Arena Football League Comes to Cleveland

In March, Cleveland will have another professional sport at the Quicken Loans Arena. In the NFL offseason, Cleveland will now be home to an Arena Football League team. Spawning from the under-performing Las Vegas franchise, the new Cleveland team, which Cleveland.com is currently referring to as the Cleveland Gladiators, will be relocated to Cleveland. The Cleveland franchise will have several familiar names in the front office, led by owner Jim Ferraro, who also own Kelly and Ferraro Law Firm, also based out of Cleveland.

A familiar football presence will also be returning to Cleveland in the CEO and President of the Cleveland franchise. Bernie Kosar will enter into the Arena Football League with other past football players, such as John Elway who partially owns the Colorado franchise and celebrities such as Jon Bon Jovi who owns a portion of the Philadelphia franchise.

The addition of the Cleveland franchise will give the state of Ohio two teams, something only California and Florida also share in common. The Columbus franchise just finished up a relatively strong season in 2007, going all the way to the ArenaBowl, the equivilant of the NFL's Superbowl, but losing to San Jose. Expect to see heavy marketing campaigns building up the Columbus and Cleveland game, as both teams will be playing each others as rivals in the same division.

The city of Cleveland should react well to the addition of a new professional sports team. With a season that takes place after the NFL season and prior to the MLB season, it will coincide well with the NBA season. The Cleveland franchise should bring in large crowds, especially in its first year, and it will give more people, including families, a reason to go to downtown Cleveland to the Quicken Loans Arena. Arena football is well known for the high energy and excitement it builds in its venues, from players being slammed into walls, to balls being caught off huge nets in the end zone. Also, since games are played in what typically are basketball arenas, the field is significantly smaller, allowing for higher scoring games. A former Arena Football League legend is Kurt Warner, who began his career in the Arena Football League before progressing onward to NFL Europe and, finally, the NFL.

For now, according to a Cleveland.com report, the team will be training at the Lost Nation Sports Park. The Lost Nation Sports Park is located on the east side of Cleveland in Willoughby, near Mentor, Ohio. A draft to distribute players from the now-defunct Nashville and Austin franchises will take place on October 22, with the AFL Free Agent signing period beginning on October 29.

For more information, including ordering season tickets, fans can go to www.clevelandafl.com . Ticket prices range from $8/game up to $150/game, depending on seat location.