IFL & af1

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Gene Duryea
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IFL & af1

Post by Gene Duryea » Thu Dec 10, 2009 5:35 pm

This thread started under a different topic. I'm moving it over here because I think it needs a place of its own.

Bcarlson1 had said:
Just wondering what the consensus is out there about the Arena Football 1 League vs. the IFL. Obviously this site was started to discuss the IFL but with the original Arena League taking 2009 off and now a new Arena Football 1 offshoot league getting out of bankruptcy I was just curious to hear the opinions that you all may have out there. It is great to see 26 teams in this league and much less than that confirmed in the new Arena League. Also how do you think the talent level will fare between leagues along with the number of games on the schedules for each league? I look forward to a great 2010 IFL season and would love to see it really take the #1 position as far as Indoor Football is concerned.

Thanks

mrsummitcitypigskin had replied:
AF1 will apparently be the top tier Arena league.
IFL we be a top tier Indoor league (no nets etc.)
AIFA, CIFL & SIFL will be support leagues to both.
Each of the 3 support leagues has their own regional
footprint that they want to stick with.
Last edited by Gene Duryea on Thu Dec 10, 2009 5:41 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Gene Duryea
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Post by Gene Duryea » Thu Dec 10, 2009 5:38 pm

In spite of all the BS that gets bandied about on the discussion boards, there are essentially 3 major leagues right now. The af1 and IFL are basically going head to head for the number 1 spot (with each taking its own direction) and AIFA is running a strong 3rd.

The af1 is coming very close to fulfilling its goal of being a leaner and more economical version of the old AFL. We'll just have to see how the first season plays out.

On the other side of the coin ... The IFL has essentially replaced the old AF2. Which is one of the reasons why af1 was not able to get anywhere with the idea of a two tier league. they were originally hoping to retain at least 8 to 10 of the af2 smaller markets and attract another 4 to 6 from other leagues. But a lot of teams did the math on this one and here is what they saw.

" Pay 3X to play af2 level competition in the IFL or pay 5X to do a similar thing in the lower tier of the af1?"

The thing that the IFL has going for it is that it isn't owned by another league. The af1 can't hold it down like the AFL did with the af2. It is growing and improving in an organic fashion without taking on a lot of debt along the way. It even returned several thousand dollars back to its teams after the end of the 2009 season.

So af1 generally has the larger markets and the higher salaries but IFL has the most teams, the better travel footprint and has not started off with 6 million of debt.

After this 2010 season has been played ... We're going to see some very interesting decisions being made by markets that have been sitting out for a season or two.

It could be very interesting.

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Post by raider22 » Thu Dec 10, 2009 8:10 pm

Gene D, I agree with your thoughts on both leagues, but in fact the battle for the top spot will come down to one thing. Its not the salary of the players but the exposure on the players. B/C it doesnt matter which league you play in as a player your not gonna become rich. Its which ever league is able to get a tv deal first. I believe AF1 will get blackballed by some of the orginial AFL personalities and NBC(who was owed 1.5m), Also agents will be influenced to sent their players to which ever league next year off of which league has the most players promoted to CFL, UFL, n NFL. I see on af1 forums all the time about how the talent there is better than IFL. Actually I played in both leagues last yr. I know the truth. I just never choose to reply on the subject.
Last edited by raider22 on Thu Dec 10, 2009 8:14 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Post by indoor fan » Fri Dec 11, 2009 1:26 am

The IFL is a second tier minor league to the AF1. Ownership, size of cities, exposure, etc.

1. AF1

2a. IFL
2b. AIFA
2c. CIFL
2d. SIFL

3a. APFL

4a IIFA

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Post by Gene Duryea » Fri Dec 11, 2009 3:21 am

And its not our fault that you obviously don't know what you're talking about.

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Post by mrsummitcitypigskin » Fri Dec 11, 2009 3:28 am

I think we better all be sure this AF1 gets off the ground first,
before we go ranking which league is of a higher tier. I am of
the belief that AF1 should take all of 2010 to organize and then
have a huge debut in 2011. Maybe that would give them some
time to get a TV deal worked out.

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Post by Gene Duryea » Fri Dec 11, 2009 5:19 am

Sitting out for a year would not have been viable. Arena Ball has already lost at least 3 markets because locations have gone ahead and given an arena lease to a team from another league.

Georgia replaced an af2 team with an SIFL team.

San Jose replaced the dormant Saber Cats with The AIFA Wolves

Rapid City Michigan invited the IFL Thunder to come over and replace the AFL Rampage.

They really needed to get something reasonably solid up and running as quickly as possible.

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Post by indoor fan » Fri Dec 11, 2009 1:23 pm

[quote=""Gene Duryea""]And its not our fault that you obviously don't know what you're talking about.[/quote]


?????????????????? I guess the truth hurts.

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Post by phydeaux72 » Fri Dec 11, 2009 2:28 pm

[quote=""indoor fan""]The IFL is a second tier minor league to the AF1. Ownership, size of cities, exposure, etc.[/quote]

Maybe, but just barely. If the IFL could be considered AA, then the AF1 would be considered AA1/2 at best.

Both leagues share about the same ratio of small, medium and large markets. The IFL is simply bigger overall at this point.

And I can tell you this for a fact. About half of the owners in the AF1 have no business being in that league and will lose their asses in the first year. Mark my words.

And I'm sorry, but paying a player a $100 or so more a game hardly gives the AF1 more exposure. You're only fooling yourself if you believe that.
Last edited by phydeaux72 on Fri Dec 11, 2009 2:33 pm, edited 3 times in total.

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The truth?

Post by daytonadan » Fri Dec 11, 2009 3:41 pm

In the grand scheme of sports, we're all fleas on the a$$ of an elephant. All we're doing is fighting to be the biggest, bad, loudest most important trying to position ourselves to suck the most blood.
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