ArenaCup VI – How We Got Here
Gary Stibolt
Thursday August 25, 2005
For the first five years, the arenafootball2 league experienced a lot of challenges. They included contraction after publicly stating a lofty goal of 100 teams internationally. They endured and sustained an economic landscape that is very challenging for team owner/operators. There is no secret that the af2 started out as tough business to turn a profit. The economic structure includes single entity and that itself was challenged in the courts in which the league had to battle through and won.
Their front office had undergone changes in personnel including their board of directors. They saw a changing of the guard with two league executives come and go and now, through their own self-assessment and internal control and improvements, Jerry Kurz, who is now president of the af2 (out is the title of Executive Director) and also serves as Director of International Development for the AFL, has brought the af2 from its' grass root struggles to a mecca sports league.
The af2 may be by definition a developmental league but what President Kurz has done with the league in 2005 is something we all should take notice of. The AFL/af2 have always boasted a 'fan-friendly' sport, but to the hardcore fans that seemed to carry very little meaning with previous practiced policies of not reaching out to the fans. The release of the af2 schedule has always been a debacle with delays after delays and in 2004, it was literally released just a few weeks prior to the start of the season. For 2005, the league shocked its' fans by releasing the schedule in the fall of 2004. Deadlines were set, expectations were shared, and as a result, progress started taking place. Then the league started reaching out to the fans. The mere fact that I'm down here covering the game is a testament to that. The league has endorsed the idea of building a strong fan base by working with the leagues teams own Fan and Booster clubs. The Macon Knights Booster Club organized a fan convention in February of this year and the league attended. The league is following that up with a special luncheon meeting for their teams Fan and Booster Club Presidents which is scheduled amidst all the other league executive, teams, and coaches meetings throughout the week.
I believe as a true fan of arena football and the af2, you have witnessed positive moments throughout the 2005 season. The league has been customer oriented and the results have been a welcomed change for fans who want more. Then the league announced that their championship game was going to be hosted at a neutral site, it seemed like it was a step backwards. I had always taken a wait and see approach to the idea. The league was going to move forward with their decision and while many can say what they want, now that the week is here and 9,000 tickets have been sold for this game, the wait and see is over and the league came out looking good, once again.
There were a lot of mixed feelings about the decision to put the ArenaCup in Bossier City/Shreveport, which plays home to the af2 Battlewings. The Battlewings have struggled with attendance. Fans also argued that you will get more attendance by hosting the game at a venue where an af2 team is competing for the trophy. Now I agree that makes sense but if you look at the way the league is being ran now, they have been successful in their efforts this year. It is the old adage that if something is not working, why keep doing it? You can further add that problems cannot be solved at the same level in which they were created. So was there a problem with having the championship game hosted at the venue of the most successful team? Perhaps not but by looking ahead and not seeing a trend of dynamic growth and marketable exposure, perhaps the af2 felt it was an issue to deal with now. The previous five ArenaCup did have decent attendance. The move was to keep the league from being complacent and an effort to improve their product through their biggest game of the year. The af2 had a chance to be more successful by moving to a neutral site, so why not.
They added national coverage by inking a deal with FoxSports Net. The problem with that is FoxSports Net is not carried by all cable/satellite operators in their basic programming package. So more work needs to be done there to ensure the game is available in all af2 markets. That is my perspective on the FoxSports Net deal. But the point is, the right steps were taken...if you have the game in a neutral site, get it on national television. The deal with FoxSports Net does not stop with ArenaCup VI. Next year, the af2 will have a featured game of the week televised on FoxSports Net as well. This in-turn will give fans more time to pick up FoxSports Net on their cable/satellite programming.
For now it is ArenaCup VI. The Louisville Fire and the Memphis Xplorers square off for the coveted arenafootball2 championship trophy and they do it on the road in front of fans, which for the most part, could be experiencing Arena Football for the first time. That in itself is not a bad idea either.
Gary Stibolt has covered the Quad City Steamwheelers since their 2000 inaugural season. He also owns, operates and is the Chief Editor/Publisher of SteamwheelerFans.com, a website dedicated to the Steamwheelers and their fans. He coresponds for other media outlets covering arenafootball2. In addition to leading the Steamwheelers Fan Club, Gary serves as Coordinator of the National af2 Fan Club. He is married with two sons and works as an Infrastructure Analyst for Deere & Company in their Corporate Computer Center in Moline, Illinois.