Arena Bowl Bust

[jwalters]

Well I said when they announced it that it was a bad idea and most people didn't listen. I kept saying it throughout the year and most people still didn't listen. So with an announced attendance of 10,822(and remember the actual attendance is often less than the announced attendance) will you now concede that it was a bad idea. I watched the entire game and I saw many things that bothered me. First was the empty upper-deck. If you don't at least sell out the cheap seats you have problems. Second most of the seats in the lower bowl had Arena Bowl seat covers. I don't know if this was for decoration or to make the empty seats harder to see. Third the blue paper all over the place made the game look cheap. Fourth one of the rebound assemblies was crooked and the crossbar was tilted. Fifth Bryan Adams if you are trying to improve the image of the league get good equipment for the band and if you are still not going to get good equipment get a band that sounds good no matter what. I suggest Joan Jett and The Blackhearts. Sixth most of the fans were from Colorado what if Chicago were playing Georgia what would the crowd have been then. I hope that the worst attended Arena Bowl in history humbles David Baker a little bit and he decides to end this foolish experiment with the neutral site. The Arena League needs to realize that it doesn't matter how many Elways, Bon Jovis, and Blanks you bring in you will never be a major league. You are a minor league but at one time you were a great minor league so be proud of that and go back to the old way.

[Pounder]

I've ignored this whole deal with the neutral site game... don't really care.

I looked in for a couple minutes yesterday, just to be reminded of the "other" little problem, specifically with using Vegas for the game.

Thomas & Mack is not optimal with the hockey layout. Probably everyone at the "open end" had to use the video replay screen to determine if a touchdown was scored directly below them. That's usually not good. That alone makes this whole scene rather funny.

Problem: from how the packages were sold this year, I shudder to think that the lowest attended arena bowl may in fact have been the most profitable. You'll see more of this, not less, especially if Vegas finds a more suitable arena out there (seems like half the resorts on the Strip have one now... doubt any of them are truly big enough, though).

[jwalters]

I agree about the Mack center. In fact the total length of the floor is a little to short also. I know that the MGM Grand has a very large capacity but I also think that the floor is a little small there also. To be truthful Vegas should not have a team. The city has not supported them. Des Moines, Albany, Milwaukee, Raleigh, Birmingham, and Oklahoma City deserve teams before Vegas.

[Pounder]

No... I've been in MGM Grand Garden. 11,000 tops. Full size floor.

For a league where the average "break-even" attendance is 12,000, that's not so good.

[jwalters]

Whoops I was wrong about the MGM Grand but if you think about it with no more than Vegas averages the arena would be about right but I bet that it has a high rental rate. That should just be another sign that Vegas does not need a team. They don't have a quality Arena Ball facility and even if they did they probably couldn't fill it. I do not mean to be so hard on the fans in Vegas. I am just shocked that the team doesn't do better considering the fact that the XFL's Outlaws drew pretty good crowds. But then again both the Posse and Sting struggled at the gate. So I have to say that minor leagues should try to stear clear of Vegas.

[minnfan]

Well I said when they announced it that it was a bad idea and most people didn't listen. I kept saying it throughout the year and most people still didn't listen. So with an announced attendance of 10,822(and remember the actual attendance is often less than the announced attendance) will you now concede that it was a bad idea. I watched the entire game and I saw many things that bothered me. First was the empty upper-deck. If you don't at least sell out the cheap seats you have problems. Second most of the seats in the lower bowl had Arena Bowl seat covers. I don't know if this was for decoration or to make the empty seats harder to see. Third the blue paper all over the place made the game look cheap. Fourth one of the rebound assemblies was crooked and the crossbar was tilted. Fifth Bryan Adams if you are trying to improve the image of the league get good equipment for the band and if you are still not going to get good equipment get a band that sounds good no matter what. I suggest Joan Jett and The Blackhearts. Sixth most of the fans were from Colorado what if Chicago were playing Georgia what would the crowd have been then. I hope that the worst attended Arena Bowl in history humbles David Baker a little bit and he decides to end this foolish experiment with the neutral site. The Arena League needs to realize that it doesn't matter how many Elways, Bon Jovis, and Blanks you bring in you will never be a major league. You are a minor league but at one time you were a great minor league so be proud of that and go back to the old way.


Other than the attendance problem I didn't see much wrong with the game. It certainly was more entertaining than last years, and the fact that it wasn't 60 minutes of "you score, we score" had to make a better impression on the non-AFL fan, or the fence sitters.

I was not surprised that it wasn't a sellout, although disapointed, and don't think it matters much as next year will be a sellout. The league is no longer looking at success coming from the already committed fan, meaning you and me, they simply have to do whatever it takes to get the attention of the other 99.5% of the sports public.

I'm not convinced they're going at it right, but I know what they've done in the past has made no impact. TV ratings are dismal and will stay that way unless they do something to change them.

I'll make a suggestion. NBC should drop the regional games and put all their efforts into a game of the week, occasionally doing a double header perhaps. That fence sitter, or the guy who never heard of the AFL isn't going to raise a 1.0 rating to 1.9 if all he's offered is Orlando - Grand Rapids or San Jose - Columbus. They've got to try a steady diet of NY - LA or Philadelphia - Boston and so on. It might not work, but what they've tried so far has been a failure.