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Af2
The AF2 (often styled as af2, and short for arenafootball2) was the Arena Football League's developmental league; it was founded in 1999 and played its first season in 2000. Like its parent AFL, the AF2 played using the same arena football rules and style of play. League seasons ran from April through July with the postseason and ArenaCup championship in August. The AF2 continued to operate while the AFL suspended operations for its 2009 season. The league was effectively disbanded in September 2009 when no team committed to playing in 2010, but several of the stronger franchises transferred into the reconstituted AFL. Like most other minor sports leagues, the AF2 existed to develop football players and also to help players adapt to the style and pace of arena football. In addition, the AF2 was similar to other minor leagues because AF2 teams played in smaller cities and smaller venues. While the AFL was played in cities like Los Angeles, New York City, Philadelphia, Da ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Birmingham Steeldogs
The Alabama Steeldogs, originally known as the Birmingham Steeldogs, were incorporated in 2000 as one of the charter teams in the AF2, the developmental league of the Arena Football League. Entering their eighth season as of 2007, they were the longest running of many professional football franchises in the city of Birmingham, Alabama, Birmingham. Management announced that it would not field a team in 2008 but had hopes of returning in 2009. But the team's front office has since been dissolved, and with no announcements of further plans, the team is defunct. The team's first head coach was former University of Alabama standout Bobby Humphrey. In October 2005, Ron Selesky, formerly of the Arena Football League's Columbus Destroyers, Carolina Cobras and Tampa Bay Storm, as well as the AF2's Albany Conquest and Louisville Fire, was hired as the team's second coach. The team played its home games at the Legacy Arena, Birmingham Jefferson Convention Complex Arena in downtown Birmingh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jerry Kurz
Jerry B. Kurz (born June 21, 1949) is a founding father of the now-defunct Arena Football League. He was one of the earliest leaders of Arena football, and was part owner of Gridiron Enterprises, original owner of the proprietary, formerly patented, Arena football system. Early years Kurz attended college and played football at the University of Oklahoma to earn his undergraduate degree. At Northern Illinois University he earned a Juris Doctor degree. He and his wife Kathryn, both being licensed attorneys, operated their own law firm for 20 years together. Together the two have a son named Matthew Hall Kurz, who was a walk-on, who later earned a full athletic scholarship to the Indiana University football team from 2005–2010. Arena football Kurz worked with Arena football for almost 30 years and was the second-longest tenured employee of Arena football, second only to Arena football creator Jim Foster. Under Kurz's leadership as president of af2, the league expanded into ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
ArenaCup
The ArenaCup was the af2's championship game. For the league's first five years, it was held at the arena of the higher seeded team. However, the 2005 ArenaCup was the first to be played at a neutral site in Bossier City, Louisiana. The 2006 ArenaCup was played in Coliseo de Puerto Rico in San Juan. On August 25, 2007, ArenaCup 8 returned to Bossier City, LA. ArenaCup 9 was played at the arena of the higher seeded team, the Spokane Shock. ArenaCup 10 was held at the Orleans Arena in Paradise, Nevada. For the 2000 and 2001 ArenaCups, the game was televised nationally by TNN (now Paramount Network), who carried AFL games at the time. However, when the AFL announced their televised games would be shown on NBC rather than TNN, the ArenaCup telecast was lost. The 2002 ArenaCup was televised by the Vision Network, and the 2003 game was televised by KWHB, a local station in Tulsa, Oklahoma. After having no television coverage in 2004, the game was telecast nationally by Fox Sports Ne ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
2009 AF2 Season
The 2009 AF2 season was the AF2's 10th and final season. It was preceded by 2008. The regular season began on Friday, March 20 and finished on Saturday, July 25. The league champion was the Spokane Shock, who defeated the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Pioneers 74–27 in ArenaCup X. League info Standings ''Through Week 18'' * ''Green indicates clinched playoff berth'' * ''Purple indicates division champion'' * ''Gray indicates best conference record'' Playoffs ArenaCup X ArenaCup X was the tenth and final edition of arenafootball2's championship game in which the National Conference Champions Spokane Shock defeated the American Conference Champions Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Pioneers, 74–27. The game was held on Saturday, August 22, 2009. As part of the league's tenth anniversary celebrations, the game was held at the neutral-site Orleans Arena (within the Orleans Resort & Casino) in Las Vegas. Because of legal issues regarding the ownership of arenafootball2 (the original A ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
2000 AF2 Season
The 2000 AF2 season was the first season of the af2. It was succeeded by 2001. The league champions were the Quad City Steamwheelers, who capped off a perfect season with a victory over the Tennessee Valley Vipers in ArenaCup I. This is the only AF2 season lacking division alignment. League info Standings Playoffs Awards and honors Regular season awards ArenaCup I ArenaCup I was the 2000 edition of the af2's championship game, in which the National Conference runners-up Tennessee Valley Vipers were defeated by the National Conference Champions Quad City Steamwheelers in Moline, Illinois Moline ( ) is a city in Rock Island County, Illinois, United States. With a population of 42,985 in the 2020 census, it is the largest city in Rock Island County and the List of municipalities in Illinois, ninth-most populous in Illinois outside ... by a score of 68 to 59. External links 2000 af2 statsQuad City Steamwheelers Main Web-Site Quad City Steamwh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spokane Shock
