The Arena Football League’s recent relaunch faced challenges upon its initiation. Despite being established in the 1980s, the league experienced difficulties during the launch of its third version with games played on Saturday.
In March, the NFL announced a partnership to broadcast 30 AFL regular season games on NFL Network starting on Saturday, April 27. However, the game between the Albany Firebirds and Orlando Predators was not broadcasted on NFL Network as anticipated, but on VYRE Network instead. Despite several attempts by ProFootballTalk to get a response from the NFL, there was no comment. The NFL Network is scheduled to broadcast the next AFL game on Thursday at 8 p.m. ET when the Firebirds take on the Nashville Kats.
On-field issues plagued some teams as well. For example, Christian Red of The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that the Soul faced a series of challenges including the resignation of head coach Patrick Pimmel just a day before their first game against Louisiana Voodoo in Lafayette, Louisiana. Many Soul players received release forms and players from American Arena League 2’s Dallas Falcons filled their roster spots leading to a 53-18 loss for Philadelphia Soul fans in Lafayette, Louisiana.
Off-field issues also added chaos and confusion surrounding some teams’ situation as reports emerged that Soul players were evicted from their Super 8 motel in Philadelphia area and their luggage was taken away and locked in a motel room by sports agent Tristen Burnett which created uncertainty around ownership situation of Soul as an earlier agreement with venture group fell through which could have led to AFL taking ownership over it.
