NFL Network Adds Arena League Games

After a hiatus in 2009 because its financial model failed, the Arena Football League announced an agreement last week with NFL Network to return in 2010.

Weekly Friday night games begin April 2 on NFL Network, which gets football programming at minimal cost and does not have to sell advertising as part of the deal. It will provide on-air talent for the games.

The league -- with a 15-team lineup that does not include the AFL's last champion (Philadelphia Soul, 2008) -- represents a combination of what was the AFL and af2, a group of indoor teams in smaller markets across the United States.

Arena Football One purchased all AFL and af2 assets (team names, logos, records, film and video libraries and more) last fall. Now, with a league model similar to that of Major League Soccer, where all coaches and players are considered employees of the league, the Arena Football League plans to return. The TV deal provides necessary exposure, albeit on the NFL Network, which provides high-quality programming but does not reach nearly as many homes as former AFL partners such as ESPN and NBC.

League play includes 16 games leading to the playoffs and an eventual championship game the weekend of Aug. 20-23.

For the NFL Network, the indoor games begin after coverage of the NFL Scouting Combine and before the NFL Draft. They then continue until NFL preseason games begin. Along with filling a hole for some summer programming and giving the NFL more of a monopoly on pro football (in any form), the games provide the network with a chance to utilized high-definition technology and test techniques and access opportunities that might be able to be transferred to NFL games.

"We embrace football at all levels," said Charles Coplin, NFL Network's vice president of programming. "The AFL deal gives us exciting live football games on Friday nights from a league that has produced NFL players in the past, including Kurt Warner."

The AFL's 15-team league includes the Chicago Rush, Dallas Vigilantes, Tampa Bay Storm, Orlando Predators, Arizona Rattlers (Phoenix), Cleveland Gladiators, Utah Blaze (Salt Lake City) and the new Jacksonville Sharks, Alabama Vipers (Huntsville), Bossier-City/Shreveport Battlewings, Iowa Barnstormers, Milwaukee Iron, Oklahoma City Yard Dawgz, Spokane Shock and Tulsa Talons.