It is appropriate the Georgia Force and Colorado Crush will face one another Sunday in a bigger and better ArenaBowl.
The Force (13-5) and Crush (12-6) are the first set of new teams in the Arena Football League’s championship game since ArenaBowl III in 1989, and league officials are calling it a new experience.
“We’ve made it a weekend event,” said Chris McCloskey, the AFL’s senior vice president of communications. “We’ve gone from a program with two events to one with nine events.”
When the city with the top-seeded team in the finale played host to the ArenaBowl, it consisted of the game and an awards program. There’s much more to this year’s experience in Las Vegas – the first neutral site – starting with Thursday night’s awards program.
Fans attending the weekend event who want a break from the gaming tables can check out an ArenaBattle Skills Challenge on Friday, an ArenaBash concert featuring Maroon 5 on Saturday and a Fan Fest, where fans can test their football skills and get autographs from players Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
McCloskey reported the league and Las Vegas have entered into three one-year agreements to play the ArenaBowl at the Thomas & Mack Center.
“We have every reason to anticipate being in Las Vegas for at least the next three games,” McCloskey said. “We’re very interested in seeing the overall results of the total weekend.”
The Thomas & Mack Center seats 15,000 for indoor football and a crowd approaching capacity is expected Sunday.
Footnotes
McCloskey indicated league officials have taken a hard look at the premature release of confetti Sunday at the Pepsi Center that delayed the start of overtime. McCloskey said he didn’t anticipate the Crush would be fined. …
Crush coach Mike Dailey moved into fourth place on the AFL’s coaches win list. Sunday’s 49-43 win was Dailey’s 67th career victory. Tim Marcum, the coach of the Denver Dynamite in 1987 when it won the first ArenaBowl with a 45-16 victory over Pittsburgh, leads arena league coaches with 176 victories. Marcum has made AFL stops in Denver, Detroit and Tampa Bay, where he is coach.
Irv Moss can be reached at 303-820-1296 or imoss@denverpost.com.
