The OSC interview: Arena Football Founder Jim Foster
by Fran Stuchbury
September 1, 2005 - Arena Football League (1987-2008) (AFL I)
Detroit Drive
OurSports Central correspondent Fran Stuchbury had the opportunity to interview AFL founder Jim Foster following the Memphis Xplorers' 63-41 victory in the 2005 ArenaCup. Foster invented the sport while attending an MISL indoor soccer game in Madison Square Garden back in 1986. He is currently the owner of the Quad City Steamwheelers of arenafootball2.
Fran Stuchbury: Were you happy with the first-ever neutral site ArenaCup?
Jim Foster: The whole event came off real well. There is always a risk when you're a young league and do an independent site for a bowl game. I think that Shreveport/Bossier City did a wonderful job. They have a lot of experience with the Independence Bowl, and a lot of people's expertise was brought into play. People had a great experience down here. Not unlike what they had in Las Vegas for ArenaBowl. That was obviously a risk too.
I think that it was great to get the game on television. We truly need more national television for this product. This is a good football league in its sixth year. That is why we needed the ArenaCup on national television, but it did put us in a situation that we had to play Saturday afternoon. There are a lot of people that had other things to do. We sold over 10,000 tickets, but we didn't get them all here. That was a little disappointing to me.
FS: Will the af2 season be moved up in 2006?
JF: That has not been decided yet. We had a board meeting yesterday with the owners and were looking at it. It all depends on the arena availability. A lot of af2 teams share arenas with hockey teams. There could be some problems for af2 teams getting dates with the season moving up.
FS: Do you like the fact the AFL is taking its time with expansion and not rushing teams into the league?
JF: You have to. You have to have quality ownership in the right markets. They have to have the proper funding. It comes down to that you can't throw people into a market and take their check when they don't have all the resources necessary to be an operating team.
They need to take their time to get the pieces in place properly to do it. Commissioner David Baker is taking the right approach. We want to have quality expansion teams, whether its AFL or af2, in the right markets. In the early days it was, "Hey you got a check, you get into the league." It's more than just having a check, it's the resources. These are multiple year investments.
FS: Is there any pressure for the AFL ratings on NBC to improve this season?
JF: Yes, there is always some. You want the ratings to go up, but you have to look at the fact that this is still a new sport on television nationally. Granted we have been on ESPN, but there's a lot of people who had never seen Arena Football until it's been on NBC.
We're still in a growth mode and I'll say this about critical mass, it's about accumulating enough numbers in terms of people having an interest, to start nudging that needle. It takes millions of people to do that, not a couple of thousand.
FS: What should the AFL do to become a better television sport?
JF: I think the biggest thing is to keep doing what we are doing. You have to drive the publicity as hard as you can. You have to reach into your communities, but the af2 is a big part in helping the AFL ratings go up. We're in 20-some markets, granted they're not as big as New York or Philadelphia, and they need to get ratings up in those markets. Of all the af2 cities we are in, they will also be interested in watching the AFL on NBC.
I think one of issues with the league continues to be there is still a lot of traditional sports media that haven't embraced Arena Football. They still look at it as some made for TV game or some sort of a hybrid game that isn't a real sport. I invite them to come to a game and look at the athletes and coaching and say this isn't real football. We still get some resistance, and as a result sometimes we're not getting the kind of credibility and publicity we should get from it.
FS: What are the chances of Des Moines, Iowa, getting an af2 franchise in the near future?
JF: In the process of negotiations right now for next season. Working with former NFL player John Alt, who was a great player at the University of Iowa, and some people locally in a small group. We have alternate plans if that doesn't happen, I would say we would be back in Des Moines in 2006 or 2007, but it will be an af2 team. There are still some people in Des Moines that think it should be in the AFL, and it's not an AFL market. Beautiful new arena, 16,000 seat Wells Fargo Arena, but it's an af2 market no matter what.
If you have any questions or comments about this interview feel free to drop me an email at arenazone@yahoo.com and I will be more than happy to get back to you.
• Discuss this story on the Arena Football League (1987-2008) message board...
Arena Football League (1987-2008) Stories from September 1, 2005
- Todd Shell Resigns As Rattlers Coach - Detroit Drive
- Todd Shell Resigns As Rattlers Coach - Detroit Drive
- Todd Shell Resigns As Rattlers Coach - Arizona Rattlers
- Free agent quarterbacks attract attention - Detroit Drive
- Free agent quarterbacks attract attention - San Jose SaberCats
- Free agent quarterbacks attract attention - Detroit Drive
- Las Vegas Gladiators to hold tryouts - Las Vegas Gladiators
- The OSC interview: Arena Football Founder Jim Foster - OSC Original by Fran Stuchbury
- The OSC interview: Arena Football Founder Jim Foster - OSC Original by Fran Stuchbury
- Rush to host coaching clinic - Chicago Rush
- Storm hold autograph session for those contributing to hurricane relief efforts - Tampa Bay Storm
- Philadelphia Soul announces upcoming dance team auditions - Philadelphia Soul
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.
