Arena Football League in Trouble

Hamilton Tiger-Cats
#1

Demise of league would free up talent

Should the Arena Football League fold, the CFL

stands to benefit from coaching and playing talent

DAVID NAYLOR From Wednesday's Globe and Mail

December 9, 2008 at 10:23 PM EST

CLICK HERE

an excerpt...

The AFL is not a direct competitor to the CFL, but the demise of the 22-year-old league

would free up some coaching and player talent
that might interest teams north of the border.

"There's a small pool of players who, if the Arena League didn't play,
would be interesting to teams in the CFL," Montreal G.M. Jim Popp said.

"At best, three to five players per team that would attract some interest."

Popp said the demise of the Arena League could have a downside
for the CFL because it "gives us another option to scout players."...

Popp said the CFL loses out on some players to the Arena League,

in part because its season ends in late July, allowing them
to potentially step directly into a tryout with the NFL.

"There are agents who refuse to send their players to Canada," Popp said.

"They may not have a choice any more.

There's a lot of players in the AFL who can't
play in the CFL and definitely some who can."

#2

Interesting.
As an aside: From the "Where are they now" forum

[url=http://www.azrattlers.com/team/coaches/index.html?staff_id=34]http://www.azrattlers.com/team/coaches/ ... taff_id=34[/url]
#3

That's a shame, the AFL is a great brand of football, I enjoyed watching the Toronto Phantoms while they were here.

#4

Yeah, it is a shame. Hate to see any sports league go under (with maybe the exception of the XFL). Lots of lost jobs both on and off the field and after - what is now, 25 years - there is a lot of fan loyalty. Nothing lasts forever.

#5

I wonder how feasible it would be to have an off season (off season to the CFL) arena league operating within the CFL cities? Maybe partnered with the CFL and operating from December to May?? Now that would be cool. Maybe an arena TiCat team so we can have our fix of football 12 months of the year. Perhaps some of the players would play in both leagues?

Oh well.....just dreaming.

#6

CFL team don't make money to begin with. I doubt there would be an ability to finance additional teams (i.e. AFL) in the same markets.

#7

This article make it appear 2009 could be to be a year off
and the league will re-organize and come back in the future.

Arena Football League set to call off 2009 season

Dec 10, 2008 08:22 PM THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

http://www.thestar.com/Sports/Football/article/551924

NEW YORK: Los Angeles Avengers owner Casey Wasserman said...

that the AFL needs to take the time to become
more efficient because of the poor economy.

Wasserman is a former league chairman
and one of the AFL's major power brokers.

Avengers spokesman John Tamanaha confirmed...that
the team expects the 2009 season to be cancelled.

"It's important for the Arena Football League to think
about the next 20 years," Wasserman told the paper.

"And the economic model, combined with the economic environment
we're in currently doesn't allow us to take that perspective.

By suspending play for the year – in co-operation
with our players and our partners –

it allows us to get the perspective

to try and make the decisions
that are in the best interest

of the long-term viability of the league."

#8

I have a feeling that the Arena league is done for good.

They made a cardinal sin, just like the NHL, expanded to much when it was going good. I mean AFL2? Give me a break.

The players make around the same money as in the CFL but there are less players per roster. It should be a heckuva lot cheaper to run an AFL team vs a CFL team. Problem with the AFL, they have to rent the arena and have to find space between NHL and NBA games.

The AFL is fun to watch and I'm sure in a lot of cities where they also have the NFL it's the only way for fans to see professional football.

For a league to be around 22 years and then fold is strange to me. I think though that it was too much expansion. This is why I don't want the CFL to expand to 10 teams anytime soon. Your moves have to be calculated.

#9

As of right they are going to play the 2009 seasons players have taken cuts and they say big changes may still come. Maybe they will reduce teams etc and only the strong survive making it a profitable league

[url=http://www.tsn.ca/other_sports/story/?id=259173&lid=headline&lpos=topStory_other_sports]http://www.tsn.ca/other_sports/story/?i ... her_sports[/url]