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AFL I Arena Football League (1987-2008)

The OSC Interview: AFL Commissioner David Baker

by Fran Stuchbury
January 20, 2006 - Arena Football League (1987-2008) (AFL I)


OurSports Central correspondent Fran Stuchbury had the opportunity to speak to Arena Football League Commissioner David Baker at the Philadelphia Soul media day at Wachovia Spectrum. Baker has been the commissioner of the AFL since 1997.

Fran Stuchbury: How is the health of the AFL right now?

David Baker: I don't think there's any doubt it's ever been stronger. We have two new teams, the Utah Blaze and the Kansas City Brigade. I think we got outstanding ownership with eight NFL owners, four NBA owners, and a couple of NHL owners. We have Hall of Famers like John Elway, a rock star in Jon Bon Jovi and also Mike Ditka and Tim McGraw. It's a real solid ownership going forward.

Our 20th season is something special because this is three times as long as any other professional football league in the United States other than the NFL. I think the fact that we have EA Sports coming out with a video game February 7th says a lot about the future of Arena Football.

FS: With NBC only broadcasting 13 out of 20 weeks, are they committed to broadcasting beyond this season?

DB: I think that's what we're going see. Next week we're going to be adding a cable partner for this season. That will give us about 92% of our games on NBC, Fox Sports Net or a national cable carrier. That is by far more networks and more games, making us more money than we ever had before. I also think that puts us in a good position for the future.

FS: How successful has the Philadelphia franchise been for the AFL?

DB: I think they have been great. They are number one in attendance. I remember when John Elway came in and we talked about the fact it takes three years for an expansion franchise to become its own team.

The first year, you are looking for guys out there who can run the 40 fast. The second year, you find there were some guys that didn't fit and you want to remove them. The third year, you fill in and it kind of becomes the character of your league.

The Crush only won two games that first year, none of them at home. Certainly the Soul has done better than that there first year and their second and Elway won the third year, the entire thing. I think this is a big year for Philadelphia. I also think it's a great ownership group. Jon Bon Jovi is a guy that loves his players, who loves the game, who loves this team. You add to that Craig Spencer, a successful businessman here in the area, and Ron Jaworski who obviously loves Philadelphia football.

All I feel you need here is more time, because they are off to a tremendous start.

FS: Does the AFL need these high profile people like Bon Jovi and John Elway, people to bring in more fans?

DB: Its not that I value the big name, what I value is the big heart. These guys work at it, love it, care for it and bust their tails. When you have Jerry Jones, Pat Bowlen and Arthur Blank, these are guys who invest in success, and they see it being successful. What really helps us is how committed they are.

FS: How much bigger do you want the AFL to get?

DB: In the last six years, we had nine expansion teams, we're about to consider a 10th at our next meeting. In addition to that we have teams in San Francisco and Washington DC who could be joining the league in the next two years.

We also have 23 af2 teams out there, now that's about 35 teams in the last six years. I think we could eventually have 28-32 AFL teams, maybe with a little influence from Europe and the Pacific Rim.

The only difference between the New York Dragons flying to Los Angeles to play the Avengers versus London is another 20-30 minutes. I think we can have 100 af2 teams out there, in places like Albany, Bakersfield, Little Rock and Birmingham, which are going great.

FS: Are you disappointed the past four years there haven't been an increase in television ratings on NBC? Is it due to NBC's lack of promotion?

DB: Frankly what I'm thankful for is there have been 60 million people who have watched Arena Football. While our ratings may not have been increased, they're still a lot better than 18 or 19 other leagues, some that are doing real well. The fact of the matter is, you look at a league like NASCAR, and they seem like an overnight success but they're 57 years old, and their fist television network race was in 1979. It took that long to grow.

The NFL is 88 years old, MLB is 120 years old, and the NBA is 60. We're in our 20th season. For the NFL ,an interesting stat, when they began in 1920, they had 14 teams. Twenty years later, like ours, I think they were down to 10 teams and they had 49 fail. Forty-five years later they climbed up to 15 teams just before the merger with the American Football League, so I think we are way ahead of the curve for where we are at.

FS: What is the future of ArenaBowl? Will it go to other cities than Las Vegas?

DB: We have two more one-year contracts, this year and next year. We'll review this year. After that there is potential to move it around. Our board was basically looking at New Orleans as potentially the next place where it would happen, but due to Hurricane Katrina, they made it a priority to do so when it is logistically and economically feasible.

FS: Are you disappointed with the lack of media respect the AFL is getting? Fox Net doesn't have an AFL section on their website but they are your broadcast partner.

DB: How long have you been covering Arena Football?

FS: About 10 years.

DB: It's come a long way in 10 years. The issue for me, is how we can keep growing. Now that we have 92% of our games on television, to me how can we get Fox Sports, how can we get ESPN to put it on there, how can we get CBS Sportsline to put it on there and that's going happen because of the fans and a lot of guys at ArenaFan are going make that happen.

FS: Did you enjoy your time when you were an owner of the Anaheim Piranhas?

DB: I loved it, I still wish I was an owner.

FS: Down the road when you are not Commissioner of the AFL, would you be interested in getting back involved as an AFL owner?

DB: Down the road I think I'm going be watching my son play and hopefully be coaching my grand kids.

If you have any questions or comments feel free to drop me an email at arenazone@yahoo.com and I will be more than happy to get back to you.



Arena Football League (1987-2008) Stories from January 20, 2006


The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer(s), and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.


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