Posted February 11, 20196 yr https://www.columbusnavigator.com/arena-football-league-columbus/ https://www.dispatch.com/sports/20190207/arena-football-league-to-return-to-columbus-nationwide-arena
February 11, 20196 yr Author So the Arena Football League is returning to Columbus (and Nationwide Arena) after an 11-year absence. They say absence makes the heart grow fonder. We'll see if that's the case with the AFL in 2019. Back when the AFL's Columbus Destroyers were playing at Nationwide Arena from 2004 to 2008, they drew decent attendance numbers. As did the AFL as a league. The on-the-field product wasn't all that great, but the Columbus Destroyers did have one outstanding season in 2007 when they reached ArenaBowl XXI (and lost to the San Jose SaberCats). 2007 was a high-water mark for the AFL as well. Starting with four teams in 1987, they had 19 teams in 2007 - plus some national TV reach in ESPN/ABC. But after the 2008 season, the AFL imploded financially and didn't play in 2009, before returning in 2010 with 15 teams (without a Columbus team). But its been a downward spiral for the AFL since then - the league dwindled to 8 teams in 2016. In 2017, they only fielded five teams in Baltimore, Cleveland, Philadelphia, Washington and Tampa Bay. In 2018, they lost Cleveland and Tampa Bay - and then added Albany to field only four teams. For 2019, apparently there will be six teams - Albany, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington - plus new teams in Columbus and Atlantic City. Wikipedia page for the former Columbus Destroyers AFL team: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbus_Destroyers Wikipedia page for the new Columbus AFL team: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbus_AFL_team Team website for the new Columbus AFL team: https://arenafootball.com/columbus Interesting non-league website with loads of AFL current news and historical info: http://www.arenafan.com/
February 12, 20196 yr Author That Columbus Navigator story contained this vintage vid of then-Columbus Destroyers QB Matt Nagy mic'd up during the 2007 season and in Arena Bowl XXI. If you're wondering what ever happened to Matt Nagy - he's now the 40-year-old head coach of the Chicago Bears and just finished his rookie NFL season with a 12-4 record(!) BTW - the 2007 Arena Bowl was broadcast on ABC by then-ESPN morning radio duo "Mike and Mike in the Morning" as seen in the youtube video:
February 26, 20196 yr Author https://www.dispatch.com/sports/20190222/return-of-columbus-destroyers-new-arena-team-has-old-name-fresh-colors https://www.landgrantholyland.com/2019/2/22/18236311/expansion-arena-football-columbus-destroyers-matt-sauk-head-coach
February 26, 20196 yr Author More about the new Columbus Destroyers: http://www.columbusdestroyers.com/ The new Destroyers have new colors — silver, white and black to replace the red, blue and silver of the franchise that played at Nationwide from 2004-08. The team was formally introduced last Friday during a news conference held on the arena floor. The new AFL restructured its business model to resemble something similar to Major League Soccer, in which the league owns the teams. Previously, each franchise was individually owned. AFL teams will play 12 regular-season games beginning on April 26. The Columbus Destroyers begin play April 27 at Albany, with the home opener on May 18. Here is the 2019 schedule for the Columbus Destroyers: April 27 -- Columbus @ Albany May 4 -- Columbus @ Atlantic City May 10 -- Columbus @ Baltimore May 18 -- Columbus vs. Albany May 25 -- Columbus vs. Washington June 1 -- Columbus @ Philadelphia June 7 -- Columbus vs. Atlantic City June 15 -- Columbus vs. Baltimore June 22 -- Columbus vs. Philadelphia June 28 -- Columbus @ Baltimore July 14 -- Columbus vs. Albany July 20 -- Columbus @ Washington
July 13, 20195 yr Author On 2/11/2019 at 1:12 PM, Columbo said: So the Arena Football League is returning to Columbus (and Nationwide Arena) after an 11-year absence. They say absence makes the heart grow fonder. We'll see if that's the case with the AFL in 2019. Back when the AFL's Columbus Destroyers were playing at Nationwide Arena from 2004 to 2008, they drew decent attendance numbers. As did the AFL as a league. The on-the-field product wasn't all that great, but the Columbus Destroyers did have one outstanding season in 2007 when they reached ArenaBowl XXI (and lost to the San Jose SaberCats). 2007 was a high-water mark for the AFL as well. Starting with four teams in 1987, they had 19 teams in 2007 - plus some national TV reach in ESPN/ABC. But after the 2008 season, the AFL imploded financially and didn't play in 2009, before returning in 2010 with 15 teams (without a Columbus team). But its been a downward spiral for the AFL since then - the league dwindled to 8 teams in 2016. In 2017, they only fielded five teams in Baltimore, Cleveland, Philadelphia, Washington and Tampa Bay. In 2018, they lost Cleveland and Tampa Bay - and then added Albany to field only four teams. For 2019, apparently there will be six teams - Albany, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington - plus new teams in Columbus and Atlantic City. Wikipedia page for the former Columbus Destroyers AFL team: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbus_Destroyers Wikipedia page for the new Columbus AFL team: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbus_AFL_team Team website for the new Columbus AFL team: https://arenafootball.com/columbus Interesting non-league website with loads of AFL current news and historical info: http://www.arenafan.com/ https://www.dispatch.com/sports/20190713/destroyers-find-positive-signs-in-columbus-amid-1-9-season So the return of the AFL to Columbus has been ... underwhelming. On-the-field the team is 1-9 going into their final two games. In-the-stands the team has drawn an average crowd of 6,610, which ranks fourth in the six-team league and is about 400 fans below the league average. Which tells you something about the relative weakness of this current 6-team AFL. During the Destroyers original 2004 to 2008 run, they averaged between 12,000 and 16,000 per game. Of course (as I pointed out earlier in the above quoted section) the AFL was also a league with some promise in the 2000's. But then they financially imploded in 2009 and haven't been the same since. According to the Dispatch article, the AFL plans two more expansion teams for 2020. We'll see. Because so far this sequel AFL hasn't been nearly as good as the original.
October 30, 20195 yr Author https://www.espn.com/espn/story/_/id/27963689/arena-league-shuts-operations-all-six-teams Columbus Destroyers 2.0 - its been real ?
February 2, 20232 yr Are the Destroyers coming back…again? Arena Football League is coming back which could mean the Columbus Destroyers return “The Arena Football League is coming back and Columbus football fans could see the return of its professional team. The AFL announced Wednesday the league will return in 2024 for its first season since 2019 with 16 teams to play. Initially founded in 1986, the indoor football league has dissolved twice with its most recent shutdown in 2019 with just six teams in the league. Now with its return, Columbus football fans could see the return of the Destroyers, who relocated from Buffalo to central Ohio in 2004. The Destroyers played five seasons in Columbus before folding in 2008 and returning for the league’s most recent year in 2019. Currently, the league does not list a single one of the 16 teams that will play in its return season. No announcement date for the teams is known at this time.” https://www.nbc4i.com/sports/arena-football-league-is-coming-back-which-could-mean-the-columbus-destroyers-return/
February 2, 20232 yr Hope Columbus gets the Destroyers back, and I have to imagine the Cleveland Gladiators will be back, they were one of the highest drawing teams in the league. It'd be cool to have that intrastate rivalry build- we don't overlap in any professional sports.
February 2, 20232 yr Why not. It generally in the offseason for both sports and concerts so having events that can fill 1/3 of the arena are always good for all the businesses in the offseason.
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