Why Washington Valor Will Win ArenaBowl XXXI

FACT: Last season, including the playoffs, only twice did a team score at least 70 points.

FACT: Last season, including the playoffs, teams scored 60+ points only 31 times (including only three games where both teams crossed that threshold).

The 2017 season showed that fewer teams playing each other more often means a more defensive season with lower scoring. With only four teams in 2018, that’s now further intensified.

When defense is the order of the league, there’s only one position that can break through and counter that: quarterback. Thanks to the Washington Valor signing Nick Davila away from a coaching position with the IFL’s Arizona Rattlers, they’ve become the favorites to score more than enough to potentially take the title.

Yes, the Valor initially shored up the position by signing Warren Smith, Jr. from the National Arena League’s Lehigh Valley Steelhawks (being the first ever league MVP will garner interest from other teams), but this was a big break that’s rather unexpected.

Also, not settling at just the pivot, the Valor ensured there’s receivers to throw to. Washington were lucky enough to have “Big Play” Reggie Gray assigned to their squad and recently also signed Davila’s former favorite receiver in Rod Windsor.

With a healthy Toliver, that’s 22 combined years of league experience to a corps that features five receivers with two years experience or less. With either the championship veteran or the dual-threat throwing to them, there’s potential to have an offense as dynamic as Philadelphia or Albany, the two teams they’ll be fighting with for the top seed in the playoffs.

Defensively, the team is just as young, but there are key starters returning from last year. Namely, James Gordon, Jake Payne, and Reggie Wilson (although also on the PUP list). With Gordon moving from linebacker up to the defensive line, the Valor can generate more pressure on opposing quarterbacks, leading to many more much-needed sacks. Given the fact that there’s only two returning starters in the secondary (Dominic Addison and Michael Knight), the less pressure for making interceptions, the better.

Yes, the Soul have kept more than their core of players from their championship team and Albany have made some big splash signings. However, if Washington can put themselves in position to host the second leg of their semifinal, they could find themselves in ArenaBowl XXXI, and you can’t bet against the Latin Laser when he’s playing for titles.

Butera Stepping Down Ends All Chances of Arena Football in San Antonio

This morning, after three years on the job, Arena Football League commissioner Scott Butera was replaced by Randall Boe, the executive vice president of Monumental Sports & Entertainment. Butera’s administration was marred by only three expansion franchises against 11 teams that were either shut down or relocated to other leagues.

Perhaps no mark was blacker on his tenure then when he told the league-owned Las Vegas Outlaws that they would be allowed to play in the playoffs if they qualified, only to shut them down the day after clinching a playoff spot.

One other black mark on his tenure was his failure to bring the Arena League back to San Antonio, TX. He was nearly a month into his job when the league made official the news to shut down the team. He was quoted at the time as saying “San Antonio is a very desirable city for the AFL and efforts will continue to bring Arena Football back to the Alamo City; The AFL has the utmost appreciation for the passion and support Talons fans have shown their team and we look forward to returning to San Antonio.”

However, nothing ever came to fruition. In 2015, Butera and the Spurs were on the brink of bringing back the Talons, only for the Spurs to back out at the last moment due to instability in the league at the time.

Butera even managed to visit San Antonio and the Spurs in March 2016 and talk to them about bringing back a team, but not even that was enough to make it a reality. Along the way, the Cleveland Gladiators, a team that is owned by Dan Gilbert, owner of the NBA’s Cleveland Cavaliers, announced they would be taking two years off due to arena renovations. A month later, the Tampa Bay Storm announced they would suspend operations, becoming the second NBA/NHL owned team that would not play in 2018.

This news is a blow to the hopes of the AFL returning to San Antonio. Butera was the commissioner that emphasized NBA and NHL owners joining the AFL. While he was only able to bring in one, he had talks with Spurs Sports And Entertainment and had hope of restoring a team in the Alamo City.

