League Attendance Up
July 23, 2002 - Arena Football League (1987-2008) (AFL I) News Release
CHICAGO (July 23, 2002) â The Arena Football League averaged 9,957 fans per game for the 2002 regular season, an increase of 8.8 percent vs. 2001, when the league averaged 9,155 fans per game. It was the highest AFL average attendance since 1999 (10,047).
For the 2002 season, 16 AFL teams combined to draw 1,115,185 fans during the 116-game, 14-week regular season. It was the seventh consecutive season that the AFL attracted more than one million fans to its games.
The expansion Dallas Desperados led the AFL in attendance this season, averaging 13,603 per game at American Airlines Center. The top crowd in 2002 came at America West Arena in Phoenix, Arizona on Friday, July 12, where a sold-out crowd of 17,034 witnessed the Arizona Rattlers knock off the previously-undefeated San Jose SaberCats, 59-52.
TOP FIVE ATTENDED GAMES OF 2002
1. Arizona vs. San Jose, July 12, America West Arena, 17,034
2. Orlando at Dallas, July 20, American Airlines Center, 16,300
3. New Jersey at Tampa Bay, June 15, Ice Palace, 15,394
4. Los Angeles at Dallas, May 4, American Airlines Center, 15,196
5. Arizona vs. Chicago, May 25, America West Arena, 15,007
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Arena Football League (1987-2008) Stories from July 23, 2002
- SaberCats Set Practice Schedule - San Jose SaberCats
- Rampage's Marshall Named AFL's Ironman of Week - Grand Rapids Rampage
- AFL Tabs Week's Top Players - AFL I
- AFL Season in Review - AFL I
- League Attendance Up - AFL I
- Fury Makes Coaching Change - Detroit Fury
- McDaniel Added to All-Star Team - Portland Forest Dragons
- Destroyers Head South For Playoffs - Buffalo Destroyers
- James Back, Mason Waived - Buffalo Destroyers
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