team just as much as the players, coaches, and front office members do.
Lost in the shuffle of expansion, big time owners, rising contracts, and records falling year after year, the AFL remains the only league with a Bill of Rights specifically for the fans. Having gone back and read over them very closely myself, the league needs to keep their eye on the prize, the ultimate fan atmosphere.
From the Fan’s Bill of Rights: "We believe that every Fan deserves our very best effort on a consistent basis, on every play on the field, every action in the stands, every call to our office, and every involvement in our community." If this is the motto that the AFL is going to stand by, things need to change. We can’t be losing coverage of games, not giving the proper media coverage to our teams, and not supporting our teams 100%. This burden is not just on the front office of the league and the individual teams, though. The burden is on you, the fan.
So as we enter this semifinal weekend in the chase for the 20th championship of the league we love so much, I beg of you, fan to fan: Don’t sit idle and watch things with your team and your league, become a part of it! The greatest thing that ever happened to me this year was the opportunity to write for ArenaFan, and this is my way to give back to the league that has given me so much throughout the years.
Wear your team colors proudly in the season and in the off-season, no matter whether your team is 14-2 and competing for the championship or 3-13 and struggling just to compete in games. Take the league as your own, as you the fan are the heart and soul of the AFL. But if we don’t speak up and stick together as fans, we all might be joining Indiana, Iowa, Albany, and Milwaukee, wondering if there will ever be another way to fill the void of our departed AFL teams.
Finally, whether you’re in Las Vegas at the Arena Bowl or just watching the game at home with some friends and family, take the time to look around and thank everyone you know that supports this league. We’ve all enjoyed this league for 20 seasons and would love to see each of our teams thrive for 200 more. So allow me to be the first to say to all of the fans out there: Thank you. You have always made this game what it is and will always be what makes it great.
Adam Markowitz is an accountant living in Orlando. Adam is an old school AFLer, having followed the AFL since 1991. He attended or covered well over 200 games, including 17 ArenaBowls. Adam worked for the Arena Football League for two years as a columnist and historian before retiring in 2017 when the 50-yard indoor war left the Sunshine State. Adam still muses about the AFL on ArenaFan from time to time, and you can follow him on Twitter @adammarkowitzea.
