af2 "revolt?"

[Big Easy]

I guess my hometown (New Orleans) and adopted home of 7 years (Houston) are out of the indoor/arena football business.

I loved having teams in Houston in the past....and was die hard Voodoo.

The Voodoo were one of the more successful afl teams.

Any word on NOLA or Houston in the AF1?

I just can't do the SIFL thing...and Houston doesn't have a team anyway. NIFL, IFL and af2 have all been here before, but I think we all know what happened.

[Panthers14]

Four Arena Football League franchises defect to new AF1
By Brian VanOchten | The Grand Rapids Press
October 02, 2009, 7:48PM

The newly created Arena Football 1 is expected to unite franchises from the Arena Football League, arenafootball2 and other indoor leagues. It will not include the Grand Rapids Rampage. The Rampage continue to work toward relaunching the AFL in some form in 2011, while four former AFL teams -- Arizona Rattlers, Chicago Rush, Orlando Predators and Utah Blaze -- have announced their intentions to jump to AF1 in time for the 2010 season. AF1, based in Tulsa, Okla., is expected to feature 16 franchises in its inaugural season.

The league announced plans this week to kick off in March 2010 in the following locations: Arizona; Arkansas; Shreveport, La.; Fresno, Calif.; Chicago; Iowa; acksonville, Fla.; Lexington, Ky.; Milwaukee; Oklahoma City; Orlando; Spokane, Wash.; Tennessee Valley, Ala.; Kennewick, Wash.; Tulsa and Salt Lake City. A total of 24 teams have submitted applications for membership, although additional cities will receive consideration for inclusion through Oct. 9, according to published reports. The AFL, meanwhile, has entered into Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings in Illinois, according to numerous reports.


Question from this fan:"Chicago was supposed to be a new franchise, did they purchase the AFL Rush name, logo, and history, and are bringing it to this team? With maybe Mike Ditka as part-owner...and for the Utah Blaze joining the AF1, they previously said that they were to wait for a relaunch of the AFL in 2011. So, is this a misprint, a change of heart, or is the Utah Valley Thunder who is joining the AF1 from the AIFA now rebranding themselves as the new Utah Blaze...maybe even bringing in their owners? hmmmmmmmmm, questions and more questions. To be continued...back to something more stable, go Stanford Cardinal"

[Panthers14]

SaberCats' future remains unclear

By Elliott Almond
ealmond@mercurynews.com
Updated: 09/28/2009 09:32:57 PM PDT

Although the SaberCats gave no indication Monday that they were close to joining a new indoor league, a top official of Arena Football 1 sounded confident they would.
Shreveport owner Dan Newman, a member of the league's board of directors, said Monday night that he expects San Jose to be included when the league introduces more teams Oct. 9. "I am extremely optimistic when we close the books and make our schedules for the season, the SaberCats will be part of it," he said.

San Jose's future remained unclear on a day when 16 teams were introduced as part of the new league headed by AFL co-founder Jerry Kurz. Newman said San Jose officials have been involved in ongoing negotiations with the league. He characterized the talks as the SaberCats "doing their due diligence." San Jose vice president Hank Stern wouldn't discuss possible road blocks, or whether the team would consider an alternative indoor league that hopes to begin in 2011. "We will continue to explore all the options we have to bring Arena Football to San Jose," Stern said. The SaberCats joined the AFL in 1995 and played at HP Pavilion until last year when the league canceled the season and filed for bankruptcy. The
new league introduced Monday in Tulsa, Okla., has three members of the former AFL and a handful of others, such as San Jose, discussing the possibility of joining.

Kurz left many business-related questions unanswered, saying he will divulge details Oct. 9 when he also expects to introduce more teams. Stern gave no indication whether San Jose would be among them. "There is no timeline," he said. "Everything is a moving target." Paul Ross, co-owner of the Tulsa Talons, hopes the new league can persuade the SaberCats to join because of their financial strength and credibility. "That's like the NFL asking if you'd like to have Jerry Jones," he said. "It'd be great to get them in, but we're going to play football
with or without them."

The league mostly is composed of teams from the AFL spin-off, arenafootball2. It currently has only one club in California, located in Fresno. Other markets announced Monday: Alabama; Arizona; Arkansas; Bossier-Shreveport, La.; Chicago; Des Moines, Iowa; Jacksonville, Fla.; Kentucky; Milwaukee; Oklahoma City; Orlando, Fla.; Spokane, Wash.; Kennewick, Wash.; Tulsa, Okla.; and Utah. "It's not a combination of leagues; it's a brand new league," Kurz said. "This is as real as Arena Football," he said, adding that former AFL owners have "a snowball's chance in a warm room" to successfully restart their own league.

[Bruiser]

[quote=""Panthers14""]Kurz said. "This is as real as Arena Football," he said, adding that former AFL owners have "a snowball's chance in a warm room" to successfully restart their own league.[/quote]
Woo hoo, that ices it for this fan. Kurz is scared and tossing sophomoric comments about. That must mean there is more than hope of real Arenaball returning in 2011. So kiss this poor AF1 facsimile that Kurz is launching a quick goodbye.

You see I cannot believe a single word uttered through Mr. Kurz facial hair. He is a consumate used-car salesman and nothing he has ever championed has panned out. He was the dude responsible for all those unsuccesful international jaunts on the league's dime and nothing ever came of the dozens of foreign events except a free vacation for the Kurz family.

You think C.David was a glutton with other people's money? Ha, Jerry Kurz may be less conspicuous but can easily match the big guys corrupt appetite.

Looking forward to the real deal in the near future.

[BananaCat]

[quote=""Panthers14""]while four former AFL teams -- Arizona Rattlers, Chicago Rush, Orlando Predators and Utah Blaze -- have announced their intentions to jump to AF1 in time for the 2010 season. [/quote]
The Chicago team is not the Rush. The Utah team is not the Blaze either, but an AIFA team out of Orem that will move to Salt Lake.