The AFL and San Antonio: How 2016 Could be a Bridge for 2017

(photo credit: bizjournals.com)

The 2016 Arena Football League season is starting up in less than a month from now, but not without some questions. It’s going to be a tough year on the league for sure. This offseason alone will no doubt go down as the worst offseason in AFL history.

The day after the regular season ended, the Las Vegas Outlaws and the New Orleans Voodoo ceased operations. On Sept. 1, the Spokane Empire (at the time they were the Spokane Shock) moved to the Indoor Football League (IFL).

A major black eye occurred on Oct. 30 when the league announced there would be no expansion in 2016, just hours before the San Antonio Spurs were going to announce that they had been awarded a team for the 2016 season. This city has not had a team since the San Antonio Talons played in the league from 2012-2014.

A few weeks later, the defending champion San Jose Sabercats folded. Then on Jan. 6, the AFL took over operations for the Portland Thunder.

Because of this, the AFL will have only eight teams in 2016. But with all the bad things that have happened since 2015 ended, there are some bright things on the horizon for the AFL.

In November, Philadelphia Soul majority owner Craig Spencer announced that there would be six new teams in 2017. Three of them would be owned by the Spurs, Sacramento Kings, and Washington Wizards. The other three would be in Mexico.

New Era was announced as a new sponsor for the league, and just recently, Wizards owner Ted Leonsis confirmed Spencer's announcement of the Wizards wanting to get involved.

The Wizards and Kings aren’t the only NBA teams that want to get involved with the AFL. The NBA's model franchise also has interest in starting up an AFL franchise. 

The Spurs needed some time to get ready to host an AFL franchise. Which is why they renovated the AT&T Center this past summer. They went out and bought a field. Officials from their WNBA team, the San Antonio Stars even confirmed that they knew of the Spurs getting a team.

So when word came that the official announcement would come at the Spurs home opener on Oct. 30, I made sure to be there.

At 4:30 in the afternoon, the AFL issued the most infamous press release in it’s history.

Just under three hours until the Spurs were set to announce they had been awarded a franchise, the AFL announced that there would be no expansion in 2016.

Just a few days later, the Spurs announced they had purchased Toyota Field, and would eventually announce a team in the USL that is now known as San Antonio FC.

The road to this 2016 season has been a tough one.

We’ve lost four teams, we’ve had a black eye for the ages placed upon us, we’ve had to take over another and rebrand it. But on this long road, there’s been signs of hope that the Spurs will get the AFL team that they have been trying to get for years.

As ArenaFan.coms Adam Markowitz and others have said, it’s inevitable that the Spurs will have a team. Sources have confirmed that the Spurs want to get involved with the AFL because the Cleveland Cavaliers are successful with their ownership of the Gladiators. Getting the Wizards a team will only help the Spurs want to get in, and they eventually will.

We still have to survive the 2016 season, and who knows what is going to happen off the field wise, but the future looks bright for once, and that future is with Spurs Sports And Entertainment.