Arena league still confident about Las Vegas

Adam Candee

Friday, June 25, 2004 | 9:49 a.m.

Arena Football League commissioner David Baker spent plenty of time Thursday touting the success of the league's recent expansion and relocated franchises during his state of the league conference call.

Expansion franchises in Philadelphia and Colorado are posting consistent sellouts and Columbus, which brought in the old Buffalo franchise, also fared well in attendance this season.

Baker's address came as part of the league's ArenaBowl weekend three days before the San Jose SaberCats and Arizona Rattlers will face off in Phoenix for the league championship.

Absent from his short list of mentions was Las Vegas, which will enter its third AFL season in 2005 after two years of average attendance and fan support. The Gladiators' average paid attendance for 2004 was about 10,000 people per game at the Thomas & Mack Center, but actual attendance normally came in at least 2,500 people lower than that, especially after the team struggled near midseason.

But that does not mean Baker is pessimistic about the future of the Gladiators in Las Vegas. In fact, he believes the AFL may have been ahead of the curve in penetrating the Las Vegas market when the Gladiators made their last-second move from New Jersey in 2002.

"I think more leagues are beginning to look at Las Vegas not only as a single-event town, but as a team town for other sports," Baker said.

Major League Baseball is moving closer to a decision on the permanent home of the Montreal Expos this summer and Baker believes Las Vegas, one of the contenders to land the nomadic team, is ready to support a big-time team.

"It's a population that wants to attach themselves to something," Baker said.

Of course, Las Vegas is still an attraction for those single-event settings of which Baker spoke. The league is considering, among many potential changes, the idea of creating a neutral-site ArenaBowl around which to focus the AFL's premier event. Baker named Las Vegas as one potential host, but also noted that he likes the idea of rewarding cities with most consistent fan support with the placement of the ArenaBowl.

"I love having it in the place where people earn it," he said.

The neutral-site idea was born of logistical concerns. Baker said Thursday that with more events surrounding ArenaBowl week, it is becoming increasingly difficult to arrange festivities and TV coverage of the championship game on short notice.

The league's board of directors will review a number of topics this weekend, including further expansion and possible changes to the playoff format, which could go back to 12 teams after reducing to eight this year. More decisions from the board are expected at the Aug. 17 meeting in Las Vegas.

Nashville, Cleveland, Boston, St. Louis and Miami are all candidates for expansion. Baker said his vision is for the AFL to someday expand to between 28 and 30 teams, with the af2 minor-league system eventually growing to around 100 teams.

He hopes that Las Vegas will continue to be a part of the league's recent boom, with a network TV contract and ratings that rival or exceed hockey. And Gladiators owner Jim Ferraro has expressed a desire to keep the team in Las Vegas.

Ferraro said Thursday the team needs to average 12,000 in home attendance to clear a healthy profit, but he expects to meet that figure next season.

"I think it's going to get better," Baker said.