AFL: Apparently 2010 may not happen now for Arena League

Posted: July 20th, 2009 | Author: Zim | Filed under: Arena Football League | No Comments »

The Arena Football League took a hiadus during a harsh economic year in 2009 with intentions to return in 2010 stronger.

Report on PFT.com says AFL may go bankrupt before league has a chance at resurrection…

The “Big Leagues” of indoor football needs a new direction and needs to go back to basics in it’s grass roots efforts to come back…

Jon Fucking Bon Jovi and others ruined league need to die.

by Mike Zimmer, Former Destroyers Season Ticket Holder

According to a report on profootballtalk.com, in a business article posted else-where and re-hashed and re-warmed here for you at Kegeratornation, is that the Arena Football League may go belly up altogether before their hope of re-launching next season.

In the article  http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2009/07/20/afl-heading-for-bankruptcy/ it seems that the league is still short on cash and hasn’t yet gotten solid backing from the owners of the league to cough up more cash.

In addition, the new franchise that was supposed to go to Pittsburgh (once upon a time an original city for Arena Football in their second season and now the team that was the Tampa Bay Storm), the deal with prospective owner Lynn Swann and other Steel town native sons haven’t yet come forward with their $10-million for the new franchise.

Bernie Kosar who helped get Cleveland a team (the Gladiators moved from Las Vegas) has also recently gone bankrupt.  There is nothing I have found that he owes the AFL any money at this point, though in his bankruptcy there were all sorts of claim of debt and I’ll be willing to bet he owes them too.

The Arena League peaked too fast and tried to do something that it wasn’t able to deliver which was be a marquee second tier sport in the likeness of perhaps the NBA or NHL.  It quickly attracted ass holes like John Elway and Jon Fucking Bon Jovi and then just as fast started heading down a path of self destruction and economic woe.

The league really needs to get back to basics and deliver a product that is much more home-spun and built on minor-league, grass roots ways.  Instead, the owners that do remain are divided with the likes of Mike Ditka on a richer team with the Chicago franchise saying what is holding the league back are “a few weak sisters”.  While that may be true (we’re talking to you Grand Rapids), the league like any upstart is not ruled strongly from the top and has the same old problems any league like this has when it gets in bed with those with big money and grand plans.

Instead of being all big-time and making it too expensive to do business, the league needs to find a way to get back to their roots in cost effective business plans that include minimal amounts of money paid to the athletes and trying to be a little more realistic about being “big time”.  They also need to boot the ones that can’t conform to the smaller expectations not the other way around.  The big money killed the league just like big money killed the USFL.  Former commissioner David Baker jumped before the ship sank mostly because he was powerless to over rule the Elways, Ditkas, and Fucking Bon Jovis.

The remaining in-door leagues are decidedly small time.  The AF2 is still around and is doing a decent job in their regional approach to the game.  Big B says the Florida Fire Cats of the Fort Myers area are a fun watch and affordable.  In other leagues they still have the per-player win bonus that is decidedly meager.  Something like $100 a game and $150 if the team wins the game. 

As a former Columbus Destroyers season ticket holder, I was more than willing to plunk down $99 for season tickets.  However, those were in the bleeders while the empty seats down below were going for what you’d pay at MLB games ($25-$50) which is retarded for the AFL.  The league needs to find a way to convince what’s left of their owners that, that is what customers want, cheap entertainment.  Mostly because we’re bored in the spring with no football, we like gladiator like mentality towards the game and we don’t want to shell out baseball like money to see it.

That woman Bon Fucking Jovi though, man I’d like to kick his pansy ass one of these days.  Seriously what the hell is a 56-year old bird like her doing fucking up my niche sports anyways?  Doesn’t he have some sort of liberal candidate to go play music for or event to be seen on while playing the same old tired, horrible music he always delivered with agonizing repetition?  Seriously, can’t this guy get the anal cancer or contract the AIDS or something?  Die already Bon Jovi, you’re waaaaay overdue.

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