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Arena Football is a sport similar to American football. It is played indoors on a smaller field than American Football, resulting in a faster and higher-scoring game. The sport was invented and patented by James F. Foster, a former executive of the United States Football League and the National Football League.
While attending his first indoor soccer game, (the 1981 MISL All Star Game) on February 11, 1981 at Madison Square Garden, Foster conceived the basic rules of the sport on the back of a 9"x12" manila envelope he pulled out of his briefcase. Over the next five years, he created a more comprehensive and definitive set of playing rules, playing field specifications and equipment, along with a business plan to launch a proposed small, initial league to test market the concept of Arena Football nationally. As a key part of that plan, while residing in the Chicago area, he tested the game concept through several closed door practice sessions in late 1985 and early 1986 in nearby Rockford. After fine tuning the rules, he then secured additional operating capital to play several test games in the MetroCentre in April of 1986 and the Rosemont Horizon Arena in February of 1987.
The next critical step for Foster was securing a network television contract with ESPN and an initial group of key national corporate sponsors including United Airlines, Holiday Inn, Wilson Sporting Goods, Budget Rental Car and Hardees Restaurants. As the league's founding commissoner, (1986-1992) Foster established a league office with a small staff in suburban Chicago (DesPlaines, Il), and with addition of some much needed additional investor capital, was ready to launch the Arena Football League. On June 19, 1987 the Pittsburgh Gladiators hosted the Washington DC Commandos in the first league game after a two week pre-season training camp for all four charter teams in Wheaton. AFL football operations and training was overseen by veteran college and pro head coach, Mouse Davis, the father of the famed "run and shoot" offense,(which became the basis for the high scoring Arena Football offense still in use today). The other two 1987 teams were the Chicago Bruisers and the Denver Dynamite, (the 1987 ArenaBowl Champions). As the Arena Football League grew into an established league with close to 20 teams, it defined itself as a major market pro sports product under the leadership of long time AFL Commissioner C. David Baker,(1996-2008). A financially strong team ownership roster includes NFL owners, as well as major names in the entertainment world. The growth and establishment of the AFL as a major market league spawned a developmental league that Foster also helped co-found, a minor league called af2, in 2000. The league was set up to operate in medium size markets around the US where it has enjoyed continued growth under the guidance of af2 President, Jerry Kurz. Other people have started their own indoor football minor leagues. These leagues do not technically play arena football or use the name Arena Football which is a registered trademark, because of the patent on the rules (specifically for the rebound nets, and related rules [1]) that Foster obtained in 1990 (which is actually held by Gridiron Enterprises, Inc. of which Foster is one of three partners). The other two partners are successful, Chicago based lawyers, Bill Niro and Jerry Kurz, who in early 1989 joined with Foster to help secure the patents on the Arena Football game system and re establish the Arena Football League in early 1990 as a franchised league after successfully removing a small group of disruptive limited partners for multiple breaches of the limited partnership agreement that was the basis for operating the AFL during the 1988 season.Arena football is played exclusively indoors, in arenas usually designed for either basketball or ice hockey teams. The field is the same width (85 feet) and length (200 feet) as a standard NHL hockey rink. The field is 50 yards long with 8-yard end zones. Depending on the venue in which a game is being played, the end zones may be rectangular (like a basketball court) or, where necessary because of the building design, curved (like a hockey rink). There is a heavily padded sideline barrier on each sideline, with the padding placed over the hockey dasher boards.
The goalpost uprights are 9 feet wide, and the crossbar is 15 feet above the playing surface. Taut rebound nets on either side of the posts bounce any missed field goals back into the field of play. The ball is "live" when rebounding off these nets or their support apparatuses. The entire goalframe and goalside rebound net system is suspended on cables from the rafters. The bottom of the two goalside rebound nets are 8 feet off the playing surface. Each netframe is 32 feet high by 30 feet wide.
A player is not counted as out of bounds on the sidelines unless they are pushed into or fall over the sideline barrier. This rule was put in place before the 2006 season. Before that time, a sideline with only a small amount of space (typically 6" to 12") existed between the sideline stripe and the barrier which would provide the space for a ball carrier to step out of bounds before hitting the sideline barrier.
Each team fields eight players at a time from a 20-man active roster. Before 2007, players played both offense and defense except for the quarterback, kicker, an offensive specialist (Wide Receiver/Running Back combination) and two defense specialists (Defensive Backs).
If a player enters and leaves, from the moment he leaves the player is considered "dead" and cannot return to play until the designated time is served.
For two-way players "dead" time is one quarter For specialists "dead" time is one half Exception: a "dead" player may participate on kickoffs, or as long snapper or holder. In 2006, the AFL changed its substitution rules such that free substitutions are now allowed on all kickoffs.
The most significant change is the introduction of free substitution, the so-called "Elway Rule". Previously, AFL coaches were limited to one substitution per position per quarter. Beginning with the 2007 season, coaches will be permitted to substitute players at will.
The rationale is that free substitution will improve the overall quality of football in the league by giving coaches the freedom to put their best players on the field for every play of the game, and that teams will be able to select from a wider player talent pool when building their rosters. Traditionalist fans and players, however, believe the rule changes are the beginning of the removal of the "Ironman" (two-way offense and defense) style of play of Arena Football that the league has actively promoted for 20 seasons, and that removing the Ironman style of play takes away a key component of what makes Arena Football a distinctive sport over other versions of football (NFL, CFL, other indoor leagues, etc).
