D for Disapproval

.oO0Oo. 17 Sep 06 "Remember Remember thirteenth of September
The rule changing traitorous plot
I know of no reason why rule changing treason
should ever be forgot."
-David Baker Day poem
Okay. Time to bottom line the substituion rule change. Money.

Now they won't have to pay a top shelf OL\DL $80,000 when they can sign 2 guys for $25,000 each and save 30 grand. That and the apparent attempt to attract more fans is simply greed. An AFL franchise is enormously overvalued. With less than two dozen players per team, making an average of $53,000 a year a 20 million dollar franchise fee is obscene.
I won't pretend to know what operating costs are for a team but I know it isn't 20 mil a year. A 1.2 million dollar player salary minimum, an arena lease, player housing, staff salaries, incremental equipment costs, advertising (such as it is), and what ever else is incurred doesn't get to 20 million a year. With rampant sponsorship of every aspect of the game. With half a million dollars in parking revenue evey year. With merchandise licensing. With ticket sales. With media buy ins. Any team that consistently hemmorages money is doing something very very wrong.

Jon Bon Jovi said he didn't expect to make a profit owning an AFL team. He may be a lot of things but he isn't a moron. He certainly didn't expect to lose money over the long haul. Dallas owner Jerry Jones is a business genius, he isn't interested in losing money. Same for Charles Wang and every other non NFL owner in this sport. Making the game more like high school, college, and NFL football may well attract more fans. Fans that won't dismiss the game out of hand because of the instantly identifiable visual differences (field size, walls, nets, etc.). More fans means more money. And money is what it's all about.

It panders to the fan that has no interest in learning the nature of the arena game. The things that made it special. It also make it much easier for detractors to laugh at. But as former Soul QB Matt Sauk wrote on AFLnews.com

"But what about those other 8 to 12,000 other fans that come to a game every week to support their team? Will they know the difference or even care about a free substitution rule? To be honest, they probably have no idea what it would mean for the sport and will never even care."

Well asked. And I'm sure a huge motivation for approving the change. The reality of it is any "fan" that has no issue with the change isn't an arena football fan at all. They may well be a football fan. But not an arena football fan. The simple fact that the AFLPA voted against the change 9-0 shows that the players understand, if not the history of the game, the impact to it.

This isn't the 1 lineman rule change af2 implemented. This is a paradigm shift in the very fabric of arena football. And make no mistake. Unless roster sizes are increased there is no way to effectively add dedicated positional players. If roster sizes increase so do salary totals. That eats at profit. That profit will be recouped with higher ticket prices.

When all is said and done. The rule change has little effect on the other revered aspect of the game. The intimate, personal nature of the relationship between the fans and the teams. When the season finally begins a month later than we're used to. When the Soulmates take the field before the anthem. I'll be there. I'll be there watching indoor football. But I won't be watching arena football because it simply doesn't exist anymore.

Just know the old AFL, the WFL, the USFL, the WLAF, and XFL all played more mainstream versions of football. No one can deliver a mainstream football product better than the NFL. This was a game for those that enjoyed the difference.

R.I.P. AFL 1986-2006