Arena Football Owners Optimistic About Future

In the wake of the 1988 Arena Bowl, few people are asking if the Detroit Drive can repeat as champions.

A more pertinent question is, will Arena Football repeat in 1989? Its founder, Jim Foster, says the indoor league will return next season and will be bigger and more visible than in 1988.

Arena Football completed its first full season (there was a 13-game test campaign in 1987) when Detroit upset the regular season champion Chicago Bruisers 24-13 in the Arena Bowl July 30 at Rosemont, Ill. On the eve of the title game, Foster said although none of the clubs made money, the vital signs point to a successful future.

“Overall, it’s been a success,” Foster said. “But as a first-year league, there have been problems. Some we anticipated, some we didn’t. Overall, we’re excited about the future of this league.”

The chief problem was lower attendance than projected. Foster hoped the six teams would average 9,500 per game but the average attendance for 36 games was 8,513. Attendance ranged from a league high of 14,096 at Detroit’s Joe Louis Arena to 5,707 for New England Steamroller games at the Providence (R.I.) Civic Center.

Chicago (8,004 at the Rosemont Horizon) and Pittsburgh (8,001 at the Civic Center) drew about the league average. The New York Knights (7,761 at Madison Square Garden) and Los Angeles Cobras (7,507 at the Sports Arena) were disappointing at the gate, mainly because they had losing records on the field. Lack of interest in the nation’s top two markets spell trouble for any pro sports league.

“You cannot lose six straight in New York and expect to have good turnouts,” Foster said of the last-place Knights, who were 0-6 at home and 2-4 on the road. “I guess it shows we don’t fix games in this league.”

Knights owner Russell Berrie promised to field a better team in New York next year.

“Fans will not come out for a losing team,” Berrie said. “We have to fix some problems on the field for next year. We have more time to put together a team and more time to market the team for next season.”

Foster said he expects all six teams back next year, and would like to add four franchises. The target areas are Florida, Texas, the West Coast and either the East or Midwest. Fifteen cities sent representatives to the Arnea Bowl, including Miami, Orlando, Dallas, Atlanta, San Francisco, San Diego, Oakland, Seattle, Denver, St. Louis, Minneapolis, Washington and Knoxville-Nashville.

Foster said the Drive was a model franchise, and not just because Detroit won the league championship. The Drive’s owner, Mike Ilitch, also owns the Red Wings of the NHL. The teams share an arena and staff, giving the Drive an established public relations crew. Foster said he wants more NHL and NBA owners to get involved in Arena Football next year.

Existing owners, who committed $1 million up front, were pleased with the early results, Foster said.

“We got through the first season, they’re pleased with the product,” he said. “We have to do a better job publicizing.”

Berrie said the owners have a competitive nature that will force them to improve the league next year.

“The owners are happy, but not satisfied,” he said. “They’re like owners in any league. They’re mad at the other owners, they’re mad at the officials, they’re mad at the league office. Yet they’re happy with the other owners, happy with the officials, happy with the league office.”

Since Arena Football is an eight-man game played on a 50-yard field with the ball remaining in play after bouncing off nets flanking narrow goal posts, the players and strategy differ from the NFL. The players are smaller, with linemen averaging about 30 pounds less than the NFL. They are more versatile, however, since all but quarterbacks play both ways.

Arena Football emphasizes short passing because of the size of the field. Kicking is also important because teams are in field goal position almost anywhere on the field.

Unfortunately for the league, the players are far less known, too.

“We are creating stars,” Foster said, pointing to players like Detroit’s Duane Dixon, who led the league in receiving (79 catches) and scored 20 touchdowns, and Chicago quarterback Ben Bennett, a former Duke star who helped the Bruisers to a 10-1-1 record.

Arena teams are looking for players for their 1989 rosters. The scouting grounds include NFL camps, with the blessings of the established league.

“All our teams are out scouting NFL camps,” Foster said. “We go out and look at the best players coming out of college that really don’t fit the prototype of the NFL. Most of the time that means they’re undersized.

“We’ve developed good relationship with NFL and they call us and tell us about players. We are not and will not become what the USFL was to the NFL. It’s better to be different and take a little niche in the market than go head on and compete with the giant.”