What will the AFL look like next year?

Well the ArenaBowl is over, and congratulations to the Spokane Shock; even if I did pick against you. Now comes the offseason, a horrible 7-8 month wait till the next kickoff. At least in the mean time I have NFL, NCAA, and NBA to keep my busy. But also, we have AFL speculation to keep us busy as well. As of this morning there are a lot of rumors for shakeups for AFL franchises.

First off, we know the announced expansion teams will be around:

Philadelphia Soul
San Jose Sabercats
Kansas City Brigade
and as of last night, the Pittsburgh Power

But where does that leave the other 15 franchises? For some it may mean relocation.

The Alabama Vipers:
Late last night it was announced that the Georgia Force may be returning. But they may not be an expansion team. Instead it has been rumored that the Alabama Vipers will be relocating and rebranding as the Force. This season Alabama played in the smallest arena in the AFL. They could only max out at around 7,000 fans. That heavily limited the amount of income the team could bring in, both is tickets and in sponsorship. That combined with higher costs could be too much for the owners to handle.

The Bossier-Shreveport BattleWings:
It has been rumored for weeks, since their owner registered aflvoodoo.com, that the BattleWings could be relocating to New Orleans and rebranding as the VooDoo. The BattleWings never pulled a large crowd, even in their time in the af2. The difference was that in the af2 the loss on the owners was acceptable, in the AFL its much larger. This could spell doom for the BattleWings.

The Oklahoma City Yard Dawgz:
The Yard Dawgz were a decent team this year. They pulled decent crowds as well. However, they still were loosing money, and have been since at least the time the Thunder came to town. That combined with the new AHL Hockey Team (Barons), could mean the owners aren't willing to try to compete with other sports in town. Instead they could take their team elsewhere and try to turn a profit. The rumored location? Seattle. Yeah, another Seattle/OKC team swap. Very Ironic, but could happen.

As for the rest of the league nothing seems likely to change. The only team with light rumors is the Milwaukee Iron. The Iron have had issues with an ownership group and attendance. However, for the foreseeable future they will probably remain in the league.

Live Coverage: Bossier-Shreveport Battlewings at Tulsa Talons - July 10, 2010

Talons Escape Bossier with a Win

In a night when every call went against them, the Talons still came up with a road win. The victory broke a six game road losing streak stretching back to last season.

The Battle Wings received the ball first and appeared to be in trouble. The Talons defense was tough and tight forcing Kinsmon Lancaster's first three passes to fall incomplete. Lancaster kept the drive alive on fourth down by scrambling for a 23 yard gain before Terrell Mingo brought him down. Seven plays later the Battle Wings scored to start the game with a 7-0 lead. The Talons would answer back with a five play drive for a touchdown. The drive was topped off by a long pass to Donovan Morgan and then a strong Odie Armstrong run for the TD.

The Battle Wings would get a scare on their next series as Lancaster was hit on the second play of the series and was slow to get up (not a late hit as was reported in the arenafootball.com press release). Lancaster would leave the game, but it appeared to be a good thing for the Wings. Lancaster was replaced by Gary Cooper who had been a former Battle Wings QB before being picked up this week to fill the hole left by Raymond Philyaw who is currently on Injured Reserve. Cooper would eventually miss a few passes before the Battle Wings turned the ball over on downs after the first play of the second quarter.

Justin Allgood would start the next play off with a long pass to Donovan Morgan for another Talons TD. Tony Dodson would miss the extra point, however, to only give the Talons a 13-7 lead. The teams would continue to trade scores till the end of the half when both teams missed field goals to go into halftime tied at 26 each.

The Talons would stay one step ahead of the Battle Wings for the rest of the game taking a 52-48 lead early in the 4th Quarter. The game would conclude with series upon series of turnover on downs for both teams until the Battle Wings threw a deep pass to P.J. Berry that was picked off by Chris Royal to give the Talons the ball with about 14 seconds remaining. The Talons would run out the clock and get the road win.

The Talons defense was outstanding. The defensive front ended the game with three credited sacks (Nyenheis: 1, Scott: 2). On the defensive backfield of the Talons got one timely interception and multiple pass breakups.

Talons Quarterback Justin Allgood threw for 285 yards and passed former Talons QB Craig Strickland to take the franchise record in career passing yards. Talons WR Carlese Franklin wore #4 instead of his normal #5 as his jersey was lost (possibly stolen) in the Talons visit to Cleveland two weeks before.

The Talons return home next saturday to play the Orlando Predators (3-4) in the BOK Center where they are undefeated this season.

(Hopefully) Live Coverage of Tulsa Talons at Bossier-Shreveport Battle Wings

Mid-Season AFL Expansion Rumors

With the season half-over there are lots of rumors circulating about possible teams expanding and/or leaving the AFL. It looks like there will be 5-6 teams joining the league next year and I want to take a look at the possibilities.

