The Arena Football Roller Coaster

Adam Markowitz
Sunday December 14, 2008

Anyone got some Pepto-Bismol?  For an offseason that was incredibly bland and without much going activity, the events of the past few weeks has made this the most important few months in the history of the Arena Football League.

Just a few weeks ago, teams were preparing for an upcoming free agency period.  Then in the middle of October, the New Orleans VooDoo folded, causing the other 16 teams in the league to get ready for a dispersal draft.  The league office has come up with and postponed the dates for those two periods about 73 times since then, making fans wonder what has been going on with the “fan-friendliest league in the world.”

Then the calendar turned to December… Rumors started to swirl that the Colorado Crush were amongst a couple teams that were set to join the VooDoo on the folding list.  On Friday the 5th, ArenaFan reported that the deal that had been talked about all offseason to lead the AFL towards single-entity ownership with Platinum Equity, LLC had been halted.

Gloom and doom was apparent, in spite of the fact that the Arena Football League Players Association voted to reduce the salary cap from $2 million to $1.4 million in order to help ease the financial crunch the league is in.

Monday’s news had the Orlando Predators getting sold to one of their former owners, Brett Bouchy.  The sale of the Preds seemed a bit fishy considering the circumstances surrounding the AFL, but without a doubt, Bouchy buying the team kept it away from the original list of teams that could be folding.

On Tuesday, all hope for a 2009 season seemed to be lost.  The Rocky Mountain News, Los Angeles Times, Kansas City Star, and ESPN were amongst several media outlets reporting that the 2009 season was to be cancelled. Sources told ArenaFan to remain optimistic for hope, and that hope was confirmed on Wednesday.

The Board of Directors got together that on the 10th and voted to not close up shop for 2009.

So that’s it, right?  Apparently not.

After a couple relatively quiet days, the St. Petersburg Times is now reporting that the Board will be meeting on Sunday, apparently to vote once again on suspending operations for 2009.

Tampa Bay Storm Head Coach Tim Marcum told the Times, “The guys that lost the first vote… they’re trying to postpone the season.  They’ve called another meeting for Sunday, and they’re trying to finagle things as much as they can until they get their way.”

Apparently, it’s starting to work.  The Chicago Rush were reportedly amongst the teams who voted in favor of having the 2009 season as scheduled the first time around.  The Times is reporting that they will now vote to suspend the season.

The best news for those of us hoping for a 2009 season is that there appear to be a number of teams that are firmly voting to play.  Marcum said that the teams that voted to continue to play included Orlando, Tampa Bay, Arizona, San Jose, and New York.  Between the 16 teams in the league and the vote held by Gridiron Enterprises for holding the patent for the AFL, there needs to be at least 12 of 17 votes to cancel the season.  As long as the five franchises listed above remain firm (as well as Gridiron Enterprises), the season should go on as scheduled, but the road towards getting there could be a long and winding one.

Marcum remains optimistic, as he said, “The odds are, there will be a season.”

I’m going to agree with one more thing that the Storm Head Coach said.  “… this is ridiculous.”

Amen, brother.

This is absolutely ridiculous.  No league has ever figured out how to “suspend operations” for a season and still be successful.  The USFL is the most notable league that comes to mind.  So let’s get one fact straight.  For the other 11 teams that are in favor of suspending the season… You’re voting to kill the AFL.  There’s no two ways around it.

If the league actually goes on as scheduled this year, there likely won’t be 16 teams.  There is no confirmation about which teams will be folding, but sources have told ArenaFan that we can expect to see a few teams fold if the Board doesn’t shut down operations.

The bottom line of this whole disaster is that the league is just too big for its own good.  The Orlando Sentinel’s Jerry Greene wrote a fantastic article in which he described that the AFL needs to go back to being a niche sport.  He’s absolutely right.  Before there was John Elway, Tim McGraw, Mike Ditka, Jon Bon Jovi, Tom Benson, Arthur Blank, Bernie Kosar, Ron Jaworski, and the sorts, the AFL was nothing more than a niche.  The league was broadcasted on ESPN on tape delay at 3:00 AM, or on TNN.  Players played for salaries that were so small that most needed second jobs in the offseason just to make ends meet.

Something about Ironman football, too… but we won’t go there.

Look, I don’t know whether we have seen the last of the Arena Football League or not, but I know that things need to change if the league that we love is going to survive.  Last week, I wrote Santa Claus and asked him for a list of a whole bunch of things, but let’s face it… There’s only one thing that all of us should be asking to see under our tree in a couple weeks.

We want a season.

Oh, and Santa… I know I started this rant by asking for some Pepto-Bismol, but can you pass the bottle of Jack Daniels, too?