LITTLE ROCK — The Arkansas Twisters will be one of the founding members of a new indoor football league formed from the ashes of the Arena Football League and Arena Football 2.
A news conference was held Monday at the Crown Plaza hotel in downtown Tulsa, announcing the formation of Arena Football 1. Jerry Kurtz, the new league's commissioner, announced that 16 teams had already signed on and been approved by the Tulsabased league to begin play in April. Kurtz has been AF2 commissioner since 2003.
Bossier-Shreveport owner Dan Duban, whose BattleWings will be one of the 16 teams, announced the other 15 signed on to play: Arkansas; Chicago; Des Moines, Iowa; Fresno, Calif.; Huntsville, Ala; Jacksonville, Fla.; Kennewick, Wash.; Lexington, Ky.; Milwaukee; Oklahoma City; Orlando, Fla.; Phoenix; Spokane, Wash.; Salt Lake City; and Tulsa.
"We're really excited about this move, and we view it as a move up," Arkansas Twisters owner Jim Smith said. "I'm not sure how many of our fans in Little Rock knew the difference between the AFL and AF2, but we think this is going to be a great improvement."
The Twisters, a charter member of AF2, completed their 10th AF2 season Aug. 1, losing in the playoffs.
Kurz, who has been involved with AF2 since its creation in 1999, said the struggles of the AFL forced action. The AFL canceled its 2009 season and declared bankruptcy in August. Several owners have talked about resuming play in 2011, but Kurz said he isn't so sure.
"[There's not a] snowball's chance in a warm room," Kurz said when asked if he was concerned about the possibility of the AFL resuming play in two years.
"Arena football has been done before, but we're going to do it better this time. The pay structure in other leagues forced us to go to the drawing board and start over. You can't pay out more money than you bring in. I think we've found a structure that works and will make this a successful league."
Only four markets that had AFL teams were among the 16 announced Monday: Chicago, Iowa, Orlando and Salt Lake City. But, Kurz said that he sees the possibility of more former AFL teams joining the league. An announcement on additional teams is planned for Oct. 9. The Arizona Rattlers and Orlando Predators played in the AFL. The new league's Chicago and Salt Lake City teams did not.
Smith said it was his understanding that eight other teams had applied and that there were "several more" that would apply before the Oct. 9 announcement.
"I think that we'll have a much better idea of how things are going to work after that date," Smith said.
The commissioner also declined to comment on the pay structure, a draft or any other structural aspects of the new league.
"We're meeting this afternoon to discuss all of those things with our league owners, and we'll have a lot more to talk about in the coming weeks," Kurz said.
Smith said he imagined the pay would be in line with what AF2 players were paid - somewhere between $200 and $400 a week.
"All that stuff is still up in the air," Smith said. "I think we'll know more in a couple of weeks.
"The important thing is that the Arkansas Twisters will be playing in 2010 and we'll be a part of a new, exciting indoor football league."
Sports, Pages 13, 17 on 09/29/2009