ArenaBowl XXI leaves New Orleans jazzed
Jason Lucas
Monday July 30, 2007
The city of New Orleans is just 21 months removed from the greatest natural disaster in the history of the United States. After Hurricane Katrina ravaged New Orleans in 2005, the Commissioner of the AFL David Baker pledged that the ArenaBowl would come to this city as soon as humanly possible.
The citizens of New Orleans did their part and brought the New Orleans VooDoo back for the 2007 season and quickly announced that ArenaBowl XXI would be skipping it’s third year in Las Vegas and being held in New Orleans.
The final result was the best attended neutral site ArenaBowl in league history. On Sunday 17,056 fans packed the New Orleans Arena for the game between the Columbus Destroyers and San Jose SaberCats.
While the SaberCats won their third ArenaBowl in six years there was an even bigger winner today. The city of New Orleans won big this weekend with an economic impact estimated at over $25 Million. This city provided by far a better party atmosphere than that of Las Vegas. Not only were team and league hotels closer to one another, but transportation was far easier in New Orleans this weekend compared to Las Vegas.
Commissioner Baker arrived this week at the New Orleans Airport to a police escort awaiting his arrival. According to Baker the New Orleans Police Department said they give the NFL commissioner a police escort into town so why would they not do the same for him? New Orleans kept the commissioner so busy he said he had to take the entire police brigade through a local McDonald's for dinner and buy their meal.
“That’s one of the things I love about the AFL,” said Baker. “The city of New Orleans definitely taught the all fun league how to party.”
A lot of people criticize the commissioner for many things ranging from substitution rules to possibly letting Colorado Crush owner John Elway run things too much. As for this weekend in particular it is very hard not to applaud Baker for bringing the ArenaBowl to New Orleans and making it a fantastic event.
New Orleans made all of the arena football fans feel very welcomed in their city this weekend. ArenaBowl XXI signs lined the streetlights of the city as well as the local hotels and bars. As opposed to Las Vegas where you maybe saw 10 local fans at the game it was a much different story in New Orleans as a few thousand VooDoo fans were here.
Today’s gate landed 15,147 fans inside the New Orleans Arena on a rainy day outside. The rain showers in the area may have kept away nearly 2,000 fans but those who did show up were treated to a fine show between the AFL’s playoff survivors.
Personally this was just a fantastic experience in New Orleans. After arriving on Thursday it was pretty easy to assume a fantastic atmosphere for today’s ArenaBowl. First off, the “Home of ArenaBowl XXI” billboard as soon as you pull into New Orleans on Interstate 10 was something I never saw in the two Las Vegas ArenaBowls.
Friday was media day in the arena and a day full of activities and interviews at radio row inside the Sheraton Hotel on Canal Street. ArenaFan was lucky enough to have sit down interviews with every single AFL award winning player this season. From the Orlando Predators Greg White who won two awards to the Austin Wranglers Mark Lewis who took home Kicker of the Year and of course Colorado’s John Dutton whose many contributions to his community landed him the prestigious Al Lucas Award.
There was not a dry eye in the house at the ArenaBall Awards Show on Friday night at the Sugar Mill. Commissioner Baker officially announced that New Orleans was back with its first championship event since the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina and the AFL was proud to be here.
Over 180 countries were able to view Sunday’s ArenaBowl on ABC which was by far the most to ever view an ArenaBowl. The arena was rocking, the players were pumped, and the fans from all around the league were ready to witness a huge success for their league.
This league has a bunch of doubters out there and a few people who really love what they are watching. Say what you want about my commissioner and say what you want about my league. At the moment he is once again a genius in my eyes and I may live to regret saying that I still think he is the right guy to realize Jim Foster’s dream that started on the back of an envelope.
The city of New Orleans may have shown the fans of arena football how to party their style, but the AFL most definitely left New Orleans and their city begging for more action.
It has yet to be seen where ArenaBowl XXII will be played, but the commissioner said cities such as Orlando, Kansas City, Chicago, and, of course, New Orleans, have shown interest in hosting future ArenaBowls.
Let's hope it returns too the Big Easy soon.
Jason Lucas is a part-time freelance writer based in the Orlando, Florida area. A former director of media relations with the Orlando Predators, Jason is making his return to Arenafan.com after a short stint as a public relations assistant with the UFL‘s Florida Tuskers in 2010. Lucas has followed the AFL since 1992 and began covering the Predators for Arenafan during the 2004 season. He held that position until being picked up by the Preds front office after the 2007 season. Jason‘s knowledge of arena football and love of the game is what drives him to continue covering the sport.
