Opinions of Eli Gold
Tom Ando
Thursday July 19, 2001
NFL’s option to buy 49.9% of the Arena Football League…
“I think it’s a wonderful opportunity; it’s just a great bit of news as far as the Arena Football League is concerned. The National Football League does not just put their backing or their initials, if you will, on anything without due consideration and making sure that it’s a first class project, so having an option on the Arena Football League and with that has come the cross over through the internet and with the officiating and last week’s wonderful columns in the USA Today, the LA Times, and the Rocky Mountain News. It’s a wonderful, wonderful growth time for the Arena Football League, so I sincerely hope that the NFL exercises that option. It would be a huge shot on the arm for the Arena Football League and it’s fans.”
Downsides, if any to the NFL involvement…
“I don’t know enough about the inter-workings of it, so I can’t say (if there are any downsides). I’m guessing that there will probably be some decisions that might now be made in the NFL office that had habitually been made in the AFL office, but is there a downside? Not that I can envision right now, but again, I don’t know enough about the business set up of it to speculate to that realm of any potential association.”
Expansion…
“I think it’s good because of the quality and name of the ownership. Expansion just to expand is one thing, but to expand in a judicious manner with the Jerry Jones’s and with the Tom Bensons’s and with NFL ownership groups looking at AFL franchises, the York family out in San Francisco, Daniel Snyder in Washington, obviously the Fords having come in Detroit. Expansion in a very judicious manner with well-known, well-recognized, well-respected ownership groups is a very, very positive step in my estimation.”
Success Plan for AFL cities…
“They (cities) need to promote. I personally feel that a winning team is only worth 20% at the box office. I could be totally wrong, and I’ve never promoted or owned a franchise, but what I’ve seen from traveling in all forms of sports, whether it was minor league baseball, whether it was any other professional sport, whether it’s in the Arena Football League. I think a winning franchise is worth 20% boosting at the gate, but with that said, you still have to promote. Case in point is the New York market right now. The New York Dragons, everywhere you go in the city, everywhere you go you pick up your newspaper there are ads for the Dragons, as a result, we were there the other day for that 99-point deal, and there were 11,000 people in the building, then 12 miles away as the crow flies at the meadowlands, you have no apparent promotion (from the New Jersey Gladiators). I’m not saying that they are not promoting, but when I’m up in the city which is a fairly decent amount, I don’t see any advertising. There’s no apparent promotion, and that’s why one franchise doesn’t draw and one franchise does. That’s why Orlando and Tampa draw and the Florida Bobcats do not. You still have to promote, you can’t just hang out the shingle that says ‘football tonight,’ or ‘hockey tonight,’ or ‘baseball tonight,’ or ‘NBA tonight.’ You just can’t hang out that sign and sit back and expect full houses to flock to you, you have to work the community.”
New York’s 99-point game…
“That was amazing, I’ve never seen anything like it. It was funny because every time something happened, we had the guys running through the record books looking to see what record was broken or tied. It was remarkable; they just could not stop (Aaron) Garcia and even when he came out of the game, they (Carolina Cobras) still couldn’t stop the Dragons. It was bizarre. The funniest part was the fans, at the end, booed (head coach John) Gregory for not going for two to get to the 100-point mark. They wanted him to go for two, and he wasn’t about to do that. It was neat to be a part of history; it was neat to be broadcasting something that, in this league, was history, the most points, you know all the records. It was kind of neat to be on the air, but you almost got giddy. It was to the point where you knew that they were going to score again and again and again and again. It was an unusual day to say the very least.”
Favorite cities to announce a game…
“Obviously, I’m partial to any city where there’s a good crowd. I really don’t care who wins; I don’t care the least. I’m just happy to be able to go into city if there’s a good crowd, so as a result, it’s always fun doing a game in San Jose, in Arizona. It’s fun doing a game in Tampa, in Orlando. It’s fun doing a game in Indianapolis. Those cities, and we haven’t been to Carolina this year, we’ve only seen them on the road, but last year that was a great building to go into because they had great crowds. I’m like anybody else; I’d much rather broadcast a game in a full arena, just like the players would rather play in a full arena, the fans would like to be part of the energy that is generated from a full house so I’m no different in that respect. Obviously there are certain cities themselves that are fun to go into. Growing up in New York, I like going back to New York and catching a Yankees game, going to a good restaurant or what have you. I really don’t care who wins or loses, I just like to see big crowds and good ball games.”
Favorite aspect of Arena Football…
“My favorite part is the game itself. I like offense so I like seeing high scoring games. The preparations for the games are tedious as they can be in any sport when you’re doing 14,18, 20 weeks. There’s tedium involved there, but the games are fun; the broadcasts are fun; the people are nice people. They’re good folks, so there really isn’t any downside to this whole experience.”
"Touchdown" Tom Ando is a free lance writer from South Buffalo, NY and has been covering the Arena Football League in one capacity or another since the 2000 season, when he was 17 years old. Tom Currently writes for Sports & Leisure Magazine in Buffalo covering the NLL's Buffalo Bandits and NCAA Division I football. In 2001, Tom was the only writer in the country to cover the Houston "Travelin' " Thunderbears, where he befriended his mentor John F. "Hondo" Hahn.
