OFFENSE-MINDED FANS GET A NEW SPORT : ARENA FOOTBALL : Players Hit, Throw, Catch and Chase Bouncing Ball

Indoor, eight-man Arena Football is an idea whose time came this summer.

In a new league, members of four made-for-television teams have been bouncing the ball off a net and throwing it around a 50-yard field.

They look like football players. They hit and throw and catch like football players. And their philosophy is familiar: The better teams are those with the best pass rush and most pass protection.

But does anybody care?

That depends on whom you ask. Most viewers have reacted in one or more of five different ways.

Of the new league they say:

--There’s too much scoring and too little running.

--It’s hard to get interested in a game when you don’t know the teams or the players.

--But the tall, wide nets at the two ends of the field have injected an exciting new note. The ball remains in play when kicked or thrown into a net, making this a new kind of football.

--As a game, this one has a built-in, irreparable weakness: The tiny field makes it impossible to play solid, traditional, 80-yard-drive football.

--Still, the obvious skills of the new league’s passers and receivers make up for a lot of faults. Arena Football is a pass-offense game, and the quarterbacks and receivers have proven to be unusually adept.

This hasn’t surprised Sid Gillman, the Hall of Famer who formerly coached the Rams, San Diego Chargers and other pro clubs.

“The (Arena Football League) is a little folks’ league,” Gillman said. “And they have a lot of (passing) talent because so much of it comes up now from (college football’s) Division II.

“These passers aren’t big enough for the (National Football League), but they have the same kind of arm strength, accuracy and everything else--including a bunch of clever little receivers. I’ve enjoyed watching them.”

So have at least some of the sports fans in the four AFL cities, Washington, Pittsburgh, Chicago and Denver.

“Crowds are averaging about 11,000 in arenas that seat about 15,000,” AFL President Jim Foster said. “We’d hoped for 8,000.”

On national television, ratings averaged 1.9 going into Saturday’s Pittsburgh-Denver game. “That’s 50% over our prime-time summer average for other sports,” ESPN spokesman Mike Soltys said.

But it isn’t enough to prompt ESPN to televise the remainder of the league’s schedule. The next and last AFL game on television this year will be the Arena Bowl for the championship Aug. 1.

“We had a prior commitment to do the Olympic festival next week,” Soltys said.

Question: Who has been watching Arena Football?

Answer: Fall football fans, mainly.

Said AFL spokesman Jeremiah Enright: “We’re appealing to the guy who wants to see a college game Saturday and then pro games Sunday and Monday.”

Q: Can the AFL succeed?

A: “I think it has a chance,” said TV commentator Beano Cook. “Don’t compare it with the NFL. Take it for what it is.”

Q: What’s the matter with it?

A: “They’ll have to (find a way to) get more running into the game,” Cook said.

Q: What do TV fans object to?

A: Some say touchdowns are too cheap. Scores are reaching 55-48 and even 73-57.

An NFL club executive said: “The only thing wrong with the NBA is that they score too much, and I think these people do, too.”

No one affiliated with the NFL would comment for the record.

Q: What’s the best thing about Arena Football?

A: Every spectator mentions the entertainment value of the net.

“You know, a football bounces funny anyhow,” said reader Norton G. Beach of Encino. “It’s a lot of fun watching them scramble for the ball when it bounces off the net.”

Q: What, exactly, is the net?

A: At each game there are, in all, four nets, which hang over the end lines.

The goal posts are in the middle, with a net on each side.

The nets are each 30-feet wide by 32-feet tall. They actually rise 40 feet because they only extend down to a point 8 feet above the end lines.

Q: On what sort of play is the net most commonly involved?

A: On a missed field goal. In this league, field goals are about twice as hard to kick as they are in the NFL, where the 18-foot crossbar is 10-feet high.

Arena Football uses a 9-foot crossbar that is 15 feet high.

Some 10 or 12 times a night, a missed field goal, or a kickoff, or a deflected pass hits a net and drops wildly. It can then be legally fielded by a player on either team.

Q: What’s the biggest difference between NFL and AFL rules?

