August 05, 2009
Arena Football League, 1987-2009
The Arena Football League folded last night, though it used the more upbeat term "suspended operations indefinitely." Aside from being bad for arena football fans — who can still follow the minor-league AFL2, weirdly — this is bad news for cities in need of arena tenants, since that's one less league to help fill dates. In particular, Kansas City's Sprint Center is going to have an even emptier calendar now.
It's also unfortunately for the franchises that were not struggling financially that they got brought down by the bad eggs.
Posted by Dan on August 6, 2009 12:20 AM
I think what happened is that the AFL expanded too fast and into too many big cities. The fact that it was not a summer league isn't relevant. What is relevant is the fact that Kurt Warner put the league into the spotlight because he was the former quarterback of the Iowa Barnstormers Arena Football team. This after he was a bag boy in a grocery store. He then went on to put the league in the limelight by winning Super Bowl 34 for the St. Louis Rams and the MVP trophy in the process. The league quickly sold out to larger cities leaving smaller towns in the dust. They also went after major television deals getting first NBC and then ESPN, but failing to earn ratings for the league. As a result, the economy failed around the league to the point that the league lost enough money to fold. The AFL should have just entered into a minor league relationship with the NFL.
Posted by Jessy S. on August 9, 2009 12:38 AM
It was sad to hear about the Arena League folding, but there are various reasons of why it "possibly" folded: billionaire owners, rapid expansion, unionized players' association, rise in salary, rival leagues or the recession; whatever the reason, the league is gone. I do remember when there was a time that the league played predominately during the summer months, tickets were $10-15 and was an alternative to both major & minor league baseball. A lot has change since the league debut in 1987, perhaps we may see the league return.
Posted by Marc on August 11, 2009 09:46 PM
It was sad to hear about the Arena League folding, but there are various reasons of why it "possibly" folded: billionaire owners, rapid expansion, unionized players' association, rise in salaries, rival leagues or the recession; whatever the reason, the league is gone. I do remember when there was a time that the league played predominately during the summer months, tickets were $10-15 and was an alternative to both major & minor league baseball. A lot has change since the league debut in 1987, perhaps we may see the league return.
Posted by Marc on August 11, 2009 09:46 PM