2008 was a difficult year for the Arena Football League.
The year started out well enough. Attendance during the 2008 season was up 4%, while ESPN2 saw a 17% increase in viewership for regular season games. Ratings were also up during the playoffs. ESPN saw big increases for the AFL’s Conference Championship games, while ABC drew the highest rating for the Arena Bowl in three years.
There were other positive trends for the league. For the first time in history, the Arena Bowl had a title sponsor — Virgin Mobile. In July, Commissioner David Baker said the league was “looking at expansion.” There was even talk of an outdoor game at Citizens Bank Park. The sky seemed to be the limit.
But by the end of the year, reality crept in. Prior to the Arena Bowl, Commissioner Baker stepped down after a 12-year tenure. In October, another bombshell: the New Orleans Voodoo, “considered one of the stronger franchises in the AFL“, ceased operations. The team had the fifth highest attendance in the AFL in 2008, and was one year removed from setting an AFL record for season ticket sales.
Shortly after that, AFL owners approved a deal with Platinum Equity, in which the company would take a majority stake in the league worth $100 million and assume management control. The deal was to be finalized by December 1.
The final blow to the AFL in 2008 came in December. Reports began circulating early in the month that the AFL would require an “infusion of money” in order to survive. Events such as the dispersal draft for the New Orleans Voodoo and the release of the 2009 schedule were postponed. The deal with Platinum Equity had apparently fallen through, and several of the league’s owners were not willing to play another season with what they viewed as a bad business model. Those who owned both AFL and NFL teams were especially hesitant.
After an initial meeting of the AFL Board of Directors did not result in a vote to cancel the season, a second meeting on December 14 rendered the necessary votes to shutter the 2009 AFL season. Several marquee owners said “they would not return in 2009” — and ESPN was allegedly unwilling to televise a league with six or seven teams. As a result, the Arena Football League will next play games — if at all — at the start of the next decade.
As if this was not enough, the day after the AFL voted to cancel its season, former rightsholder NBC filed a lawsuit against the league for unpaid advertising revenue from the ’06 season.
Overall, the AFL had arguably the worst year of any sport in 2008. And unlike the other sports, it does not even have 2009 to look forward to.
