Columnist Dean Juipe: Small crowd comes to watch, but Arena League is staying

Dean Juipe

Monday, April 28, 2003 | 9:45 a.m.

Dean Juipe's column appears Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. His boxing notebook appears Thursday. Reach him at juipe@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4084.

Aided by this past weekend's NFL draft, it almost seemed like football season again.

And, wouldn't you know it, in some places it is.

North America's favorite sport may require a map and a working knowledge of the back roads, but it takes no break. For pro fans, the National Football League season leads into the Arena Football League season, which leads into the Canadian Football League season, which brings the hardcore fan back around to NFL summer camps.

It's nonstop football, for those who choose to subject themselves to such insidiousness.

A few such people were at the Thomas & Mack Center Sunday afternoon to see the AFL's Las Vegas Gladiators against the Detroit Fury, and they appeared to be having a good time. The Gladiators scored a couple of quick touchdowns and went on to win, 58-45, taking sole possession of the Eastern Division lead with a 7-6 record and three games yet to play.

This was an important game, everyone seemed to agree. But I saw the importance not in the final score, but as a test of the AFL's stature in Las Vegas.

A spring afternoon ... plenty of other diversions ... just who would go to see an indoor football game contested by second-tier players in a league that has already failed once in the city?

I put the crowd at no better than 4,000, which is nowhere near the team's supposed average of 9,634. In a visual concession of sorts, the upper deck was almost completely curtained off.

Those in attendance were enthusiastic, although not so enthusiastic that they could be left to their own devices. Ofttimes, the public-address announcer prodded, cajoled and virtually begged the fans to cheer for one thing or another.

The AFL, with its goofy, narrow 50-yard field, slim goal posts and bumper-car sidelines, is big on fan interaction, big on noise. The Gladiators supposedly have toned down the voltage since opening night, yet it's still plenty loud.

The caliber of play is decent, although my second AFL game this season and probably sixth or eighth in my life reminded me again of the league's inherent weakness from my cynical perspective: eight-man football can be fun and the guys are certainly athletic, but should any of us really care?

I will say this for the Gladiators: they're in no danger of folding. Whether you like, dislike or merely tolerate the product, the AFL will be here in 2004 if not beyond.

The Gladiators came here from New Jersey on 45 days' notice and play in a league with abysmal TV numbers, yet there's some money behind the endeavor and it's entirely possible, if not likely, that they can find a niche in Las Vegas.

"One year from now, that's when we'll really be able to tell," said team consultant Rich Rose, who knows the local marketplace inside out from his years with Caesars Palace and the XFL's Las Vegas Outlaws. He says the franchise's future can't be determined until at least a calendar year's worth of promotion, visibility and growth can be measured.

Rose is a good thinker and he's thinking maybe the team's home dates and starting times could be adjusted to fit the local clientele. He says a 5 p.m. kickoff and Saturday home games might be ideal.

At 3 p.m. Sunday, with a scaled-back arena only about one-quarter full, 5 p.m. Saturday sounded like a good idea.