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Colorado Crush, rest of AFL unlikely to play in 2009

Players cross fingers on talk of shutdown

By Sam Adams, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published December 9, 2008 at 9:57 p.m.

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The Arena Football League voted not to suspend operations for the upcoming season, meaning there will be Colorado Crush football action.

Photo by Evan Semon © The Rocky

The Arena Football League voted not to suspend operations for the upcoming season, meaning there will be Colorado Crush football action.

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Arena Football League officials are expected to announce before the end of the week the league will suspend play for the 2009 season, the Rocky Mountain News has learned.

That will leave open dates at the Pepsi Center, where the AFL's Colorado Crush has played since 2003.

In summer 2002, the franchise was introduced by former Broncos quarterback John Elway, in a partnership with Broncos owner Pat Bowlen and Kroenke Sports Enterprises owner Stan Kroenke.

Elway, Bowlen and Kroenke could not be reached for comment late Tuesday night.

Earlier this week, the AFL released a statement saying the league is "working on long-term structural improvements."

The league's schedule for 2009 has not been released, and free agency and the dispersal draft have been placed on hold.

Longtime commissioner David Baker resigned earlier this year and the New Orleans franchise was disbanded.

The AFL was founded in 1987 and has 15 organizations. The Crush won the league championship in 2005, beating the Georgia Force 51-48 in Las Vegas.

The Crush went 6-10 last season, finishing third in the Central Division.

It beat the Utah Blaze 49-44 in the first round of the playoffs, then was eliminated the next week with a 64-51 loss to the San Jose SaberCats.

San Jose lost to the Philadelphia Soul 59-56 in the championship game.

"It's just tough," Crush player Delvin Hughley said Monday night at the Denver Sports Fans Choice awards dinner. "I talked to some friends around the league. . . . We don't know. We're under a lot of pressure right now and just don't know what to do.

"Hopefully, we can come out of this thing and everything will be OK."

Comments

  • December 9, 2008

    11:34 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    dirkle writes:

    More of Biff's money down the drain. Hope Janet hid some for herself under the mattress.

  • December 9, 2008

    11:50 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    stoney writes:

    Biff? You should be shot and killed! Respect the great John Elway!

  • December 10, 2008

    12:02 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    mr_jenkins writes:

    The one good thing about a recession, it kills things that we don't need.....

  • December 10, 2008

    4:04 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    LOUIE writes:

    NFL is the only football organization to hold ground and be financially viable. World Football League was a joke, Arena Footbal is not football, it's some type of high bred that ruined the purity of the game. Same with major league baseball, I don't think another organization in the pro ranks would make it. People recognize the difference in that one is truly professional with professional players at the top of the game. The other is cast offs that for whatever reason aren't good enough for the NFL. So they rounded up all the minions of cast off and unwanted pro players and started a league and changed the dynamics to present their own product, and it won't fly, no more than the World Football League. When you say Pro in America, that is a statement saying the best in the business, otherwise it's just another business venture, trying to imitate the real thing. In Denver there is only one Crush, John you were not a part of that era in Bronco history. The Orange Crush, the Iron Curtain of the Steelers, you don't borrow history to write as your own, There is one one professional football organization, the NFL. The rest are carnival side tent attractions that can't cure the "fix" to satisfy the fan's expectation of greatness. College football is better than arena football, we get to see the next NFL bloodlines in the making. Think Tebow wants to play arena football, or the NFL John? Do you see the inferiority of the product? Changing the format to the arena didn't alleviate this perception. Aren't you glad you played in the NFL John verse the Canadian leagues, or Spedding's Denver Gold? NFL gave you greatness unequalled.

  • December 10, 2008

    5:07 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    mrfxx writes:

    I grew up on football. With a dad in the military from a state without a pro team, we rooted for "JohnnyUnitasandtheBaltimoreColts" (one word - as shown) until he was stationed here and decided it was time to root for the home team (Floyd Little was the Broncos at the time). There is something to be said for Arena Football - it's much easier to see some of the finesse involved, since one is sitting much closer to the action and there's a shorter field. That said, when the NFL is cutting 100-150 "support jobs" and entire league is folding (probably because the owners' investments have shrunk just like everyone else's), the economy really is in deep trouble.

  • December 10, 2008

    6:04 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    Father writes:

    Not once in this article was it critical or much less elude to what was wrong with the league to cause it to shut down.

