In a development that’s no real surprise given the league’s inability to raise much-needed capital in the worst economy since World War II, the AFL apparently will soon be calling it quits.
Our pal Steve Duemig of WDAE radio in Tampa tells us that Tampa Bay Storm president and COO Jim Borghesi has announced on his Facebook page that the AFL will soon announce that the league will disband.
If Borghesi’s contention is accurate (and there’s no reason to think it isn’t), it’s a sad final chapter for a league that survived -- albeit never truly thrived -- for more than 20 years.
The AFL suspended play in 2009, but the indoor football league was unable to craft a viable plan for returning in 2010.
Several AFL franchises were owned in whole or in part by owners of NFL teams, and with the disappearance of NFL Europa a couple of years ago, the AFL was the only quasi-minor league for the NFL.
The development is good news for the fledgling UFL, which now will have no American competitors as it attempts to develop into a bona fide, in-season NFL feeder system.