Before I can go into the Soul's Eastern Division of the American Conference, I thought I'd start out by getting everyone acquainted with the 17 current franchises of the AFL. Many of these you'll probably recognize from watching the Soul play from 2004-2008 and in 2011. I'll just give you guys a quick history of each team and how they've been performing since the AFL was reinstated in 2010.
Here's the league's Standings in 2010, the AFL first season back after not playing a 2009 campaign.
-American Conference-
Southern Division
1. Jacksonville Sharks 12-4 (Expansion Team)
2. Tampa Bay Storm 11-5 (AFL Franchise)
3. Orlando Predators 8-8 (AFL Franchise)
4. Alabama Vipers 7-9 (AF2 Franchise->Known previously as Tennessee Valley Vipers)
Southwest Division
1. Tulsa Talons 10-6 (AF2 Franchise)
2. Oklahoma City Yard Dawqz 6-10 (AF2 Franchise)
3. Dallas Vigilantes 3-13 (AFL Franchise->Known previously as Dallas Desperados)
4. Bossier-Shreveport Battlewings 3-13 (AF2 Franchise)
-National Conference-
Midwest Division
1. Milwaukee Iron 11-5 (AF2 Franchise)
2. Chicago Rush 10-6 (AFL Franchise)
3. Cleveland Gladiators 7-9 (AFL Franchise)
4. Iowa Barnstormers 7-9 (AF2 Franchise)
Western Division
1. Spokane Shock 13-3 (AF2 Franchise)
2. Arizona Rattlers 10-6 AFL Franchise)
3. Utah Blaze 2-14 (AFL Franchise)
The Season resulted with the Spokane Shock (a dominant AF2 franchise that won the AF2's Arena Cup in 2006 and 2009) defeating the AFL's longtime Tampa Bay Storm franchise 69 to 57 in Arena Bowl XXIII. Evidence enough of how the AFL was able to combine the two leagues while keeping the playing field equal between large and small markets.
The 2010 season saw (7) former AFL franchises, (7) former AF2 franchises, and (1) expansion team make up the AFL's newly transformed league.
The AFL's 2010 regular season attendance sat at 976,307 total fans who came out to watch the AFL with the Tampa Bay storm having the highest avg. (15,237 per game) and the Bossier-Shreveport Battlewings having the lowest avg. (3,967 per game). The league saw a per game average of 8,135 people.
After its first year the league saw even more changes occur as many different franchises folded, moved or re-entered the league for the 2011 season.
We'll start off with the 2010 teams that did not come back:
Bossier-Shreveport Battlewings->Folded
Oklahoma City Yard Dawgz->Folded
Alabama Vipers->Moved to Georgia to reinstate the Georgia Force (a previous AFL franchise)
The franchises that re-entered the league:
Kansas City Command
Philadelphia Soul
New Orleans Voodoo
San Jose SaberCats
The expansion franchises:
Pittsburgh Power
Other changes:
Milwaukee "Iron" -> became Milwaukee "Mustangs"
Now the AFL had 18 teams for 2011. Here's the standings from this past season:
-American Conference-
Eastern Division
1. Cleveland Gladiators 10-8
2. Pittsburgh Power 9-9
3. Milwaukee Mustangs 7-11
4. Philadelphia Soul 6-12
Southern Division
1. Jacksonville Sharks 14-4
2. Georgia Force 11-7
3. Orlando Predators 11-7
4. Tampa Bay Storm 7-11
5. New Orleans Voodoo 3-15
-National Conference-
Central Division
1. Chicago Rush 13-5
2. Dallas Vigilantes 11-7
3. Tulsa Talons 8-10
4. Kansas City Command 6-12
5. Iowa Barnstormers 5-13
Western Division
1. Arizona Rattlers 16-2
2. Spokane Shock 9-9
3. Utah Blaze 9-9
4. San Jose SaberCats 7-11
The season ended with the Jacksonville Sharks winning a thriller over the Arizona Rattlers after a last second touchdown gave the Sharks the lead and the win in Arena Bowl XXIV.
The League divided the 18 clubs in half (9 teams in each Conference) while also expanding the regular season by two games. 2010 saw 16 games played in 18 weeks while 2011 had 18 games played in 20 weeks. The playoff system went untouched as the league realigned the divisions to cater to the mass amount of franchise changes.
With 3 smaller markets folding/moving and 6 bigger markets joining/rejoining the AFL (not to mention the addition of two more regular season games for each team) the AFL saw a leap in overall regular season attendance with 1,330,419 total patrons attending AFL games. The average attendance for each game however, didn't change much as only 128 more people attended each game for a 8,263 per game average.
The Orlando Predators had the highest avg. (12,701 per game) and the Milwaukee Mustangs had the lowest avg. (3,953 per game).
If you're wondering how the Soul did last season here it is:
The Philadelphia Soul drew a total of 88,220 people to their 9 home games for an average of 9,802 fans per game. That's far off their 19,000 plus capacity at the Wells Fargo Center, but they finished on a high note as their last home game of the season against the Pittsburgh Power drew an announced 16,429 fans. During their championship campaign in 2008, the Soul never drew less than 14,000 to a regular season game. It had been 2 years since arena football was played in Philadelphia and starting the 2011 season off with 4 straight road games and 6 of 7 overall on the road didn't help matters much. The Soul went 2-5 during that span while winning at home only 4 times all season. Started out losing their first two home games before winning their third over the Georgia Force 68 to 49 which put the Soul at 3-6 on the season at that point. A season low 7,551 watched the Soul's first home victory. The attendance steadily increased for the last 6 home games as the Soul started to win some games at home.
I'm confident that the Soul's attendance will improve upon itself for the 2011 season. The city of Philadelphia just needs time to remember how much enjoyment can be had at Soul games again as it provides a great family atmosphere without losing any of the intensity that makes football so great.
Here's the franchise changes that are happening for the 2012 season:
"Tulsa" Talons -> becoming "San Antonio" Talons
Dallas Vigilantes -> Suspended Operations
That's about it for now. My next entry will delve into the Eastern Division while giving you my thoughts on whether or not the Soul can win it. Prepare for some 2011 season analysis as well!
No comments:
Post a Comment