RIP Arena Football League

In the mid-00s, this league seemed like it had established quite a niche, with adding multiple teams, regularly appearing on ESPN, teams valued in the millions of dollars, Jon Bon Jovi owning a team. Then the Great Recession hit and things were never the same.

 

I remember the Dallas Desperados, the Cowboys entry in the AFL. Joe Avezzano (RIP) was the first head coach. After him was Will McClay, who today is pretty high up in the Jones brain trust and might become the GM when Jerry kicks the bucket.

 

There definitely was a bounce after Kurt Warner hit it big.

 

Darren Arbet, the former coach of the San Jose Sabercats, is head coach at Cabrillo College (a juco) and runs a very wide-open offense. Has really turned around a program that was struggling.

 

Best things about Arena Football for me.
1) Stringing for the out of town newspapers helped me get bylines in Newsday, the Times-Picayune, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, The Arizona Republic, the Oregonian, The Dallas Morning News, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the Cleveland Plain Dealer, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the Indianapolis Star-Bulletin and a few others I can't remember now but will edit in later.
2) Orlando was outrageous. Colleagues were getting drunk and fighting. One night, a fan brought a 10-foot inflatable schlong that was replaced the traditional volley of inflatable blow up dolls. The guy from the league office confiscated it, and was in the walkway. My arenafan blog led with -- "The league official's deflated, limp penis lay on the hard concrete for all the world to see. It's what happens when the league office goes out half-cocked." Of course it didn't run. I just will never have a creative moment like that again.
3) I brought my therapist to a game. He sat next to Terry Bowden on press row. Adrian McPherson was the visiting QB. I sent Doc to interview him -- FSU thing. He said it was one of the most fun times he had. I said it wasn't. He goes "Dude, are you f-----g crazy?" I considered it a breakthrough.
4) Jay Gruden to me after I wrote a column counting each use of inappropriate words as he unleashed a barrage of colorful metaphors on a TV game with no seven second delay. "I loved it, but my wife and my kid's teacher didn't."
5) Doing stats for NBC and having that "I say it here and it comes out there moment" when Dallas and Orlando put up a combined 179 points.
6) When I moved over to the team side, working for a former Vikings WR in Frisco, Texas. Was a great year. Texas HS football, a couple of games at the old Texas Stadium, Rangers, Mavs and being invited by Joe Avezzano to watch the Super Bowl at his restaurant. Watching the Super Bowl with a guy who was in it was kinda cool.
7) Free trip to Alaska, reading "Friday Night Lights" at Ratliffe Stadium, etc.
8) One night in Lake Charles, La, it was me and four other PR/GM/radio guys hanging out, bitching about the owners and everything else. The beer and wine were from the owner's box. No one cared. It was great.

I miss/don't miss and hate/don't hate this demise.

 

Yeah, it went from being a thing to bottoming out in a hurry. It seemed like, as you said, it found its niche as a fun, not-quite-football but close enough sport for NFL markets. IIRC they even had a decent TV deal where they were showing games on either ABC or NBC.
Hell, they even had their own minor league and some knock off versions.
And then within a few years I read they were down to four teams and trying to keep the lights on, and now they're completely kaput. That is bewildering how it happened that fast.

 

I was on a trip to Denver once with three friends and we made a last-second decision to attend a Colorado Crush playoff game (I think it was a conference final). We bought tickets in the nosebleeds but near the end of the first quarter, an usher came by and asked us if we'd like to move down to the lower bowl because NBC wanted more people in the crowd shots.

 

Anyone think the new XFL gets a second year? Between basing teams in major markets and people feeling burned by the Alliance, I just don't see McMahon getting enough traction to throw more money away. Feb through April - you're still competing with the NFL free agency and pre-draft, the NBA and March Madness. Always felt May, June, July might be a better three month window. First round NBA playoffs are typically chalk and then most games are played in primetime leaving the daytime open.

 

I have many questions

 

Fire away.

 

So he was in Joe Avezzano you say ...

 

I rewrote that. It was cool to watch a Super Bowl with someone was in a Super Bowl. How's that?