WOOT!!! Arena Football League re-boot a reality, will start in April

A re-formed Arena Football League will start up in April.

• Arena Football is back again this spring after a one year hiadus…
• The new formed league will have a 15-team set up and has a deal with NFL Network to broadcast their games live on a weekly basis through the summer…
• Some legacy teams return and expansion is on the menu for next season, but the AFL will also return to it’s roots in places like Des Moines, Iowa, Shreveport, Louisiana and Spokane, Washington.

by Mike Zimmer, In-door football fan and former Columbus Destroyers season ticket holder

Good news for those of us that like our in-door football, the Arena Football League is back.  In a reconstituted set up where a handful of legacy teams are set to be joined by some teams from AF2 and some new teams, the AFL will be back in business this spring.  A year removed from the economic meltdown that shuttered the league as people knew it last year, new money, new owners and a TV deal have made the league come back to life.

The NFL Network agreed to start carrying live telecasts of the game from the first week this spring through to the championship game “The Arena Bowl” in the summer, leading up to the start of training camp in July.

The league has some familiar teams including long time AFL teams, Orlando Predators, Tampa Bay Storm, Arizona Rattlers, Chicago Rush and a few others along side new teams in Jacksonville, Alabama (Huntsville) as well as AF2 stalwarts Spokane, Shreveport/Bossier City, Louisiana.  (see all teams on the work-in-progress AFL page at www.arenafootball.com).

Included with some of the teams you know, teams like the Spokane Shock who have been very successful in AF2 along with the Shreveport/Bossier City Battlewings, some old time Arena League teams and cities return.  The Iowa Barnstormers, the team in which Kurt Warner made his mark and first claim to fame will return to the top flight of in-door football as does the city of Milwaukee.

According to some sources, the league is also set to make some expansion for next season already and some AFL teams and cities from the past could be back on line sooner than later too.  (http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2010/02/17/new-arena-league-targets-four-markets-for-expansion/).  It is very likely that successful teams and cities of the recent version of the AFL like the San Jose Sabercats who routinely challenged for the championship and the Jon Fucking Bon Jovi owned Philadelphia Soul may be back in very, very short order come next season.  As much as I fucking hate Bon Jovi, he and co-0wner Ron Jawarski were very successful with Philly. 

For us former Columbus Destroyers fans and season ticket holders, there is no word whether or not the team will return.  It doesn’t look especially promising considering that the NHL’s Blue Jackets are struggling financially and Nationwide Arena seems to be an expensive venue now days.  The Destroyers weren’t exactly setting attendance records either, but the interest in the team was there.  Especially where it concerned former Buckeye players.  And, the Destroyers were decent at times, making it to the Arena Bowl a few seasons ago.

http://www.arenafootball.com/

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