AF2 eyeing Las Vegas franchise

By Steve Silver

Friday, Aug. 21, 2009 | 6:45 p.m.

Arena football might make a comeback in Las Vegas.

As if the United Football League's choo-choo trains were not enough in this market, Arena Football2 president Jerry Kurz said Friday at the Orleans Arena that he wants to bring a franchise to Las Vegas in the near future.

"This is a market that we'd like to bring AF2 to," Kurz said at the league's ArenaCup 10 media day. "There was a team here in the AFL and that was a different economic model. This market, with this size building, fits our model much better so we'd very much like to have a team here. (Saturday's) game is a good exposure to the market for people to see our product and find out if people want us here."

The AF2 is holding its league championship in Las Vegas for the first time ever Saturday night at 7 p.m. This title contest between the Spokane Shock and the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Pioneers is also the first time arean football will be played in the Orleans Arena since the Gladiators relocated to Cleveland.

Arena football first started in Las Vegas with the now defunct Sting. The Sting played one season at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in 1994 before moving to the Thomas & Mack Center in 1995. The following year the Sting relocated to Anaheim.

The Gladiators ushered in the second era of arena football in 2003 at the Thomas & Mack. In 2007 the team moved to the Orleans Arena in an effort to increase attendance, but only drew an average of 5,300 fans. The Gladiators also struggled on the field with a 31-50 record and one playoff appearance in its five seasons in Las Vegas.

Aside from Las Vegas' arena football misfortunes, the Arena Football League is now bankrupt after it ceased operations due to financial trouble this year.

Yet neither of those factors seemed to deter Kurz desire for an AF2 Las Vegas team on Friday.

"The AFL is our big brother, but they never supported us with any money," Kurz said. "We exist as a separate entity, with separate staffs and different teams. We didn't get funding from them when they played so it has no affect on us. The fact that they are not playing doesn't affect us one bit… Las Vegas could succeed in our league.

AF2 currently has 25 teams with a West Division including Spokane, Boise and Stockton.