Rampage, AFL done, and Gorsline should admit it
Chip Burch
Thursday January 7, 2010
Scott Gorsline still will not admit the Arena Football League and the Grand Rapids Rampage are done.
The chief operating officer of the Grand Rapids AFL franchise said as much interview he gave Grand Rapids Press football reporter Brian VanOchten, printed on Dec. 18.
In that interview, Gorsline was commenting on how the Arena Football League lost a bid in bankruptcy court for the assets to the league. The upstart AF1 league bought the AFL's assets for $6.1 million, meaning all the team names, logos, trademarks and field equipment the AFL had now belong to AF1, including the Rampage logo, name and turf.
So the Grand Rapids Rampage are no longer, nor is the AFL. However, Gorsline won't concede.
Gorsline still believes there will be an AFL and a Grand Rapids franchise. He also believes both will be bigger than AF1, which Gorsline is adamantly opposed to having Grand Rapids join.
“We still continue to have productive discussions about bringing back the league,” he said.
It's like the old Looney Tunes cartoon where Yosemite Sam is still fighting for the South 90 years after the Civil War ended. It's over, and time to admit it.
What Gorsline doesn't want to pay attention to is that seven of the former AFL franchises are now in AF1: The Arizona Rattlers, Chicago Rush, Cleveland Gladiators, Dallas Desperados, Orlando Predators, Tampa Bay Storm and Utah Blaze. That means there's only eight teams left including Grand Rapids.
Gorsline also should remember that Grand Rapids was a part of a big-name league, but was by far the smallest city in the league. Grand Rapids was the only AFL city without a competing MLB, NHL or NBA franchise in the city.
Also, Gorsline should check out the types of teams around him, like the West Michigan Whitecaps (low-A baseball) and the Grand Rapids Griffins (American Hockey League minor-league team). Except for the AHL's Chicago Wolves, neither the Whitecaps or Griffins play in a big-market city like those going to AF1.
In fact, if Gorsline wants to see an arena football team in Grand Rapids, his best bet is to swallow his pride and join AF1. There won't be anything bigger and better coming down the line, and if there was, it wouldn't want to have small-market Grand Rapids in it.
So come on down off your high horse, Gorsline. The Rampage and AFL are done, and you can admit defeat any time now.
