Journey through Time, Part Two: ArenaFan Now and in the Future
Adam Markowitz
Tuesday February 27, 2007
ArenaFan in the Joe Kauffman Era
From the initial five men that ArenaFan had on staff, the site has expanded to 39 hard workers, some of which maintain the nuts and bolts of the site, others of which are responsible for the various features, and some who are columnists or team correspondents. We have correspondents for 14 of the 19 teams in the AFL as well as eight more correspondents for the af2. Inevitably, part of the reason for the growth of the staff is that there hasn’t been a team in the AFL move or fold since the end of the 2004 season (not counting the New Orleans VooDoo one year hiatus caused by Hurricane Katrina). As teams left cities or folded up shop in the past, team correspondents were left team-less, and often left ArenaFan, making the task of keeping a core of a staff together an arduous one.
Two examples of those didn’t were Charliy Nash and Tim Capper. Nash was a correspondent for the Nashville Kats in their first run in Nashville. The team moved to Georgia in 2002, but made their comeback as an expansion franchise in ’05. Nash continued writing columns for ArenaFan, but also launched a career covering the Tennessee Titans. When the Kats came back, Nash assumed his position as Nashville’s correspondent. Tim Capper’s ties to the Arena Football League go all the way back to 1987, but his ties to ArenaFan stemmed from one of the original five staff members, John Ferlazzo. “I knew John from attending Albany Firebirds games that I attended frequently before they moved to Indiana. I started off as a 3rd Party News Editor, [searching] the net for any and all League stories. Nights would be long, but I was happy to help with the site.” However, Capper inherited a local team of his own when the Phantoms moved into Toronto in 2001. Though the team only existed for two seasons, Capper’s influence on ArenaFan lasts into today, as he is responsible for his radio show, AFL Tonight, which has provided weekly recaps of AFL action for five years.
Podcasting was also introduced in 2006 with the new wave of technology, including a dozen interviews from Radio Row at ArenaBowl XX, but as the site progressed, nothing was cut from behind except the mailing list. Today, ArenaFan offers access to the most comprehensive history of the AFL and af2 on the Internet, with a database of complete player stats since 1987, box scores from games dating back to 1997 (and box scores for all twenty ArenaBowls), and team schedules and statistics since 1987. In addition, fans have a live chat room, message boards, fantasy football and pick ‘em games, access to both Capper’s and Stuchbury’s radio shows, all of the news and press releases from the teams and League, as well as dozens of articles each season by the ArenaFan columnists and team correspondents.
The “Fan” in ArenaFan
Without a doubt, ArenaFan was a website created by the fan, for the fan. However, don’t put the label, “fan site” on ArenaFan. As Sheller stated, “It was always my intention to shift the perception of ArenaFan from a “fan’s site” to a legitimate media entity. The “fan” in the title “ArenaFan” was who we were geared TOWARDS not who we were run by, in my mind.”
Kauffman was quick to echo his sentiments. “ArenaFan is a site for the fans. Yes, it was started "by the fans", but the idea was/is to be a legitimate news site. We would prefer the third party news become secondary to our own coverage of the teams. ArenaFan should be more than just a news gathering source for arena football fans. We want to provide our own coverage of the League, whether on the field or in the meeting rooms.”
However, just as the fans aren’t always happy with a referee’s call on the field, the decisions of the coaching staff or front office, or the issues with the brass of the League, ArenaFan has never shied away from reporting league news, positive or negative. Kauffman continued, “ArenaFan.com is independent and strives to maintain that independence. That is why we will provide coverage of both the positive and the negative happenings of the AFL. It's not our job to bury the negative. We want to make sure that all fans and potential fans see both the good and the bad-- all sides of every story. It would not be fair to do otherwise.”
The Dawn of a New Day
Today marks the dawn of another new phase for ArenaFan, as we launch our new website. With one look at the website, the word “professional” came to my mind. Kauffman immediately approved on my reaction, stating, “That was the aim.” The features on the old front page are all still accessible on the new front page, and the links on the top of the page all remain identical. News from the af2 is presented on the front of the AFL’s page, and vice versa. The message board is now presented as a one-stop shop for both the AFL and af2. All of the old avatars are still active, but ArenaFan has added dozens more for your choosing (I, of course have changed from the old Predators’ claw to the ArenaBowl XII logo, the greatest game in AFL history when the Preds thrashed the Storm 62-31 for the biggest blowout in ArenaBowl history at the time).
Credit Where Credit is Due
A compilation of the history of ArenaFan is clearly far too much for one individual to tackle on their own. I feel as though I had the easiest job in all of this: simply putting together all the pieces to the puzzle. My thanks go out to the dozens who helped me assemble this article. Two special thank yous…
Kevin Sheller: Your work and dedication to ArenaFan and the Arena Football League was simply amazing. Thank you for investing the time and effort into creating this website and maintaining it for six years. Without you, I would never have been able to piece the first six years of history together.
Joe Kauffman: You have kept all of the traditions of ArenaFan alive and continue to expand on them yourself. You have found time to launch a new website for us, even with your full-time job and your other newest full-time job (for those that don’t know, Joe and his wife, Erika just had their first child, Rachel, on January 30th). Thank you for giving me a spot on this staff, trusting me with this assignment, and for all of the help that you have given me putting this together.
Finally, as so many of my articles have ended, thanks go out to you, the fans of Arena Football. Without your support of your teams, the league, and our website, we would have no reason to have such a site on the Internet. We may all be volunteers at ArenaFan, but we continue on as volunteers because of you all.
Continue to Part 3: ArenaFan’s Memorable Moments
Adam Markowitz is an accountant living in Orlando. Adam is an old school AFLer, having followed the AFL since 1991. He attended or covered well over 200 games, including 17 ArenaBowls. Adam worked for the Arena Football League for two years as a columnist and historian before retiring in 2017 when the 50-yard indoor war left the Sunshine State. Adam still muses about the AFL on ArenaFan from time to time, and you can follow him on Twitter @adammarkowitzea.