    One can only summize that attendence was way down.

    Is this a PR piece for Eway's franchise?

    Pi$$ poor journalism !!!

  • December 10, 2008

    7:14 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    SheikYurBooty writes:

    Who cares? I never watched lacrosse anyway....

  • December 10, 2008

    7:30 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    ColoNative writes:

    Elway broke? I hardly think so. Arena Football belongs in the same category as WNBA and American Soccer. Smaller market, smaller appeal. Arena being castoffs? Ask the Rams and Cards if Kurt Warner is a cast off. A, AA and AAA all have their place in baseball. Ask Flutie and Moon how non-NFL football affected their lives.

  • December 10, 2008

    7:32 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    MarcoPolo writes:

    The AFL? You mean there's another football league?

  • December 10, 2008

    7:35 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    DisplacedColoradoan writes:

    Uh, LOUIE.... did you read the news yesterday that the NFL is laying off something like 150 people (that's about 15% of their staff)?

    All sports leagues are suffering in this recession because: (1) people without jobs don't tend to go to football games or any other professional sports games, (2) people *with* jobs will hopefully be helping us all out by paying their credit cards and mortgages for awhile instead of putting the tix, beer, and pad thai at the game on that Capital One Broncos MasterCard, and (3) companies who are bleeding money don't have money to pay for advertising.

    Hopefully, at least ticket prices will moderate a bit next year and perhaps the year after.

  • December 10, 2008

    8:03 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    Link writes:

    LOUIE: "High Bred?" More like In Bred.

  • December 10, 2008

    9:15 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    BRNCFAN69 writes:

    For me,
    I dont care if I have to sit on a park bench and watch 60-70 year olds play 7 on 7. Bottom line its football and if I can watch football close to year-round albeit CFL AFL or Pop Warner then I say let them play.........

    Nick

  • December 10, 2008

    9:28 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    BroncosnGA writes:

    This Report is totally false. Not one hour ago the owner of the Orlando Preds Brett Buschi, was on an Orlando radio station saying the leauge is not suspending the season. He is also on the AFL board. He said, and I Quote " If the season was suspended it would be annouced five minutes after the board decided to do it, they would not wait untill later in the week." What is going on is they are postponing the draft and schedule release because the owner of the New Orleans Vodoo pulled out of the leauge. They left because they didn't like the way the divisions were set up, not financial reasons. Infact the voodo were the second highest grossing team in the AFL. For the RMN to run with a story like this is irresponsable and could be a big reason why it won't be around much longer. The only source of this lie is the RMN. No where in the story to they reviel there source.

  • December 10, 2008

    9:55 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    Zim writes:

    RE: LOUIE..... people like you were saying the same thing about the AFL back in the 60s, before the NFL/AFL merger. If everyone listened to people like you, we would never have the Denver Broncos.

    I'm not saying the Arena League is the same thing, but some of us enjoyed it and it was cheap entertainment to take the kids on a Saturday afternoon. In an era of ridiculously expensive ticket prices, it's nice to have sports entertainment venues like the Crush and the Mammoth that you can take the family to without pulling a third mortgage. Hopefully the League will be back.

  • December 10, 2008

    10:29 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    enough321 writes:

    Well, I guess this means the terrorists have won.

  • December 10, 2008

    10:55 a.m.

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    iggypuppet writes:

    Yawn

  • December 10, 2008

    11:01 a.m.

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    jefferson3 writes:

    Maybe his restaurants will fold now, too.

  • December 10, 2008

    11:13 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    chill134 writes:

    AFL? Never heard of it.

  • December 10, 2008

    11:21 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    Outlaw writes:

    It is tough to break into football now. Without TV and the revenue TV brings in, you can not compete. The AFL came in at the right time and survived.

    You actually could compete well with the NFL on talent if you could generate the revenue. But without TV contracts to make money, you can not be competitive.

    Lots of undrafted or released talent that if combined on a team could give some of these current teams a run for their money.

    Rod Smith--undrafted.

    Terrell Davis--7th round pick--no more 7th round anymore.

    Lots of other examples.

    Just not going to happen it today's world.

  • December 10, 2008

    11:30 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    BRNCFAN69 writes:

    USFL had the right idea but hardly any funding for promotion

  • December 10, 2008

    1:01 p.m.

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    BRNCFAN69 writes:

    Bush? How about the ever so greedy owners/players association?