Arena Football League
From Wikinfo
The Arena Football League was founded in 1987 as a springtime and wintertime American football indoor league. Attendance at AFL games in 2007 averaged 12,415 people per game. The Arena Football League also maintains a minor league called AF2.
The AFL was founded by Jim Foster, a former NFL and USFL executive. In fact, he had a contract in hand in 1983 to play an exhibition game on NBC, 20 years before the first regular season games appeared on NBC. He abandoned the plan though when the USFL was formed, and did not return to his newly created sport until 1986.
For the 2003 season, the Arena Football League made a deal with the NBC television network to televise league games. In conjunction with this, the league moved the beginning of the season from May to February (the week after the NFL's Super Bowl) and scheduled most of its games on Sunday instead of Friday or Saturday as it had in the past.
Average attendance for AFL games were around 10,000-11,000 per game in the 1990s, though during the recession connected to the dot-com bubble and the September 11, 2001 attacks average attendance dropped below 10,000 for several years. For the past four seasons, average attendance has been above 12,000, with 12,392 in 2007.[1]. 11 of the current 17 teams had average attendance figures over 13,000 in 2007.
The Rules of the Game can be found on the Arena Football page.
Contents |
Teams
Defunct Teams
(partial list)
Anaheim Piranhas
Charlotte Rage
Chicago Bruisers
Cincinnati Rockers
Cleveland Thunderbolts
Dallas Texans
Denver Dynamite
Florida Bobcats
Fort Worth Cavalry
Houston Thunderbears
Los Angeles Cobras
Massachusetts Marauders
Milwaukee Mustangs
Minnesota Fighting Pike
New England Steamrollers
New Orleans Night
New York Knights
Oklahoma Wranglers
San Antonio Force
St. Louis Stampede
Toronto Phantoms
Washington Commandos
Postseason
The Arena Football League's championship game is called the ArenaBowl.
New Orleans Arena, home of the New Orleans VooDoo, served as the site of ArenaBowl XXI on July 29, 2007. [1] [2] This was the first professional sports championship to be staged in the city since Hurricane Katrina struck in August 2005. The San Jose SaberCats earned their third championship in six years by defeating the Columbus Destroyers 55-33. [3] Arena Bowl XXI was so successful in New Orleans, the city was asked to host Arena Bowl XXII.
Commissioners of Arena Football
- C. David Baker - 1996-Current
- Jim Drucker - 1994-1996
- Joe O'Hara - 1992-1994
- Jim Foster - 1987-1992
Possible expansion
The following cities were publicly speculated by the AFL as possible future expansion sites during the Commissioner's conference call prior to ArenaBowl XX.[2]
- Boston, Massachusetts
- Houston, Texas
- Miami or Sunrise, Florida
- Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
- St. Louis, Missouri
- Indianapolis, Indiana
The following markets have potential owners with expansion rights[3]:
- Sacramento or San Francisco, California (rights owned by Denise DeBartolo York)
- Washington, D.C. (rights owned by Daniel Snyder)
See also
- Arena Football for league rules
- ArenaBowl for information on the AFL's championship game
- Defunct Arena Football League teams
- Index of Professional Sports teams in the United States and Canada
- List of leagues of American football
- List of Arena Football League seasons
- List of Arena Football League Venues
- List of attendance figures at domestic professional sports leagues — the AFL's attendance in a worldwide context
References and notes
- ^ ArenaFan Online : AFL Attendance
- ^ "Arena Football League kicks off new season with business booming". 2007-03-01. http://www.usatoday.com/sports/football/2007-02-28-arena-league-kickoff_x.htm?csp=34.
- ^ "Sponsorship". 2007-02-13. http://www.arenafootball.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=3500&ATCLID=90256.