Possible Expansion Cities (by likelihood):

1. Philadelphia, PA

The most likely of all the expansion talks is Philadelphia. This has been mentioned since day one. The only thing that was scary was the Tampa Bay Storm Radio reported on Twitter that there were some hangups with bringing the Soul back. However, there are rumors that the hangups have been solved. Possibility 95%

2. San Jose, CA

San Jose has been a historic franchise in the AFL. However, when the league reformed this year, workers compensation law scared the league away from California. As the league and San Jose (along with some changes to California WC law) have come to terms, this is looking more and more likely. Possibility 90%

3. Kansas City, KS

When the league was forming this year Kansas City was one of the 20 cities looking to join. However, certain things kept KC out. In addition to certain rumors I will talk about below, the league seems to want to have KC in the league. Not only were they a good fan base in the old AFL, it also makes sense geographically. KC sits perfectly between Tulsa and Des Moines, making regional travel very easy. This will help keep costs down for the league. Possibility 85%

4. Pittsburg, PA

The workers town of the USA. Rumors have been floating about this city for awhile now. It would make sense too. It's perfect for the region and the type of city where the AFL should flourish. Possibility 75%

5. Los Angeles, CA

LA was talked about in conjunction with San Jose. However, the biggest roadblock to the return of professional football to the City of Angels is finding a venue. The best thing they could do is put the team in Anaheim. Possibility 60%

6. Denver, CO

The Crush were a solid long-term franchise of the AFL, mainly due to involvement from John Elway. However, in the current league they are in a somewhat remote market. They could make a good addition to the West who are already spread out. Possibility 35%

7. San Antonio, TX

It has been rumored that San Antonio is hungry for a team. However, their first stint with a team in 1992 ended in the same year. The San Antonio Force was the first team shut out in the AFL. If the city is really wanting to join the AFL I can see it happening, but not next year. Possibility 20%

Possible Franchise Closing/Moving/Changing

1. Dallas Vigilantes

This rumor surprised me when I first heard about it, but it seems to make sense, but in a round about way. Rumors are that Jerry Jones wants to return to the AFL and bring the Desperados back with him. To do so, his "Franchise Fee" would be used to move the Vigilantes to Kansas City and be rebranded as the Brigade. Jerry Jones can fill seats in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area, so if he really does want to come back it will happen.

2. Oklahoma City Yard Dawgz

The Yard Dawgz have been struggling with attendance (and wins). This is most likely due to the Thunder and NBA owning that city right now. If they don't think they can improve this would be a very likely closure.

3. Utah Blaze

The Blaze have been struggling all season with attendance. If they can't get a deal to get into an arena in downtown this team could fold just because their current arena doesn't pull in a crowd.

4. Bossier-Shreveport

This is something that has been rumbled but no specifics at all. The ownership seems to support the team, even as they fail to make money. But with the increased costs in the AFL who knows how long that will last.

How I see the league looking next year:

South Division:

Alabama Vipers

Jacksonville Sharks

Tampa Bay Storm

Orlando Predators

Bossier-Shreveport Battle Wings

Southwest Division (maybe renamed to Central):

Tulsa Talons

Dallas Desperados

Oklahoma City Yard Dawgz

Kansas City Brigade

Iowa Barnstormers

Midwest Division

Milwaukee Iron

Chicago Rush

Cleveland Gladiators

Philadelphia Soul

Pittsburg

Western Division

Spokane Shock

Arizona Rattlers

Utah Blaze

San Jose Sabercats

Anaheim (Avengers)

YouTube Tuesday - March 30, 2010

Today we have a video from Talons last season. Highlights from game with Bossier-Shreveport Battlewings:

Don't forget the season starts this weekend! Be sure to come out to the BOK Center on Saturday to watch the Talons take on the Tampa Bay Storm.

YouTube Tuesday - March 16, 2010

Originally I had planned to have a Battlewings video today in honor of the Preseason game for Haiti Relief coming up this Sunday between the Dallas Vigilantes and the Bossier-Shreveport Battlewings. However, I could not find an interesting video. Thus, in honor of the signing of Damien Harrell I decided to share this video:




As I mentioned yesterday, Damien Harrell has signed with the Milwaukee Iron. Today the Iron guaranteed a playoff performance on their twitter feed. To find out more about the Milwaukee Iron visit mkeiron.com.

Preseason Game for Charity March 21st

Last Week the Bossier-Shreveport Battlewings announced they will be having a preseason game on March 21st against the Dallas Vigilantes. All tickets for the game will be $10.00 with $5.00 of that going to help with Haiti relief. At the moment there is no word whether the game will be broadcast on NiftyTV or by any other outlet. I encourage anyone in the Shreveport area to check out the game for a great kickoff to the new AFL and for the great charity the event is going towards.

Check out the entire press release here.