Arena Football Strike Recap

The AFL "Starts" it's 25th Anniversary Season

If you didn't already hear, the start of the AFL's 25th anniversary season went off with a bang, but not the kind the league was hoping for. Friday night's contest between the Orlando Predators and Pittsburgh Power at Orlando went awry just hours before kickoff as the players went on strike prompting both teams to resort to mostly replacement players. The Power released their entire 24-man roster while the Predators also placed their entire roster on recallable assignment.

The Predators started the game with three players who were on their opening day roster; the Power had six. The rest consisted on replacement players who definitively didn't display their ability to provide the fans with "high quality" play as Brett Bouchy previously declared. The first quarter started in a 0-0 tie and the game only picked up after some regular players started crossing the picket line. The game ended in a 40-26 Power victory, sending 13,000 plus fans home after an official contest play like an exhibition game.

Then just as quickly as it began, the work stoppage ended Saturday morning. Players were instructed to return to work and the AFL's Saturday night match-ups went off without a hitch. But for a union that stood tall "together", it was the Predators that paid the price. The team sacrificed a loss in return for a slightly better deal in which they had no control over. They along with the Power were blind sided by the strike and their immediate dismissal from Friday's game. The Power got the win while the home team along with their fans were robbed off a potential victory and the chance to start off the season on a positive note.

Hopefully Friday night's events won't affect the Predators' future attendance in a city where they've always welcomed the game of arena football, but you never know after such an embarrassing start along with all the Bouchy nonsense. This is not the same league of four years ago and this is definitively not the "Year of the Fan" after the display shown on Friday night and the days prior to the game.