Arena Football League votes to cancel 2009 season

The Arena Football League earlier this week ended speculation about its short and longterm viability by announcing that they will cancel the 2009 season.  While the AFL management is pinning most of the blame on the current economic environment there are far more pervasive problems with the league’s business model and cost structure that they’re hoping to address much in the same way that the NHL did during their “lockout” season.

Even before the decision was made to cancel the 2009 season, it had been a tumultuous off-season for the Arena Football League.  It began with the resignation of long time AFL commissioner David Baker just two days before the Arena Bowl championship game.  Though Baker put a positive spin on his resignation saying that he felt it was “time”, the timing was curious.   Imagine the symbolic weight of the gesture were David Stern to resign right before the NBA finals, or Roger Goodell to step down before the Superbowl—even though Baker insisted that it the decision was strictly for personal reasons it doesn’t exactly send a positive signal about the stability of the league.

In October, the owner of the New Orleans VooDoo announced that the team would cease operations—despite being one of the league leaders in attendance.  In announcing that the team would fold, owner Tom Benson (who also owns the NFL Saints) suggested that the end of the five year old franchise was in no way an indictment of the New Orleans market.  Instead, he cryptically explained that it was due to “circumstances currently affecting the league and the team."

With a dispersal draft planned to reassign the VooDoo personnel, uncertainty began to reign over the league’s future.  The dispersal draft was scheduled and postponed several times amid assurances from the AFL office that rumors of financial instability were unfounded.  The most recent announcement finally put all of the speculation to rest.

What’s uncertain now is the real reason behind the decision.  It would be easy to write off the AFL as a fad that hung on past its Andy Warhol assured “fifteen minutes”, but by most metrics of success that wasn’t the case.  It had gained greater national exposure on ESPN, and both attendance and viewership of the product was steady or on the rise.  The current economic downturn is definitely a challenge for every professional sport league, but to pull the plug based on that alone is like making funeral plans at the onset of a runny nose

Given the league’s commitment to returning in 2010, the more likely scenario is that the league simply needs to get a handle on various aspects of the business.  A major problem is skyrocketing player salaries, and some sort of compensation system tied to team revenues is a certainty if the league does return.  There are other inefficiencies that need to be addressed such as coordinating the marketing efforts of the individual teams with the league as a whole.  A year long hiatus would also allow the league to seek new investors and corporate sponsorship arrangements.

It may be the case that the AFL chose to address these problems during a difficult economic environment for the simple reason of public perception—with so many other businesses and industries experiencing difficulties the league is able to get their financial house in order without the public questioning the viability of the sport.  With this arrangement, the public will likely be more forgiving and view the “year off” as a proactive step to address the changing realities of the marketplace.

At the very least, it’ll be a full year without the “fifty yard indoor war”.  The Arena Football League, its players and fans are hoping that it won’t be the end of the road for the twenty two year old sport.