The Philadelphia Soul is not listed as one of the teams for the upcoming AFL season.
Whoever heard of a championship team in professional sports not being able to defend its championship.
That’s exactly what happened to the Philadelphia Soul.
When we last saw an Arena Football League (AFL) game, Jon Bon Jovi and the Soul were hoisting the championship trophy. Since that day, the AFL canceled one season due to economic concerns. Many thought the league was dead.
Word came out today that the AFL will hold a season starting in April with the championship game being held in August. The NFL Network will broadcast a series of games.
However, the Soul is not part of the league’s 15 teams. It appears Bon Jovi, Craig Spencer and others were fed up with the direction of the league. As recently as last April, Spencer was looking to help the AFL rejuvenate itself. He is quoted on the league’s website as saying:
“The owners of the AFL realize we have the most fan-friendly, affordable and accessible sport anywhere,” said Craig Spencer, co-owner of the ArenaBowl champion Philadelphia Soul. “The process of revamping our business model will ensure that the AFL continues to provide value to its fans, not only surviving in the years to come, but thriving. There is still a lot of work to be done, but I am excited that we are close to bringing this great game back to the fans.”
The Soul and league announced later in the year that they were likely folding. Why the AFL continues while the Soul don’t is something that needs some explaining. We’ll work on finding out the answer.
In the meantime, as Ric Flair says, “To be the man, you gotta beat the man.” Since the defending champs can’t be beat, the Soul will forever be the king of the AFL.
The Sould should have never been there from the start. They lost to the Dragons. JBJ and his pals killed the AFL. The final arenabowl was a set-up as well. The Soul will always be know as the team that never earned the championship.
There was a champion of Arena Football in 2009 – it was the Spokane Shock. The AF2 being the only, and thus top level, arena football played in 2009. The Shock will defend the Arena Football Champion title starting April 2 when the AFL returns for the 2010 season culminating in the ArenaBowl in late August.
PS – Quoting Ric Flair…Really?
There is a distinction to be made, however. The AFL is not returning. This is a new league, Arena Football 1, which has teams from both the old AFL and AF2 in it. The AFL Web site is still up, still promising the league may return soon. But the AF1 is the only league actually planning to play anytime soon.
Hahaha tha shock are you serious the AF2 is a joke compared to the ORIGINAL arena football League..The players were drastically different! In the original Arena league you had ex nfl players on teams and guys that got cut from nfl training camps barely missing the 52 man roster..The AF2 had players from small school who nobody ever heard of..The talent was extremely different. All football fans knew that. Just like we know the talent is different from the NFLto the old AFL…As for this new league..they are bringing old Arena 2 players in with a sprinkle of the original Arena players to try to get the fans back and turn a profit but honestly until they get the salaries back for the players of a minimum of 28 to 30k they will never have the same talent. guys cant feed there family off of 400 dollars a week before taxes..and thats what the new league is paying.
The last ARENA BOWL was a joke. Someone wanted to make sure there was going to be a new champion. The Sabercats were, and ALWAYS will be the class of arena football!!!!
Can’t handle the fact that the Soul won the title? You can’t dthrone a champ that no longer plays.
1. the soul won because of D’Orazio.. no way Graziani would have taken the team that far
2. the Sabercats a class team? HA!
If you are going to look for answers, I’d say a good place to start would be with Craig Spencer. He was part of the group that was outbid on the backruptcy sale of the AFL assets last December. Makes me wonder if they had won that bid how things would have turned out.
I have an e-mail into him. We’ll see what happens.
Spencer & JBJ lied to Soul fans when things turned south for the league. They were an ownership group that was forced to work together and coexist, and had very different views on the team and league. JBJ, more than Spencer, was responsible for voting to disband the league after ‘08, despite his constant statements to the contrary. But make no mistake- Craig was no better. This was a business investment/write-off for Spencer, and an expensive toy for JBJ. Nothing more.
Ron…
In your post, sounds like you are quoting the propaganda Krause was spreading around. Do you really believe that JBJ is that powerful and has that much influence over ESPN, Arthur Blank, Jerry Jones and Tom Benson that he controlled them? I don’t.
I agree that JBJ and Spencer have different views and were brought together by the league, but the league is now gone and they are still working together with the JBJSoulFoundation. Not affiliated with the former team in any way. No need to continue that working relationship unless they want to.
Guess the league is not gone because AF1 is now the AFL (again)
http://www.arenafootballmedia.com/omk.php?pid=1614&sid=S20100217135829TKCSH3&pr=1769
and the Soul might not be either
http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2010/02/17/new-arena-league-targets-four-markets-for-expansion/
Kurz stressed the league would love to get the Philadelphia Soul team led by Jon Bon Jovi and Ron Jaworski back on board. Kurz said no one has done more for the league than Bon Jovi and his group. The new AFL has been in talks to bring the Soul back.