After a stay of execution on Wednesday, the Arena Football League’s 2009 season is almost officially dead.
Multiple outlets report that the AFL board of directors voted to cancel the 2009 season in a conference call last night, “so the financially troubled league could fix its economic model.” The decision still has to be approved by the players association, which has gone as far as offering to lower the salary cap in order to keep the season alive.
According to an anonymous source cited by the Cleveland Plain-Dealer, several “big-name owners or teams in big-name cities said they would not return in 2009“, including the defending champion Philadelphia Soul, Georgia Force, Chicago Rush and Cleveland Gladiators. Also among the teams were the Dallas Desperados and Colorado Crush, whose owners — the NFL’s Jerry Jones and Pat Bowlen, respectively — were apparently “pushing hardest to suspend league operations for 2009.”
According to the Plain-Dealer‘s source, the “deal-breaker was ESPN saying it would not televise a six-, seven- or eight-team league.”
At least 12 votes were required to cancel the season. On Wednesday, the vote was 10-7, meaning 10 of the 17 votes were in favor of canceling the season. At least two teams changed their vote last night — the Chicago Rush, and another unnamed team.
Though the league plans to return in 2010, some are skeptical. Orlando Predators coach Jay Gruden told the Orlando Sentinel, “I don’t know many other leagues that have taken a break and come back.” At least two players told the Cleveland Plain-Dealer that they “doubted the league would come back in 2010 if 2009 was scrapped.”