Not much is known about Boe and what kinds of ownership groups he will try to attract to the AFL, but the [temporary] loss of the Gladiators and the permanent loss of the Storm has hurt the chances of this dream ever coming true, and with Butera gone, those chances get worse with every passing day.

St. Louis Should Bring in Arena Football League Team

After the addition of Albany, NY to the Arena Football League was announced yesterday, bringing the league count to six for the 2018 season and most importantly no teams moving or folding after a couple story filled off seasons. It’s natural to assume who is next?

There are reports that Newark, NJ is on the way shortly, which would make seven teams total. To make the league even stronger, an eighth city is needed, which may lead to a return of conference play. Given if that did happen, it would likely not start until the 2019 season considering five of the possible eight teams being in their first or second season of existing, splitting those teams up could lead to teams with poor records getting into a conference title game.

On Jan. 4, 2016, the NFL’s St. Louis Rams at the time, filed for relocation. A move starting a path to move the Rams back to Los Angeles, CA. So, the city of St. Louis lost their football team.

Arena Football League: It’s time to strike while the iron is hot. St. Louis deserves to see football again. It is home to one of the biggest cities in America with a population over 300,000 and is an exciting sports city.

The city hosts major sports leagues such as Major League Baseball (Cardinals) and the National Hockey League (Blues). St. Louis is also home to a major university, Saint Louis University. The Billikens also have a 10,000 seat arena.

The city of St. Louis could be a strong win-win situation to host an Arena Football team. If St. Louis were to get a team, it’s only a two hour flight to Philadelphia, home of the back to back defending champs, the Philadelphia Soul.

Phialdelphia’s ownership group lead the way to Albany returning to the AFL.  St. Louis getting a team would still make it easy for AFL teams to get around, but at the same time it would also open the door to more expansion towards the middle of the country.

This could open the door to Arena Football returning to football hungry states such as Texas. From St. Louis, it would only be a 90 minute flight to head to Dallas. Dallas had a team called the Dallas Desperados, who played seven seasons in the AFL from 2002- 2008.

The team was owned by the man that runs the Dallas Cowboys, Jerry Jones. The AFL most recently had a team in San Antonio TX. The San Antonio Talons played from 2012-2014. So, giving a team to St. Louis could also lead the way to bringing back football to fans all over the area in the coming years.

If the the AFL brought back football to the people of St. Louis it would help them and the Arena Football League grow. Now they just have to make it happen.

Ranking the ArenaBowls, #1: ArenaBowl XXIV

ArenaBowl XXIV featured the Arizona Rattlers and Jacksonville Sharks. The game was played at Talking Stick Resort Arena in Phoenix, AZ.

Arizona got on the board first when fullback Odie Armstrong rushed from two yards out. Jacksonville scored when quarterback Aaron Garcia threw a 41 yard touchdown to Jomo Wilson. Unfortunately, the extra point was no good, so Arizona maintained a 7-6 lead.

They expanded their lead when Nick Davila connected with Kerry Reed for a touchdown. Garcia threw a touchdown to Jeron Harvey to close the gap to 14-12 at the end of the first quarter.

The Sharks took their first lead of the game when Wilson recovered an Arizona fumble and returned it for a touchdown. Following the Rattlers scoring to re-take the lead, the Sharks scored the next 14 points to open up a 32-21 lead with 2:54 left in the first half.

Arizona scored 14 consecutive points of their own to take a 35-32 lead at halftime.

After the two teams exchanged one score apiece in the third quarter, Armstrong rushed for a one-yard touchdown and the Rattlers led 49-38 in the fourth. Jacksonville didn’t go down that easy.

It was back and forth the rest of the way. With 12 seconds left, Davila and Reed hooked up for a 12-yard touchdown. It looked as if the Rattlers were going to win another title.

However, Garcia threw a pass into the end zone as time expired in the game and it landed in Harvey’s hands. The Sharks won ArenaBowl XXIV, 73-70, with a touchdown as time expired.

The multiple comebacks in this game, as well as the most exciting finish in ArenaBowl history, is why this game winds up as the top ArenaBowl game on our list.