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December 15, 2008
Arena Football League cancels 2009 season
AP via Yahoo! Sports
The pro sports recession is deepening.
The Arena Football League canceled its 2009 season Monday pending an agreement with its players union. The decision throws the future of the 22-year-old league into question just days after it said next season had not been suspended.
The AFL’s owners voted against playing next year during a conference call Sunday night. It was unclear what had changed since the league issued a statement Wednesday night that said the 2009 season had not been suspended “despite rumors and reports to the contrary.”
The league said in Monday’s statement it was “developing a long-term plan to improve its economic model.”
...The AFL’s woes come at a time when the world of sports, once thought to be largely recession-proof, has felt the economic chill. The NFL has said it would cut 150 jobs, while the NBA and NASCAR also have laid off dozens of workers. The NHL is in a hiring freeze while the Internet operation for Major League Baseball also has trimmed positions.
NoLandGrab: Two of the Arena League's franchises, Philadelphia and Tampa Bay, had higher average attendance this year than the Nets — at a fraction of the overhead.
Posted by eric at December 15, 2008 12:47 PM