The Spokane Shock were a professional indoor American football team based in Spokane, Washington, that played their home games at the Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena. The team was initially a member of arenafootball2 (af2), the Shock won division titles in all four seasons and ArenaCups in 2006 and 2009 before they joined the Arena Football League (AFL) in its 2010 relaunch. The team advanced to the playoffs three times after joining the AFL, winning ArenaBowl XXIII in their first season, making them the only arena football franchise to win both the ArenaCup and the ArenaBowl. The AFL franchise was folded in October 2015 and the ownership group obtained a franchise in the Indoor Football League (IFL), known as the Spokane Empire, as the rights to the Shock name still belonged to the AFL. They played in the IFL as the Empire for the 2016 and 2017 seasons. On July 12, 2017, owner Nader Naini announced that the Empire would cease operations, citing financial issues. About a year ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Quad City Steamwheelers
The Quad City Steamwheelers were a professional arena football team. They were a charter member of the AF2 and played their home games at iWireless Center in Moline, Illinois. The team was founded on September 1, 1999, when the Quad Cities was awarded an arena football franchise. Managing owner (and inventor of arena football) Jim Foster coined the team's nickname. In December 2009, it was confirmed that the Steamwheelers had ceased operations, opting not to join the new Arena Football League after the bankruptcy of the Arena Football League and subsequent disbanding of af2. Team history Back-to-back ArenaCup wins The Steamwheelers played their inaugural season in 2000 and dominated the league for its first two seasons. They went undefeated in 2000 behind coach Frank Haege, even winning one game by a score of 103-3 over Greensboro in Greensboro, en route to capturing the first-ever ArenaCup Championship. In 2001, the Steamwheelers nearly repeated that accomplishment by fin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arena Football
Arena football is a variety of gridiron football designed to be played indoors. The game is played on a smaller field than American or Canadian football, designed to fit in the same surface area as a standard North American ice hockey rink, and features between six and eight players for each team playing at any given time depending on the league, resulting in a faster and higher-scoring game that can be played on the floors of indoor arenas. The sport was invented in 1981, and patented in 1987, by Jim Foster, a former executive of the National Football League and the United States Football League. The name is trademarked by Gridiron Enterprises and had a proprietary format until its patent expired in 2007. Three leagues have played under official arena football rules: the Arena Football League, which played 32 seasons in two separate runs from 1987 to 2008 and 2010 to 2019; arenafootball2, the AFL's erstwhile developmental league, which played 10 seasons from 2000 through ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jim Foster (football)
James Foster is the inventor of the game of Arena Football, (and US patent recipient), the founder and first commissioner of the Arena Football League (AFL). He is also a former National Football League (NFL) and United States Football League (USFL) executive and was later the Managing Owner of both the Iowa Barnstormers and the AF2's Quad City Steamwheelers. Biography Born and raised in Iowa City, Iowa, Foster graduated from the University of Iowa in 1972 with a BGS in advertising/marketing and broadcast journalism, (working on air for UIowa radio stations WSUI and KICR). At Iowa, Foster lettered in track/cross country while also being a member and officer in the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity. He also served as the paid executive director of the overall 22 houses fraternity system at UIowa from 1970 to 1972 when he graduated. In 1974 He founded, played and served as club director of the Newton Nite Hawks minor league football team of the Northern States AAA Pro Football League ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Indoor Professional Football League
The Indoor Professional Football League (IPFL) was the new incarnation of the Professional Indoor Football League (PIFL), which started in 1998. Two of its teams (the Madison Mad Dogs and the Green Bay Bombers) left the league and their owner, Kerry Ecklund, founded the Indoor Football League in 1999. The IPFL led a troubled three-year existence, and died after its 2001 season, with its most successful teams joining up with the National Indoor Football League. The IPFL was unique among indoor football leagues in that it sanctioned the use of a white football, manufactured by Rawlings, which was easier to see in the artificial lighting conditions. The league's slogan was "Great Football, No Gimmicks". In 1999, IPFL was headed by a new commissioner, Mike Storen, and the league offices were moved to Atlanta. IPFL 1999 teams Before the Pro Indoor Football League folded, the league was looking into replacing the two folded franchises of Minnesota and Texas and expanding the l ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Indoor Football League (1999–2000)
The Indoor Football League (IFL) began in 1999 as an offshoot of the troubled Professional Indoor Football League. Keary Ecklund, the owner of the Green Bay Bombers and Madison Mad Dogs, left the PIFL after its first, financially troubled, season to start his own league. Unlike the PIFL, the IFL was an "entity league"; teams were owned by the league and franchised out to management groups. NFL Hall-of-Famer Kellen Winslow was brought in as commissioner. The league was successful enough for a major expansion in 2000. Expansion was done regionally to cut down on travel expenses. Hence, the majority of the teams were in the Midwest. Their championship game was known as the Gold Cup. Midway through the 2000 season, the Topeka Knights changed management and nicknames and became the Kings. After the season, the entire league was purchased by the Arena Football League's Orlando Predators. Two teams, the Lincoln Lightning and Peoria Pirates, as well as many players, became a part ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
2000 In Sports
2000 in sports describes the year's events in world sport. Alpine skiing * Alpine Skiing World Cup ** Men's overall season champion: Hermann Maier, Austria ** Women's overall season champion: Renate Götschl, Austria American football * Super Bowl XXXIV – the St. Louis Rams (NFC) won 23–16 over the Tennessee Titans (AFC) **Location: Georgia Dome **Attendance: 72,625 **MVP: Kurt Warner, QB (St. Louis) * Marshall Faulk wins the regular-season MVP award. * Sugar Bowl (1999 season): ** The Florida State Seminoles won 49-29 over the Virginia Tech Hokies to win the college football national championship Association football * Euro 2000 – France won 2-1 in extra time over Italy, with a golden goal by Trézéguet. This was France's second European Championship title. * Champions' League – Real Madrid won 3-0 in the final against Valencia. This was Real Madrid's 8th European Cup title. * UEFA Cup 1999–2000 – Galatasaray won 4-1 on penalties, in the final against Arsena ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
