Arena Football League

[5] Sponsors were secured, and players and coaches from local colleges were recruited to volunteer to play for the teams, the Chicago Politicians and Rockford Metros, with the guarantee of a tryout should the league take off.[5] Foster appointed legendary Darrel "Mouse" Davis, godfather of the "run and shoot" and modern pro offenses, as executive director of football operations.[3] The Dynamite and Bruisers played in the first-ever televised AFL game the next night, on June 20, 1987, at the Rosemont Horizon in suburban Chicago on ESPN with Bob Rathbun and Lee Corso calling the play-by-play.From the 1987 season until the late 1990s, the most exposure the league would receive was on ESPN, which aired tape-delayed games, often well after midnight, and often edited to match the allotted time slot.[citation needed] On July 23, 1989, much of America learned of the AFL for an unintended reason, when the Pittsburgh Gladiators' head coach, Joe Haering, made football history by punching commissioner Jim Foster during a game with the Chicago Bruisers.A primary team for some of the AFL's most highly regarded players, including George LaFrance and Gary and Alvin Rettig, as well as being a second career chance for quarterback Art Schlichter, the Drive regularly played before sold-out crowds at Joe Louis Arena, and went to the ArenaBowl every year of their existence (1988–1993).The most successful of these were the Tampa Bay Storm and their arch-rival the Orlando Predators, as well as the San Jose SaberCats and their rivals, the Arizona Rattlers.There were a number of franchises which existed in the form of a series of largely-unrelated teams with little to no continuity of either coaching staffs or players under numerous management groups until they folded.Expansion teams included the Austin Wranglers, Carolina Cobras, Los Angeles Avengers, Chicago Rush, Detroit Fury, Dallas Desperados, Colorado Crush, New Orleans VooDoo, Philadelphia Soul, Nashville Kats, Kansas City Brigade, New York Dragons and Utah Blaze."[15] In October 2008, Tom Benson announced that the New Orleans VooDoo were ceasing operations and folding "based on circumstances currently affecting the league and the team".[17] Because of the sudden loss of the New Orleans franchise, the league announced in October that the beginning of the free agency period would be delayed in order to accommodate a dispersal draft.Efforts to reformat the league's business model were placed under the leadership of Columbus Destroyers owner Jim Renacci and interim commissioner Policy.[22] High hopes for the AFL waned when interim commissioner Ed Policy announced his resignation, citing the obsolescence of his position in the reformatted league.One month later, the league missed the deadline to formally ratify the new collective bargaining agreement and announced that it was eliminating health insurance for the players.On July 20, 2009, Sports Business Journal reported that the AFL owed approximately $14 million to its creditors and was considering filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.For the 2011 season, the Philadelphia Soul, Kansas City Brigade, San Jose SaberCats, New Orleans VooDoo, and the Georgia Force returned to the AFL after having last played in 2008.The AFL postponed the free agency period to October 31 due to Hurricane Sandy, noting that the National Football League was simultaneously doing the same thing with regard to its trade deadline.In the same report, it was stated the Los Angeles Kiss and Portland Steel had apparently folded after both teams failed to return calls or respond to inquiries into 2017 season ticket purchases.[59] On October 14, the AFL held a dispersal draft with the five teams selecting players from the Jacksonville, Los Angeles, Orlando, and Portland rosters.On August 23, 2017, the week of ArenaBowl XXX, multiple sources revealed that the AFL planned to expand to Albany, New York, and Newark, New Jersey, for 2018.A new agreement had not been made despite several proposals and supposed ultimatums between the two parties leading to rumors that the season and league's existence were in jeopardy.[67] On March 27, 2018, the AFL announced that commissioner Scott Butera would be replaced by former AOL counsel Randall Boe prior to the 2018 season.[77] In August 2012, Ganlan Media International received exclusive rights from the AFL to establish a new Chinese arena football league.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.Las Vegas owner Jim Ferraro stated during a radio interview that the reason efforts to make a deal failed was that ESPN refused to show highlights or scores or even mention Arena football as long as it was being aired on NBC.EA Sports released another AFL video game, titled Arena Football: Road to Glory, on February 21, 2007, for the PlayStation 2.[103] In 2001, Jeff Foley published War on the Floor: An Average Guy Plays in the Arena Football League and Lives to Write About It.[113] In 2000, a group of players filed a class-action antitrust suit against the AFL claiming "price-fixed salaries" by league teams and requesting injury compensation,[114] which led to the league owners threatening to cancel the upcoming season, and requested to negotiate a collective bargaining agreement (CBA) in order to elude United States antitrust laws.[123][124] The increased salaries were a major factor in the decision to go dormant for the 2009 season, after failed attempts by the owners to cancel the CBA, as several teams reported losing $2 million a year.[138] In the late 2010s the AFL's entity ownership, Arena Football One, LLC, had been at the center of much controversy over mismanagement of franchises, unpaid bills and several lawsuits against them.