New Arena Football league includes Jacksonville

[blizz01]

Woohoo!  Name to be revealed tomorrow.  I'm gonna go ahead and take a guess though........

Arena football is returning to Jacksonville hoping to be bigger, louder and more explosive than before.

Jacksonville Sports Group managing partner Jeff Bouchy and partners Steve Curran and Larry Payne plan today to unveil the logo and the nickname (expected to be Sharks) of the team. Les Moss, a longtime Orlando Predators assistant coach, is expected to be named the head coach of the Jacksonville team, the newest member of the Arena Football 1 League. Today’s ceremony is at Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena, where the team will play its home games.

Jacksonville hasn’t had an arena football team since the Jacksonville Tomcats ceased operations in 2002, when the Jacksonville Coliseum was destroyed to clear way for the current arena.

The new team will play a 16-game schedule beginning this spring, using the downtown arena for its eight home games.

“We’re totally optimistic that this will work here in Jacksonville,” said Bouchy, who was a minority owner of the Orlando Predators of the Arena Football League from 1998-2002. “I cut my teeth with the Predators, where we had 11,000 season-ticket holders. Arena football has been highly successful in Florida.”

Bouchy touts affordability. Season-ticket prices will start at $45. More than 8,000 of the seats will have an average price of just over $11.

“I like to say this arena football league will be a hybrid between a Kiss concert and a football game,” Bouchy said. “It’s like drinking water through a firehose. I want fans to feel like they got hit in the head with a frying pan when they leave the arena. They’re not sure what just happened. All they know is that it was fast-paced, exciting and they’re coming back for more.”

Teams will have 23-man rosters with three inactive players each week. All but three players on each team will receive $400 per game. Three players, designated as “showcase” players, will make $1,000 per game. The new league has 10 markets under contract: Spokane, Wash.; Salt Lake City; Phoenix; Dallas; Des Moines, Iowa; Tulsa, Okla.; Chicago, Milwaukee; Orlando; and Jacksonville.

League commissioner Jerry Kurz, who will be at today’s ceremony, indicated two other teams could be announced as early as today, including another Florida city, likely to be Tampa.

“Jacksonville was a very good market for a developmental league team in arena football years ago,” Kurz said. “We always felt that, with a new building, we could come back here. Timing is everything. The timing is good right now.

“We’ve had tremendous success in two other markets in Florida, and there’s no reason to doubt that this is as good a fan base. I can’t imagine a better scenario than an in-state rivalry between the three teams.”

http://jacksonville.com/sports/football/2009-11-17/story/fins_showing_for_new_jacksonville_arena_football_team

[Johnny]

The logo is kinda cheesy, but it's not important. I am looking forward to it getting started.

[jeh1980]

I prefer the name "Tomcats."

[copperfiend]

I liked the suggestion of Freebirds. It's sooooo Jacksonville.

[hanjin1]

I'm assuming the players also get some kind of base salary as well. Because I can't see anyone making a living by making just $400 dollars a game, that's only $6400

[Johnny]

It's like back in the day, they need to have another job. It's for fun and the slight chance they'll get picked up by a professional football team, whether it's the NFL or Canada, or even that new league that seems to be paying pretty well.

[blizz01]

http://www.jaxsharks.com/

http://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/showstory.php?Story_id=529605

[ProjectMaximus]

I'm assuming the players also get some kind of base salary as well. Because I can't see anyone making a living by making just $400 dollars a game, that's only $6400

I'm guessing it's somewhere between a 15-20 hour commitment per week from these players. They're doing it for fun and exposure, not to pay the bills.

[ProjectMaximus]

I'm really glad that arena is gonna have another tenant. Hope the league works out well and the team is a success.

[hooplady]

"I want fans to feel like they got hit in the head with a frying pan when they leave the arena."  Gotta be the best quote I've read for a long time.  And soooo on-target for the J'ville market!

I seem to recall a couple of Tomcats who worked at my local YMCA; arena football is definitely a part-time gig for these guys.  As I remember, the playing field may be smaller but the players aren't!

Didn't we already have Sharks before?  In some incarnation of hockey, perhaps?

[blizz01]

Didn't we already have Sharks before?

For 1 season in 1974 (World Football League)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacksonville_Sharks

[heights unknown]

Good that Arena Football is back.  Would be a travesty if Arena Football is successful and the Jaguars keep plummeting and become unsuccessful; hope that never happens (about the Jaguars).

Heights Unknown

[Wacca Pilatka]

Didn't we already have Sharks before?

For 1 season in 1974 (World Football League)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacksonville_Sharks

"Sharks" was also one of the finalists for the NFL team name, along with (obviously) Jaguars, Stingrays, and Panthers.

[copperfiend]

I'm assuming the players also get some kind of base salary as well. Because I can't see anyone making a living by making just $400 dollars a game, that's only $6400

I'm guessing it's somewhere between a 15-20 hour commitment per week from these players. They're doing it for fun and exposure, not to pay the bills.

When the Tomcats played here, some of our neighbors were players on the team. For most of them, it was like having a second job.

[Johnny]

Anyone that has been fishing off a pier or just off the coast of Jax, knows sharks is a fitting name... I still think the logo is lame. Looks like they stole it right out of MS clipart. I could make a better logo drunk & with my eyes closed.