After a one-year hiatus, the Arena Football League returned last week. None of the 15 teams is headquartered in California.
According to Alan Schwarz of the New York Times, the omission of the largest state in the union was deliberate. The AFL avoided the Golden State because of a workers’ compensation system that hands out way too much silver.
“It’s definitely part of the decision-making process,” AFL Commissioner Jerry Kurz told Schwarz. “I bring it up in the first conversation I have with anyone interested in bringing a team to California.”
The concern comes from the perceived ability in California of retired players to impose the cost of orthopedic injuries and surgeries on former football employers.
That said, the folks in California weren’t bashful about changing the environmental laws to clear a path for the construction of a new NFL stadium, even with no guarantee that a team would play there. Surely, they can fix the workers’ comp system to ensure that former football players are treated the same way in California as they are in other states.
Unless and until that happens, the San Jose SaberCats and the L.A. Avengers possibly will remain on indefinite hiatus.