A Rollercoaster Debut: Arena Football One Delivers on Action & Drama

Starting a new sports league is difficult. There are so many moving parts to ensure that teams are in place, players are set up for success, and that fans can easily attend and watch the games. There are mistakes and triumphs along the way, and it does better to relish the good as opposed to fixating on the bad. Arena Football One (AF1) is proof of this and has had a topsy turvy week as it kicked off its inaugural season.

The good news is that the opening game between SW Kansas and Nashville was incredibly entertaining and was delivered with high quality on EvergreenNOW, the league’s official streaming partner. The bad news is that two franchises, the Orlando Predators and Arizona Bandits, have pulled out of the league's inaugural season.

The exits of Orlando and Arizona join a rollercoaster offseason of franchise activity that has seen Wilkes-Barre/Scranton pull out, while Stockton and Monterrey have delayed their admission into the league until 2026. And yet, despite all this turmoil that has flooded comment sections about the league, in its opening game the product felt like it was in a good place and headed in the right direction, an indication that it is not all doom and gloom for indoor football.

Withdrawal and Disappointment

When I first started having conversations with AF1, I was told something that has stuck with me. The person I was speaking to said that “you don’t get into indoor football for the money, you get into it because you love the game”. AF1 has implemented people throughout its operation that have been around football for many years and who fully believe in the product.

In my conversations with them they often harkened back to the peak of the format in the early 2000s when there were arena football video games being released. The coaches, players, and team owners have similar passions and feelings about their game. With this passion, does come this disappointment when the speed bumps of forming a new league occur.

The exits of Arizona and Orlando are both let downs for fans in those markets, but also a huge blow to the league itself as it loses an established brand in the Predators and a perception of instability. When AF1 was announced, it was made clear that this would be different from last year’s botched AFL (Arena Football League) relaunch. The departure and delay of franchises to many has felt more of the same. The two circumstances in Arizona and Orlando are not entirely similar.

Arizona’s exit from AF1 is simpler with fewer layers. A team cannot exist without a venue to play games at, and Arizona never secured a venue. Despite assuring the league that they had an arena secured for the start of the season, that never materialized. The ownership group kept delaying their stadium announcement for weeks and never put tickets up for sale. The team simply was not ready to play games in a league season that was rapidly approaching.

With this being announced on the same day as the Week 0 kickoff game between SW Kansas and Nashville, this was a huge disappointment to the league. And yet, that disappointment paled in comparison to the conversation that was sparked by the Orlando Predators leaving the league.

While speaking on the Fan Zone Live Podcast, Billings Outlaws owner Steven Titus revealed that the Predators were actively looking to sell their franchise and intended to cease playing games after competing in one week of competition. The league, for understandable reasons, did not want this to occur and as a result Predators owner John Cheney was unresponsive and did not show up for owner meetings leading up to the season’s kickoff.

There has also been speculation that the Predators franchise was completely out of money, which was evidenced by the fact that they were charging upwards of $91 per ticket for their home games, when most other teams in the league charge between $10-20 for tickets. As a result of this lack of stability, AF1 revoked the Predators membership from AF1, leaving the future of the indoor game in Orlando in jeopardy moving forward.

What came after this decision, was a very strongly worded press release where the league called Cheney’s decision a betrayal and a breaking of commitments. The press release has been heavily scrutinized by fans since then, with some calling it unprofessional, insecure, and a joke on the league’s official Facebook page.

What started as a league with fourteen teams has quickly dwindled into eight, with six of them being teams that competed in last year’s AFL reboot (Oregon and Corpus Christi are the only new franchises that are still currently slated to play in the AF1). The dropping out of teams has led many to question the viability of the league, but officials within AF1 still feel confident in the product and the commitment of the remaining teams. If the opening game between SW Kansas and Nashville was any indication, they may be on to something.

A Compelling Product

Last year during the ill-fated relaunch of the AFL, one of the biggest pain points was how to watch the games. Some games were being played in arenas that were not properly equipped for the broadcasting of live sports, which made the league feel a bit illegitimate. What resulted was a mishmash of streaming options that would be embarrassing on the high school level, let alone a professional league.

AF1, from its inception, committed to delivering a better viewing experience for those that weren’t in the arenas. The opening game was aired on EvergreenNOW, and the product was polished without any issues. The broadcast featured detailed information about the players, multiple camera angles, and a graphics package that made the league feel much more legitimate than what fans were exposed to last season.

The indoor football game has always been predicated on points and a lot of scoring. But in this matchup, it didn’t seem that way at halftime, with both teams combining to score 13 points. The league’s first ever touchdown was scored in this half, and it was a memorable one as SW Kansas Storm quarterback Jalen Morton connected with wide receiver Shiloh Flannegan for a 47-yard score. In the second half, the excitement and scoring were ramped up.

When I talked to Gary Thomas, head coach of the Storm, he told me that his team looks for athletes on both sides of the ball with the idea of making big plays happen. We saw this especially in the second half where they used a lot of quarterback run option wrinkles to get Morton on the run. This was effective as he finished with three passing touchdowns and one rushing touchdown. This was contrasted with Nashville, who relied on a more traditional offensive attack that prioritized their quarterbacks to make throws from the pocket. This created a fascinating juxtaposition of philosophy between the two teams.

This game would be decided by the defense, however. Specifically, a sequence in the last minutes of the fourth quarter that was a microcosm of the potential that AF1 has to offer fans. Leading by one, SW Kansas was at the goal line with a chance to extend their lead. But a failed fourth down conversion attempt gave Nashville an opportunity to mount a comeback. Storm defensive back Michael Lawson had other plans.

On the first play of the drive, Lawson intercepted a pass from Nashville quarterback Jake Dunniway and walked into the end zone for a score. On the very next drive after a few successful plays, Dunniway was intercepted yet again by Lawson for another pick six, his third interception of the game. In those two plays, Lawson flipped the game on its head and secured the win for SW Kansas.

Those plays and scores are what makes the potential of AF1 so enticing. There are plays waiting to always be made. Long passes, bruising runs, and turnovers are all elevated in a very fast-paced game that in some ways is more like the back-and-forth nature of basketball than it is to outdoor football. The first game of AF1 provided dramatics, turnovers, and game shifting plays. In short, everything you could have wanted to showcase what the on-field product was going to be.

Despite all the turmoil of the off-season and build up to this moment, at its core the league delivered a product that was incredibly entertaining. And despite the disappointment that has come from franchises not being able to make it to week 1 due to financial and sponsorship issues, the reality remains that the style of play and the game itself are compelling. As we head towards a full slate of games in week 1 and a revised schedule, there is still a lot to be excited about.