Maybe we Can try the NFL Again
Charliy Nash
Thursday May 9, 2002
Kats returning to Nashville? check.
NFL buy-in of AFL? Uh, not yet.
While Arena Football fans are not unanimous on their feelings about the involvement of big brother, a few facts are indisputable. The NFL would increase the visibility of the AFL. NFL involvement would mean better TV ratings. And the NFL means more sponsorship money – companies that couldn’t afford to be official sponsors of NFL teams are likely to fall all over themselves to be sponsors of either teams or the league once that NFL seal of approval is in place.
There is another chance to pitch the AFL to NFL owners this month. So what does the league need to do to convince them? Here are a few suggestions:
Obviously you need to keep Kurt Warner in their faces, along with Oronde Gadsden and other AFL to NFL players. Let them also talk with players who have gone the other way, former NFL players now thriving in the Arena League. Players like Ron Carpenter, the only man to play in championship games in four professional leagues, can tell them more about how credible the league is than any group of lawyers and marketing types.
Take them to a game. Don’t sneak them in the back door and put them in the sterile isolation of a luxury box. Let them go through that turnstile with the paying customers, like Commissioner Baker always does. Let them sit among the screaming fans in the Jungle in Orlando or the Ice Palace in Tampa for the infamous War on I-4. Put them in a packed-out house in Grand Rapids and let them see young enthusiastic fans line up for player autographs after the games. Those young fans that the NFL are slowly losing to more “extreme” sports are getting hooked on football at AFL games.
The most important part of the deal is the close. To close the deal you need to bring in someone they really respect. NFL player turned AFL announcer John Jurkovic could be an enthusiastic and informed pitchman for the league. John Elway would certainly get their attention. But I’ve found the ideal ambassador, the perfect AFL-NFL liaison.
I had the opportunity to cover the Tennessee Titans this past season. I saw quite a few familiar faces in the Adelphia Coliseum press box. One of them garnered not only respect, but reverence from visiting NFL team officials and media alike. There was always a crowd around Eddie Khayat. Former NFL player. Former NFL head coach. Former AFL head coach. Former AFL General Manager. “He’s been involved in football at every level”, I heard a CBS broadcaster enthusiastically tell one of his colleagues. This is a man who knows football, and football knows him. People like Eddie. People respect Eddie. People listen to Eddie. If you really want to close the deal, then there is a certain southern gentleman you should consider enlisting in the effort.
Charliy Nash has covered both incarnations of the Nashville Kats, and now has make the 2 hour drive to Huntsville for an Arena Football fix. He also covers the Tennessee Titans as a blogger for nfl.com and still hopes this will eventually lead to a paying gig.