A: Zone pass defense isn’t allowed in AFL games. Nor is double-teaming. In Arena Football, receivers can only be covered man-for-man--and this makes an enormous difference between these and NFL games.

Q: Why?

A: It is an NFL maxim that good cornerbacks can’t consistently single-cover good wide receivers, and this has also proved to be the case in the AFL. It’s one of the principal reasons why there are so many AFL touchdowns.

Q: What else is causing these high-point totals?

A: There are at least four other reasons:

The small fields.

The league’s gifted passers and receivers.

The coaches’ run ‘n’ shoot approach.

The kind of players hired. This is an ironman, one-platoon league in which everyone but quarterbacks and kickers plays both ways--and in such a league, the tendency is to hire college-trained offensive specialists who haven’t played much defense.

Q: What is the run ‘n’ shoot?

A: It’s a one-back system in which all eligible receivers, including the single back, run out for passes on most plays. The passer often sprints wide instead of setting up.

On occasion, run ‘n’ shoot teams shift into a no-back formation with the entire offense strung out along the line of scrimmage.

This system made quarterback Jim Kelly famous on Houston’s USFL team when coached by Mouse Davis--who is now the AFL’s director of football operations.

STRUCTURE

Q: How much is the AFL paying players and coaches?

A: The players are getting $3,000 to $4,000 for the six-week season, according to league President Foster, who said that coaches working five months get $20,000 to $30,000.

Q: What is the average ticket price?

A: About $9 with a top price of $12, except for a few at $15.

Q: What positions do team members play in eight-man football?

A: On offense, there’s a three-man line with two wide receivers plus three backs (or two backs and a tight end). On defense, they shift into a three-man line with a linebacker and four defensive backs (or two linebackers and three defensive backs). A league rule limits the defense to a five-man rush.

Q: What’s the shape of the field?

A: It’s 26-yards wide by 50-yards deep.

“As a stage, that’s much too small for football,” said Manhattan Beach reader Kirk Busby. “After (an AFL) kickoff, you take over on your 10-yard line, and if you complete one 10-yard pass in the next four plays, you’re in scoring position--with a first down on the 30-yard line. That isn’t football.”

Q: Is this a majority opinion?

A: It’s one opinion. A different view comes from West Los Angeles reader Dick Dulgarian, who said:

“It’s a small field, sure, but there’s less congestion with only eight players to a side. (The AFL) has an action game, a passing game, and you can see it clearly.”

Q: What other modifications has the AFL made in NFL football?

A: AFL games are played with three officials--a referee and two side judges.

The offense has four downs to make 10 yards--but no punting is allowed. Play is divided into four 15-minute quarters--but the clock runs continuously except after a score or a penalty. Drop kicks are worth more--4 points for a field goal, 2 points for a conversion.

DIRECTION

Q: Who runs Arena Football and who owns the teams?

A: The founder and chief executive officer is the AFL president, Jim Foster, 36, a veteran of several years in NFL marketing.

He said he and his investors, who have put up $200,000, own Arena Football and the teams.

“Next year we’ll have franchises in (possibly 10 or 12) cities,” he said. “And our plan is for the operator of each franchise to own 7 or 8% of the league.

“I’ll own that much myself, but no more, operating one of the teams. At present, I don’t own a majority of (the AFL stock), but everything I’ve got is in (Arena Football).”

Q: Who owns the players?

A: They’re paid by the league.

Q: What are the AFL’s expansion plans?

A: “We want to be in California, Florida and Texas next year, for sure,” Foster said. “There’s a lot of ownership interest in a lot of places. We’ll have a 12-week season ending Labor Day.”

Q: Where’s the AFL office?

A: In Des Plaines, Ill., 20 miles northwest of Chicago. Foster and most of his 11 employees fly to every game and take charge of game production at each site.

Foster’s director of development is former Chicago Bears linebacker Doug Buffone.

“These arenas we play in are our biggest asset,” Buffone said. “Hitting and touchdowns are the essence of football--and in a small arena, the crowd is right on top of the hitting and the scoring.”