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Article:   af2 Announces Site For ArenaCup IX Date:  March 21, 2008 By:  Gary Stibolt, Staff Writer

..... The arenafootball2 league office announced today that they will return to their former playoff format that decides the location to host the championship game.  This means that the team with the best overall record, who is still in the playoffs, will host the leagues prestigious event.  This ends a three-year trial of using a neutral site. The league cited they were listening to the fans who spoke out about wanting the af2 to return to the old format.  While the neutral site had many positives to it, tickets sold did not translate into attendance.  In 2005, the ArenaCup was hosted in its' first neutral site location of Bossier City, LA.  Through corporate sponsorships, over 10,000 tickets were sold but only 6,236 fans attended.  That was their best year of the neutral site location attendance wise and financially speaking too. They had the right mix of players involved in 2005, a great foundation to build on.  They took a serious step backwards when they went to Puerto Rico in 2006 and thought they would return to Bossier City again for 2007 but made a mistake in putting total control in the hands of Dan Newman, owner of the af2 Battlewings.  Should they ever return to the neutral site format, they need the corporate marketing power partner that can generate the results that was done in 2005 but retain control of the event itself from a planning and coordinating aspect.  The advantage for a neutral site is fans have ample time to make arrangements.  This is the biggest one from a fan perspective.  While there is cost involved here, the cost go up significantly under the announced format due to short notice travel costs.  I support the neutral site format if it is done right.  Part of doing it right is announcing it early like they just did.  Under this format, announcing the site this early does not create an advantage planning wise (outside of the fact we now know the decision) for the fans who want to travel whether their team is in it or not, all-be-it that is a small number. Advantages of the format for the best record to host are well noted.  You'll have greater af2 fan participation.  Those will also be sold tickets obviously so less wasted tickets, hense less wasted sponsorship dollars.  Those who like to attend the event, such as myself, it creates a potential increase in cost from short notice airline rates to hotel room availability and higher weekend rates.  The drawback that does not get talked about much is the team that does host the event, bares the financial burden of selling corporate sponsorships.  One week is very tough to achieve such a feat and it was one of the biggest reasons why the af2 went to a neutral site trial.  But the event is what is important here and since attendance will be a non-concern for the most part, the question will be can the league pull together all their events (league meetings, dinners/banquets, fan activities, etc.) in just a few days?  I think it is too difficult to pull off and still have the same quality we saw in Bossier City back in 2005.  This format really begs for a bye-week between the conference championship games and the ArenaCup.  They'll need one week to plan and coordinate, setup/sign contracts, and prepare logistics and set their itinerary not to mention the corporate sponsorships they'll need to generate.  The week of should be all about 'championship week' where you execute the plan concluding with a great AreanCup. So we won't know until late August early September if what the league has learned the last three years will help them in returning to the 'best record hosts' format.  ArenaCup attendance has gone down every year since their inaugural year of 2000. ArenaCup history (2000-07) Year      Winner              Site (attendance) 2000     Quad City          Moline, Ill. (9,210) 2001     Quad City          Moline, Ill. (8,261) 2002     Peoria               Peoria, Ill. (7,552) 2003     Tulsa                Tulsa, Okla. (7,184) 2004     Florida              Estero, Fla. (6,491) 2005     Memphis           Bossier City, La. (6,236) 2006     Spokane            San Juan, Puerto Rico (5,658) 2007     Tulsa                Bossier City, La. (5,107) Statistics courtesy of af2 . So if you want to attend the ArenaCup in 2008:  Plan A, hope your team will host the event.  Plan B, prepare as the season unfolds and try to make plans accordingly and save your money.  Tickets won't go on sale until the Monday of ArenaCup week.  - End ..... .....

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