Four offensive players must be on the line of scrimmage at the snap; one of the linemen must declare himself the tight end. One offensive player may be moving forward at the time of the snap. Three defensive players must be in a three- or four-point stance at the start of the snap. Two defenders serve as linebackers, called the mac and the jack. The mac may blitz from the side of the line opposite the offensive tight end. The jack's role has changed after new rules set in place by the league in 2008. The jack cannot blitz, but under new, more defense-friendly rules, the jack linebacker may roam sideline to sideline within five yards of the line of scrimmage and drop into coverage once the quarterback pump-fakes.[2] (Before this rule, the jack could not drop back into coverage until the ball is thrown or the quarterback is no longer in the pocket, and the jack had to stay within the box designated by the outside shoulders of the offensive line, the line of scrimmage, and 5 yards back from the line of scrimmageThe ball is kicked off from the goal line. The team with the ball is given four downs to gain ten yards or score. Punting is illegal because of the size of the playing field. A receiver jumping to catch a pass needs to get only one foot down in bounds for the catch to be ruled a completed catch. Passes that bounce off the rebound nets remain live. Balls that bounce off the padded walls that surround the field are live; the end zone walls were not live until the 2006 season. The defending team may return missed field goal attempts that bounce off the rebound nets.The scoring is the same as in the NFL with the addition of a drop kick field goal worth four points during normal play or two points as a post-touchdown conversion. Blocked extra points and turnovers on two-point conversion attempts may be returned by the defensive team for two points.
The clock stops for out-of-bounds plays, incomplete passes, or sacks only in the last minute of each half (there is only a one-minute warning, as opposed to the two-minute warning in the NFL and the three-minute warning in the CFL) or because of penalties, injuries or timeouts. The clock also stops for any change in possession, until the ball is marked ready for play; for example, aside from in a half's final minute, time continues to run down after a touchdown, but stops after an extra point or two-point conversion attempt. If a quarter ends as a touchdown is scored, an untimed conversion attempt takes place. Halftime lasts 15 minutes. The play clock is 35 seconds, starting at the end of the previous play.
During the final minute of the fourth quarter, the clock stops if the offensive team has the lead and fails to advance the ball past the line of scrimmage. This prevents the offensive team from merely kneeling down or running other plays that are designed solely to exhaust the remaining time rather than to advance the ball downfield, as often occurs in the outdoor game.
In overtime, each team gets one possession to score. If after each team has had one possession, one team is ahead, that team wins. If the teams are tied after each has had a possession, the next team to score ("sudden death") wins. Each overtime period is 15 minutes, and continues from the ending of the previous overtime period until the tie is broken.
Before the 2006 season, there was one 15-minute overtime period, and if it expired with the teams still tied, the game was recorded as a tie. There were two ties in AFL history before the 2006 rule change:
July 14, 1988: Chicago Bruisers 37, Los Angeles Cobras 37 (when this game was played, the overtime period was 7½ minutes long) April 8, 2005: Nashville Kats 41, Dallas Desperados 41 Before 2006, the play clock was 25 seconds, and it began on signal from the referee.
Because of its young age as a sport, few popular culture references to arena football exist. It is, however, established as a high school sport in the motion picture version of Starship Troopers, and most of the lead characters play the sport, with a game taking place as an early scene in the film. In addition, Van Montgomery, a character on the TV sitcom Reba, was employed for a time as an arena football player.
A previous movie reference can be found in Kinjite: Forbidden Subjects, directed by J. Lee Thompson and starring Charles Bronson. One scene takes place during an AFL game, with the Chicago Bruisers visiting the Los Angeles Cobras. It was released in early 1989.
The movie White Noise also shows a short clip of an arena football game. In the scene where Michael (the young boy) is surfing through the TV channels, he pauses on an arena football game (which was actually live at the time of recording) between the Orlando Predators and another team. Because the game was live, the producers of the movie had to get written permission to use the game after the film was finished.[citation needed]
EA Tiburon released an arena football video game under the publisher EA Sports. The game was released on February 9, 2006 (or, according to the EA Sports site, February 7, 2006) and features licensed players and arenas from the Arena Football League. They also released a sequel in 2007. Midway Sports did publish an arena football game in 2001 (Kurt Warner's Arena Football Unleashed). This game was poorly received, both by traditional videogamers who saw it as an unneeded ripoff of one of Midway's other game, NFL Blitz, and by arena football fans who did not like the rule changes and arcade nature of the game.
In 2001, Jeff Foley published War on the Floor: an average guy plays in the Arena Football League and lives to write about it. The book details a journalist's two preseasons (1999 and 2000) as an offensive specialist/writer with the now-defunct Albany Firebirds. The 5-foot-6, self-described "unathletic writer" played in three preseason games and had one catch for -2 yards.
During the opening sequence of True Crime: New York City, Two unnamed characters can be seen playing arena football.
In 2008, the movie Baby Mama had one of the characters trying to win Arena Football tickets through a radio contest.