Q&A With Commissioner Randall Boe on the future of the AFL
Jon Stark
Tuesday April 30, 2019
I spoke with Arena Football League Commissioner Randall Boe to ask a few questions on what's next for the league.
Jon Stark: I saw you mentioned in an interview with The Baltimore Sun that there are plans for a national TV contract this season?
Randall Boe: We’re working on something right now, there could still be a national television deal this season.
JS: What are the plans in reference to updating the team stores online? Last week we saw new merchandise from Phenom Elite become available, is there more to come?
RB: We’re going to expand that in the coming weeks, we would like to introduce some new items.
JS: During the Week 1 broadcasts, it seems the transparent "call to the booth" replays have disappeared. Does the league plan on bringing this back?
RB: That is going to come back. I think there are a few technical issues that we’re trying to sort out but we’d like to have it back as soon as we can.
JS: Are there plans to spice up the ticker/scores on the broadcast, maybe add timeouts remaining for example?
RB: We could talk about that, there has been a little bit of conversation about including it because it’s an important piece of information.
JS: Is there any chance we can get crabby mac and cheese hot dogs at Baltimore Brigade games? It’s kind of a staple and Camden Yards really let us down this year, they got rid of them.
RB: Sure it would be fine with me but obviously Royal Farms runs the concessions there so it would be up to them, but I think it would be a great addition.
JS: Has there been any talk of bringing back a video game in the future or even next year, once the league experiences more growth?
RB: I think when you look back it was pretty cool that there was an AFL video game. We’ve had some people express interest in developing it for us, which would be great. I think the AFL is on a great trajectory, we're growing, we have momentum. I think our plan is to grow very intentionally and steadily over the next several years, so I really am careful because there a lot of deals we could do right now that might not be as advantageous for us. I don't want to see us selling ourselves on the cheap. I would definitely like to see an AFL video game, and I think we will, but I also want to make sure that we are at the right size so that it is something that can really benefit us.
JS: With expansion next year, are there plans to announce cities at or before ArenaBowl XXXII?
RB: Our plan is to announce around the end of the season where the expansion markets will be for 2020. It's something that is very important to us because starting up a team in a new market takes a lot work and we did two of those this year and we did them in a couple of months. It's a tremendous accomplishment and one that I don't want us to have to do anymore. It takes a lot of resources, people really have to put in a lot of work. So we'd really like to be able to announce where the markets are going to be by the end of the season and get to work building those organizations during the Fall so we can hit the ground running when it comes time for training camp and the season.
Our process is very different and since we've changed business models, we're no longer dependent on finding an investor group in a particular city in order to bring AFL football there. We've been assessing tons of cities with literally hundreds of data points and sifting through all of it to find the best markets for arena football. We've got a preliminary list of 10-12 cities that we think would be a pretty good fit for us, we're doing a deeper dive right now and we'll cut that to five, take a really really serious hard look at those five and then make a decision. So I think that's a process that we will have complete by the middle of the summer and we should be able to announce by the end of the season. So that's the plan and the process.
On Data:
We've unleashed a lot of sophisticated tools and data analytics to do all of this. That was one my goals for the league, we're building a next generation sports league from the ground up and we are going to be incredibly data-centric in everything we do. We've been pouring over all of the results from last weekend in terms of attendance, purchasing, social media interactions, who watched the streams, so we're putting that all together. It helps us comes up with metrics, my goal is to get better every week.
JS: Are there any plans to formalize depth charts and release staring line ups earlier than right before the game? That’s a big part of Daily Fantasy Sports and DraftKings business model, I spoke with some frustrated fans who said they had trouble picking and setting line ups due to the lack of info coming from the teams.
RB: That’s actually something we talked about yesterday and we want to be really crisp and transparent, provide all the information that people need. Both lineups and injuries, so that's an area where we are going to improve.
JS: As a fan of the AFL, what was your favorite moment this past weekend at the opening games you attended?
RB: Watching the home teams come out was pretty exciting. There are so many great moments, it’s what makes the game so great. It's unpredictable, it's exciting. Washington, Baltimore, 59-51, Washington has the ball with the chance to tie and 30 seconds left, that's exactly the kind of game you want and we beat the over on that one. I thought the game Saturday night in Albany was really interesting too, more of a defensive struggle than we are accustomed to in the AFL.
Jon studied Business Management at the University of Pittsburgh and is originally from Maryland. An avid DMV sports fan, he often attends Capitals, Orioles, Wizards and Redskins games. Now a Washington Valor season plan holder and columnist for ArenaFan, he`ll be at every home game covering the team. He spends his free time with friends and family and freelancing graphic design projects. You can follow Jon on Twitter @5FIFTY3
