Apparently the world of Arena Football is going to get a new player come next Monday. Of course we all know that the AFL canceled the 2009 season, before disbanding earlier this year. Now it had been reported that their minor league system, the AHL2, would continue operating. The AFL2 was a league based in smaller markets, and was due to add at least one team in 2010 in the Toledo Bullfrogs. However no team had committed to the AFL2 for the coming season, and now it looks like remnants of both Arena Leagues will seek to begin a new Arena League.

The Oklahoma City Yard Dogz, Arkansas Twisters, and the Spokane Shock have all confirmed that they are in the middle of planning a new Arena League to be based in Tulsa, Oklahoma. This new league is expected to be made up of team from both the AFL and AFL2.

While there is a market for the indoor version of American football, the AFL really expanded itself out of business. Instead of building up a loyal fan base in cities that do not feature other major league sports, they tried to build a league within major American cities. Many of those teams failed, and the AFL2 had lots of success placing teams in smaller markets.

However the AFL2 also was a victim of over expansion. In its first year of 2000 there were 15 teams, the very next year they league added 13 teams, many of whom were not financially stable. If this new leagues is to get off the ground they should start with 10-12 teams and resist the urge to add teams each and every season.

New Arena Football League in the works is a post from: The Inquisitr

Many would have Arena Football fans believe that this is the end of the Arena football style game, however nothing could be farther from the truth. The AFL2 is yet another arena league run by the same masters of the AFL but with an updated business model. AFL 2 teams are placed in mid market cities that have no NFL representation, and have little other live sports choices. For example the City of Toledo, Ohio recently built a new arena to house a minor league hockey team, and an AFL 2 franchise. Since Toledo is an hour from Detroit, and two hours from Cleveland it is close enough to population centers to be a draw.

The AFL is now a defunct football league with a very rich history of over 20 seasons.  They survived so long by not competing directly with the NFL, and by offering a different kind of football product. The NFL even went as far as to allow it’s owners to purchase and market AFL teams within their own markets. The NFL has rules against majority owners owning other professional sports teams.

In the end though it was these things that killed off the league. The game was so different that many hard core NFL fans didn’t like it. When the NFL owners stepped in to own AFL teams that spent money as they did in the NFL and this led to a massive overspending on talent. On top of that this league had a hard time getting a team going in New York City, Detroit, and other big football markets. that made it an unattractive to TV executives and even with stints on NBC and ESPN the league couldn’t get his business model to produce profit.

AFL to cease operations file chapter 7 bankruptcy is a post from: The Inquisitr