af2's ninth season opens March 28
November 20, 2007 - arenafootball2 (af2) News Release
CHICAGO - arenafootball2 (af2) opens its ninth season March 28, 2008 with 11 games over three days. The af2's opening weekend includes a number of interesting contests, highlighted by the introduction of Arena Football to the fans of Lexington, Ky. On Saturday, March 29, the expansion Lexington Horsemen host the expansion Daytona Beach ThunderBirds. In all, the league's first weekend will feature three of the five teams that are part of the af2's 2008 expansion class.
"This schedule encompasses the best af2 has to offer in terms of competition, rivalry and balance," says af2 President Jerry Kurz. "We're excited by the addition of five new teams to our league family and feel that this, our ninth season, will be our most competitive and most entertaining ever."
WEEK 1 (All times ET)
Friday, March 28, 2008
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton at Quad City 8:30 p.m.
Stockton at Tri-Cities 10:00 p.m.
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Iowa at Louisville 7:05 p.m.
Albany at Mahoning Valley 7:05 p.m.
Daytona Beach at Lexington 7:30 p.m.
Corpus Christi at Austin 8:00 p.m.
Amarillo at Tulsa 8:00 p.m.
Central Valley at Bossier-Shreveport 8:05 p.m.
South Georgia at Tennessee Valley 8:30 p.m.
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Spokane at Green Bay 2:30 p.m.
Rio Grande Valley at Texas 4:00 p.m.
Bye: Arkansas, Boise, Florida, Iowa, Lubbock, Manchester, Oklahoma City, Peoria
Kicking off the season on Friday, March 28 is one of the league's founding members, the Quad City Steamwheelers, who play host to the 2007 ArenaCup runner-up Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Pioneers at 8:30 p.m. ET. Other highlights of the Week 1 slate include another new league addition, the Austin Wranglers, who host the Corpus Christi Sharks on Saturday, March 29 at 8:00 p.m. ET.
A few other notable matchups on the 2008 schedule include:
The defending ArenaCup Champion Tulsa Talons host the Amarillo Dusters on Saturday, March 29 at 8:00 ET at the Tulsa Convention Center. This will be the Talons first contest since their 73-66 ArenaCup8 victory over Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on August 25 at the CenturyTel Center in Bossier City, La.
The Lexington Horsemen at the Louisville Fire in Week 5 on Saturday, April 26 at 7:05 p.m. ET at Freedom Hall. This will be the first of three meetings between the two teams in 2008. This matchup should quickly develop into quite a yearly rivalry as the new Midwest Division opponents are less than 80 miles apart. The Kentucky Wildcats and Louisville Cardinals, athletic programs for the two largest universities in Kentucky, are also intense sport rivals and the fans of each area tend to not like each other very much.
The expansion Daytona Beach ThunderBirds host their instant in-state rivals, the Florida Firecats, one of the most successful af2 franchises in league history, in Week 4 on Sunday, April 20 at 3:00 p.m. ET at the Ocean Center. This will be the first of three meetings between the two teams in 2008.
Each team will play a total of 16 games (eight home/eight away). The alignment consists of the American and National Conference with three divisions per conference. The East, Midwest and South Divisions fall into the American Conference, while the Central, Southwest and West compose the National Conference. Fourteen (14) teams make up the American Conference and fifteen (15) make up the National Conference. The addition of five new teams for 2008 created the need for the divisions to be adjusted from 2007. They are as follows:
American Conference
SOUTH MIDWEST EAST
Daytona Beach Green Bay Albany
Florida Iowa Mahoning Valley
South Georgia Lexington Manchester
Tennessee Valley Louisville Wilkes-Barre/Scranton
Quad City
Peoria
National Conference
CENTRAL SOUTHWEST WEST
Amarillo Austin Boise
Arkansas Bossier-Shreveport Central Valley
Lubbock Corpus-Christi Spokane
Oklahoma City Texas Stockton
Tulsa Rio Grande Valley Tri-Cities
Optimal Planning Solutions Inc. (www.optimalplanning.com) assisted the af2 in producing the 2008 schedule. OPS is the leading provider of optimization-based professional sports-league scheduling.
The league's 18-week, 232-game regular season schedule concludes on July 26.
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The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.
