What's Going on Indoor/Arena Football?
By Eric Thurow posted on Thursday, May 6, 2010 @ 8:10 PM - (General)
As a strong fan of arena football and a long time fan club president, I am wondering as well as many fans, what is really going on with the sport of arena/indoor football?
It all started 24 years ago with the inception of the Arena Football League (AFL) and four teams. This was the league which slowly expanded to be the main stay of the new sport. THe AFL would expand to 17 teams and establish a deveopmental league called ArenaFootball2 (af2). THe developmental league would host 32 teams in and around the markets the AFL would be in, as well as other smaller markets across the country. With the popularity groing fast with the AFL, the outdoor sport saught to get involved. The NFL would make arrangements for its officiating crew to be trained and/or refreshed through officiating AFL games. Eventually, NFL team owners would seek an interest in the league.
Now with the NFL getting more and more involved with the AFL, a lot of fans began to realize that their sport was also gradually changing with rules and the play style. The ultimate changing of the sport came when the AFL sought a national tv deal with NBC Sports. NBC Sports would broadcast the game of the week and the eventual ArenaBowl chanpionship game on Sundays. After two years, this deal faded away as attendance decreased and people slowly were growing impatient with the league, the AFL, and the decisions being made by the commissioner. The AFL worked out a new national tv deal with ESPN(ABC Sports). However, ESPN's decision to treat the sport of arena football like the outdoor sport, was a major mistake, which kept the dwindling attendance going down, for at least the national game of the week, broadcasted on Monday nights.
With the poor negaotiating deal by the commissioner, the poor economy that was affecting the nation, the Arena Football Leaue decided that ArenaBowl XXII would be the last game played. The decision to initially suspend play for the 2009 season, was a crucial decision that eventually led the league to, late in 2009, file for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy in a Northern Illinois Bankruptcy Court in Chicago.
Now with the major player out of the way, this allowed room for the some smaller leagues to either be formed and/or expand. SUch leagues are the Continental Indoor Football League (CIFL), American Indoor Football Association (AIFA), Indoor Football Legue (IFL). With so many leagues, many of which are in extreme small markets, makes one wonder what is the future of the sport and would the AFL ever come back. The answer to the later question is yes.
While going through the workings of filing for bankruptcy, the Arena Football League, a new upstart league would be formed. It called itself Arena Football One (AF1). The starting of the AF1 would eventually be a place holder company. As the AF1 would make a bid on the defunct AFL assets in the bankruptcy court. With a successful bid of $6.1 million, the AF1 won all of the assets that was the AFL. Main assets included, team names, logos, likeness, ArenaBowl championship game name, video library, and stats.
Now since the reformation of the AFL, the continuance of small niche leagues as mentioned earlier, there is now a new league being formed right now, the Ultimate Indoor Football League (UIFL). This league is based in Canton, OH and seeks to be another niche sport league for arena football sport. They are seeking teams in small markets helping to keep expenditures down. We will have to wait and see about the legitmacy of this new upstart league.
So for arena football fans, the main focus would be the re-emergence of the Arena Fotball League (AFL) and its expansion into a couple more markets in 2011. The intial expansion plans for next year are initially targeted for Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Denver, Southern California, and Kansas City; with the option for expansion into other major markets still open. Right now arena football fans can catch the game of the week on the NFL Network in HD on Friday nights. Whether this sport of arena football is to continue, we will have to keep supporting our teams, no matter waht the market or league, and wait as to see what happens in arena/indoor football.
It all started 24 years ago with the inception of the Arena Football League (AFL) and four teams. This was the league which slowly expanded to be the main stay of the new sport. THe AFL would expand to 17 teams and establish a deveopmental league called ArenaFootball2 (af2). THe developmental league would host 32 teams in and around the markets the AFL would be in, as well as other smaller markets across the country. With the popularity groing fast with the AFL, the outdoor sport saught to get involved. The NFL would make arrangements for its officiating crew to be trained and/or refreshed through officiating AFL games. Eventually, NFL team owners would seek an interest in the league.
Now with the NFL getting more and more involved with the AFL, a lot of fans began to realize that their sport was also gradually changing with rules and the play style. The ultimate changing of the sport came when the AFL sought a national tv deal with NBC Sports. NBC Sports would broadcast the game of the week and the eventual ArenaBowl chanpionship game on Sundays. After two years, this deal faded away as attendance decreased and people slowly were growing impatient with the league, the AFL, and the decisions being made by the commissioner. The AFL worked out a new national tv deal with ESPN(ABC Sports). However, ESPN's decision to treat the sport of arena football like the outdoor sport, was a major mistake, which kept the dwindling attendance going down, for at least the national game of the week, broadcasted on Monday nights.
With the poor negaotiating deal by the commissioner, the poor economy that was affecting the nation, the Arena Football Leaue decided that ArenaBowl XXII would be the last game played. The decision to initially suspend play for the 2009 season, was a crucial decision that eventually led the league to, late in 2009, file for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy in a Northern Illinois Bankruptcy Court in Chicago.
Now with the major player out of the way, this allowed room for the some smaller leagues to either be formed and/or expand. SUch leagues are the Continental Indoor Football League (CIFL), American Indoor Football Association (AIFA), Indoor Football Legue (IFL). With so many leagues, many of which are in extreme small markets, makes one wonder what is the future of the sport and would the AFL ever come back. The answer to the later question is yes.
While going through the workings of filing for bankruptcy, the Arena Football League, a new upstart league would be formed. It called itself Arena Football One (AF1). The starting of the AF1 would eventually be a place holder company. As the AF1 would make a bid on the defunct AFL assets in the bankruptcy court. With a successful bid of $6.1 million, the AF1 won all of the assets that was the AFL. Main assets included, team names, logos, likeness, ArenaBowl championship game name, video library, and stats.
Now since the reformation of the AFL, the continuance of small niche leagues as mentioned earlier, there is now a new league being formed right now, the Ultimate Indoor Football League (UIFL). This league is based in Canton, OH and seeks to be another niche sport league for arena football sport. They are seeking teams in small markets helping to keep expenditures down. We will have to wait and see about the legitmacy of this new upstart league.
So for arena football fans, the main focus would be the re-emergence of the Arena Fotball League (AFL) and its expansion into a couple more markets in 2011. The intial expansion plans for next year are initially targeted for Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Denver, Southern California, and Kansas City; with the option for expansion into other major markets still open. Right now arena football fans can catch the game of the week on the NFL Network in HD on Friday nights. Whether this sport of arena football is to continue, we will have to keep supporting our teams, no matter waht the market or league, and wait as to see what happens in arena/indoor football.
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