AFL on Track for 2009 (UPDATED 10:45PM ET)
Adam Markowitz
Wednesday December 10, 2008
The Tampa Tribune blog, Storm Report published a report in the 7:00 EST hour that confirmed this story. Tampa Bay Storm head coach Tim Marcum told the blog, “One thing I’m very disappointed in is this predetermination, the false information that was out there, that said the Arena Football League was doomed. I don’t know why people [media] are doing this. Nothing can happen without a vote of the board of directors, and they voted tonight [on] going forward.”
Sources have told ArenaFan that Brett Bouchy, who bought the Orlando Predators from Ron Howse earlier this week, was instrumental in the vote.
Question still remains how many teams will be playing in 2009. Marcum told the Storm Report that the owners are scheduled to meet on December 19th to work on a schedule for the 2009 season.
Cleveland Gladiators Director of Communications, Phil Tesar said, “It’s business as usual for Cleveland. We’ve been planning to play since Day 1 from the end of the season.” He continued, “Jim Ferraro and Bernie Kosar have done everything they can to make sure the Gladiators are playing in ’09.”
Orlando Predators Director of Media Relations, Jason Lucas told ArenaFan, “The mood in our office has been fantastic since Brett came back. This news comes as no surprise to us because we expected to play in 2009 all along.”
Former AFL executive John “Hondo” Hahn added his approval. "I'm glad for everyone involved in the Arena Football League… if they (the AFL) would have decided not to play, it could have meant the end of top echelon of indoor football as we know it.”
The Arena Football League made a release on the night’s developments, in which it described that the Board of Directors was not suspending the 2009 season.
Despite continuing reports that the Colorado Crush are amongst a number of teams that could be folding before the season starts, in a report by ESPN.com on Wednesday evening, Crush vice president of operations, Luke Stahmer said, "We're readying contracts right now for when we're ready to move forward with free agency.”.
ArenaFan will continue to update this story as it develops.
Additional sources
Storm Report (Tampa Tribune blog)
Storm Front (St. Pete Times blog)
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.
