Today I'm taking a look at the American Eastern Division's scheduling for all the teams which include the Cleveland Gladiators, Milwaukee Mustangs, Pittsburgh Power and your Philadelphia Soul. Many of you may be familiar with the NFL schedule and how it contains a systematic approach to it. The NFL consists of 32 teams that play a 16-game schedule in 17 weeks. The AFL now has an 18-game schedule that spans over 20 weeks of play. The number of games that each league plays isn't the biggest difference between these two when it comes to scheduling. What helps the NFL out exponentially is that it's a fairly stable league in it's own right. The NFL has a nice, even number of teams at 32 and their isn't much change that occurs within the league in regards to the addition/subtraction of teams. The AFL on the other hand is still growing which means that clubs will come and go more frequently than in the NFL. The 25-year old AFL is still working to find and capture its audience, especially after the league didn't play it's 2009 season.
With that said, the AFL sits at 17 teams currently and with that comes a weird scheduling quirk. Unlike the NFL, the AFL doesn't schedule the majority of the same opponents for each divisional opponent which creates a somewhat unbalanced schedule for teams vying for the divisional crown. With three divisions of four teams and one division of five teams, this makes "equal" scheduling virtually impossible. That's why 2 out of the 17 teams will not play 9 games at home and 9 games on the road. The ArenaBowl XXIV champion Jacksonville Sharks will play 10 games at home and 8 games away, while the Milwaukee Mustangs (who finished last in the AFL in average attendance last season) will play only 8 games in Milwaukee and 10 games on the road. Talk about kicking a guy while he's down. In a move that I can only see as boosting the AFL's total attendance in the regular season, the Mustangs look as if their facing an uphill climb for survival. The Mustangs in addition to playing one less game at home will also have the pleasure of playing out the Eastern Division's toughest schedule by far.
Philadelphia Soul:
Six Divisional Games - Gladiators, Mustangs, and Power -> Home & Away
Four teams playing against twice - Predators, Sharks, Shock, and Storm -> Home & Away
Four teams playing once - Blaze (H), Force (A), SaberCats (H), & VooDoo (A)
Five teams not playing - Barnstormers, Command, Rattlers, Rush, and Talons.
Strength of Schedule -> 164-160 [2011's combined record for the Soul's 2012 opponents]
Home -> 83-79
Away -> 81-81
11 different 2012 opponents -> 5 of them were 2011 playoff teams.
Cleveland Gladiators:
Six Divisional Games - Mustangs, Power, and Soul -> Home & Away
Three teams playing against twice - Predators, Sharks, and Storm -> Home & Away
Six teams playing once - Barnstormers (A), Blaze (A), Command (H), Force (A), Rush (H), & VooDoo (H)
Four teams not playing - Rattlers, SaberCats, Shock, and Talons
Strength of Schedule -> 155-169 [2011's combined record for the Gladiators' 2012 opponents]
Home -> 70-92
Away -> 85-77
12 different 2012 opponents -> 4 of them were 2011 playoff teams.
Milwaukee Mustangs:
Six Divisional Games - Gladiators, Power, and Soul -> Home & Away
Two teams playing against twice - Rattlers, and Rush -> Home & Away
Eight teams playing once - Blaze (H), Force (H), Predators (A), SaberCats (H), Sharks (A), Shock (A), Storm (A), & VooDoo (A)
Three teams not playing - Barnstormers, Command, and Talons
Strength of Schedule -> 179-145 [2011's combined record for the Mustangs' 2012 opponents]
Home -> 81-63
Away -> 98-82
13 different 2012 opponents -> 7 of them were 2011 playoff teams.
Pittsburgh Power:
Six Divisional Games - Gladiators, Mustangs and Soul -> Home & Away
Three teams playing against twice - Barnstormers, Force and Predators -> Home & Away
Six teams playing once - Command (H), Rattlers (A), Sharks (H), Storm (H), Talons (A), & VooDoo (A)
Four teams not playing - Blaze, Rush, SaberCats, and Shock
Strength of Schedule -> 154-170 [2011's combined record for the Power's 2012 opponents]
Home -> 77-85
Away -> 77-85
12 different 2012 opponents -> 5 of them were 2011 playoff teams.
The Mustangs' schedule is loaded with gretat 2011 teams including every team that qualified for last year's playoffs (the Dallas Vigilantes disbanded). The Soul has a pretty good schedule full of some great Home & Away match-ups against four prominent AFL franchises. The Gladiators and the Power come out virtually tied for the lowest strength of schedule in the Eastern Division.
Here's my early 2012 Eastern Division Projections:
1.) Philadelphia Soul -> Just too much talent to not win the East.
2.) Pittsburgh Power -> I have the Power at percentage points to a game better in the standings than #3.
3.) Cleveland Gladiators -> Still a winning team even though I see the Soul & Power moving past them in the standings.
4.) Milwaukee Mustangs -> The only team I feel that will end 2012 with a losing record. That schedule is just too brutal to overcome.
Use this as your keeping track of the Soul and their fellow Eastern Division opponents throughout the season. Remember, just because a schedule looks a certain way, it doesn't mean that it'll necessarily turn out that way by season's end. With the amount of changes that take place among AFL team's rosters, anything can happen.
Here's the NFL Network Schedule for the Eastern Division (Games start 8:00 PM Eastern Time):
Week 1: Pittsburgh Power at Orlando Predators
Week 3: Philadelphia Soul at Pittsburgh Power
Week 7: Tampa Bay Storm at Philadelphia Soul
Week 10: Cleveland Gladiators at Milwaukee Mustangs
Week 13: Cleveland Gladiators at Iowa Barnstormers
Week 14: Pittsburgh Power at Cleveland Gladiators
Week 16: Arizona Rattlers at Milwaukee Mustangs
Week 17: Milwaukee Mustangs at Cleveland Gladiators
Week 18: Milwaukee Mustangs at Jacksonville Sharks
Week 19: Cleveland Gladiators at Utah Blaze
Week 20: Jacksonville Sharks at Pittsburgh Power
Appearances on NFL Network by team:
Soul: 2
Mustangs: 4
Power: 4
Gladiators: 5
Teams in the Eastern Division are shown on the NFL Network 11 out of the 20 weeks (an AFL high), including 5 straight games to end the season. The AFL gave the 2011 Eastern Division champions some recognition by broadcasting them a league tying 5 times nationally. The Soul were left with only two appearances on the network after their disappointing 6-12 season. Despite getting the short end of the stick scheduling wise, the Mustangs are nationally broadcasted 4 times this upcoming season along with the Power. To put all of this into perspective, the Jacksonville Sharks make 4 appearances on the network this season. How Cleveland got more than them is mind boggling to say the least. It's clear that despite being the league's worst division in 2011, that the East is getting picked up by the NFL Network the most because of their favorable timezone. Which is good for us in the Eastern Division, but bad when you're looking for variety within the AFL. I would like it if the NFL Network picked up the league's better teams so that the AFL is represented well on a national level.
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