Gladiators Get New Look for 2004 Season
Scott Miller
Friday December 19, 2003
This year, there are more changes for the Las Vegas team and the league. The playoff format will change and the wild card berth has been eliminated. This season, the eight teams with the best records will make the playoffs and division winners will not be guaranteed a berth. The league will probably review this change before next season, since winning a division should be worth something.
Some of the rule changes include:
- Tripping by a defensive player will result in an automatic first down.
- Hands to face fouls will increase to a personal foul, a 10-yard penalty.
Members of the Gladiators coaching staff think the only major rule change is that offside or encroachment will no longer result in an automatic first down.
The Gladiators have been realigned to the Western Conference as expected and will have only four players from last year’s roster. Head coach Frank Haege explained that the new look resulted from a combination of factors. The deal for quarterback Clint Dolezel cost the team three players and coach Haege wanted to reorganize the offense for their new position in the competitive Western Conference. As he said when Dolezel was acquired, "Going into the 2004 season, our top priority was to address our quarterback situation.” After that, it was a matter of which players held out and who became available on the free agent market.
The team also unveiled new uniforms this month. Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman modeled one of the uniforms. The appearance of the mayor, and the fact that a local company is manufacturing the uniforms, shows that the Gladiators believe being part of the Southern Nevada community is important to their success.
In other developments around the league, the AFL announced that the team logos had been licensed to MDI Entertainment & Scientific Games for use in scratch-off lottery games. This is another good indication for the Gladiator franchise. Other major sports have traditionally eschewed any perceived acceptance or endorsement of gaming, including state lotteries and anything more than token exhibition events in Las Vegas.
Earlier this year, the Buffalo Destroyers announced they were moving to Columbus, Ohio. In retrospect, this is not surprising. After Destroyers owner Mark Hammister’s unsuccessful bid for the NHL Buffalo Sabres and control of HSBC Arena, the successful bidder became his landlord. The team now moves to a city where Hammister owns other businesses.
Scott Miller is a professional computer geek and talk show host in Las Vegas. His show is streamed live from klav120am.com on Fridays at 8PM. Archives of his show, The Usual Suspects can be found at his website.
