Congrats to AFL, you got what you wanted, now let's truly get back to the fans.

[dhstatman]

On Sunday, the Philadelphia Soul clearly played a better overall game than San Jose, however did get a great many breaks on the field from the referees. This is not a "bitter Bob" posting, but all I can say is that team that should have been knocked out by New York earlier in the playoffs (and the referees dared not undo that then) got much of the same luck with the referee's in today's Arena Bowl.

The Grieb fumble, the pass interference late in the game, though San Jose couldn't seem to hold onto the ball, when it was fumbling and bouncing all over the place, it always ended in the Soul favor.

Congrats to Philadelphia... the fans, and the league, as the AFL got everything they wanted by having Philadelphia, one of their 'Big 3' to win (Colorado and Chicago the others).

Now that this is over, and Bon Jovi has his Championship, can we please get back to "The Fans", and not "The Owners" as it clearly has been since 2004.

I am not clueless, I know the league has to do this sellout marketing in order to bring in other fans, but I don't care who owns the team, nor do I care to see his face, hear his songs, or watch his old football highlights.

If you talk about great owners, you talk about (historically) the Halas's, Browns, Rooney's, etc, but you don't focus on them as celebrities. The celberities are the athletes on the field and that is who people came to see, leave the owners in the owner’s box.

[sportsguy12]

On Sunday, the Philadelphia Soul clearly played a better overall game than San Jose, however did get a great many breaks on the field from the referees. This is not a "bitter Bob" posting, but all I can say is that team that should have been knocked out by New York earlier in the playoffs (and the referees dared not undo that then) got much of the same luck with the referee's in today's Arena Bowl.

The Grieb fumble, the pass interference late in the game, though San Jose couldn't seem to hold onto the ball, when it was fumbling and bouncing all over the place, it always ended in the Soul favor.

Congrats to Philadelphia... the fans, and the league, as the AFL got everything they wanted by having Philadelphia, one of their 'Big 3' to win (Colorado and Chicago the others).

Now that this is over, and Bon Jovi has his Championship, can we please get back to "The Fans", and not "The Owners" as it clearly has been since 2004.

I am not clueless, I know the league has to do this sellout marketing in order to bring in other fans, but I don't care who owns the team, nor do I care to see his face, hear his songs, or watch his old football highlights.

If you talk about great owners, you talk about (historically) the Halas's, Browns, Rooney's, etc, but you don't focus on them as celebrities. The celberities are the athletes on the field and that is who people came to see, leave the owners in the owner’s box.

Having a celebrity owner creates a buzz around the game. If Bon Jovi didn't invest in the Soul, they wouldn't even be here. Columbus was in the title game last year and Georgia the year before or so. They didn't have celebrity owners.

If your so-called great owners are so great, why didn;t they ever invest in Arena Football. The Rooneys certainly didn't support the Gladiators when they were in Pittsburgh.

[jwalters]

I'm not taking sides. I think everyone knows my views on the Arena league course the past few years. The reason why the Rooney's didn't invest in Arena Football was because for many years NFL owners couldn't own football teams in other leagues. I can't remember if they could own basketball and hockey but I do know they could own baseball and soccer. Like I said though they couldn't own non-NFL football teams.

[phydeaux72]

I'm not taking sides. I think everyone knows my views on the Arena league course the past few years. The reason why the Rooney's didn't invest in Arena Football was because for many years NFL owners couldn't own football teams in other leagues. I can't remember if they could own basketball and hockey but I do know they could own baseball and soccer. Like I said though they couldn't own non-NFL football teams.

That didn't stop Jerry Jones from owning an AFL team. But then again, Jerry Jones seems to be one of the few, maybe even the only NFL owners that gets away with anything.

[jwalters]

The ownership rule was removed a few years ago. That's why Jerry Jones and Bud Adams were allowed to buy teams.

[sportsguy12]

I'm not taking sides. I think everyone knows my views on the Arena league course the past few years. The reason why the Rooney's didn't invest in Arena Football was because for many years NFL owners couldn't own football teams in other leagues. I can't remember if they could own basketball and hockey but I do know they could own baseball and soccer. Like I said though they couldn't own non-NFL football teams.

That rule has been off the books for at least 5 years now (Bud Adams - Nashville Kats and Dan Snyder - Washington Warriors) and the Rooneys still have not invested. So who's to say they would have had they been able to. I'm sure their family/dynasty is big enough that they could have found a loophole had they really wanted to.

[NatePreds05]

I agree with the original post, and I hope that with a new commissioner things will go in the right direction.

[phydeaux72]

Maybe this is why the AFL has had such a difficult time getting TV contracts these past few seasons. It's hard to take the league seriously if they can't even take themselves seriously.

[Sykotyk]

Rooney has been anti-AFL for years. He was one of the big proponents of the NFL failing to take the 49% stake in the league. It's his family members that wanted an AFL team. They're also the ones involved with casinos and race tracks and why the Rooneys may have to sell in order to comply with NFL league rules.

Right now, in Pittsburgh, it's always been the Lemeiux Group championing a new arena and using "well, we'd get an AFL team as well" to try and tip the scale in their favor.

Sykotyk