The name and the game are the same, as are a few players. However, just about everything else regarding the Georgia Force is different, which the team hopes will produce a sustainable product.
Atlanta's entry in the Arena Football League began practice Monday in advance of its March 13 opener at Gwinnett Arena. The league, which rebooted in 2010 after declaring bankruptcy in 2009, is being run under a new business model that will pay most players $400 per game.
Said team president Ron Evans, "We're in a situation where we have to prove ourselves to this market."
The original Force arrived in 2002 from Nashville, first playing the frenetic indoor game at Philips Arena. The team moved to Gwinnett Arena in Duluth in 2003, was purchased by Falcons owner Arthur Blank in 2004, moved back to Philips in 2005 and then reversed course again to Duluth in 2008, which turned out to be the old league's final season.
A group of league officials bought it out of bankruptcy in December 2009 and implemented a new model in which the league and teams operate as a single entity. Coaches and players are employees of the league, not their teams. The Alabama Vipers, who had previously been in arena football's second-tier league, played the 2010 season in Huntsville and moved to Gwinnett shortly after the season.
"There's certainly immediate name recognition for the Georgia Force and the AFL," Evans said. "But people are asking the question, ‘Well, what does the new AFL mean?'"
The league is being run on a pittance compared to the old model. Previously, Evans said, the league had 64 full-time employees in New York and Chicago to run its two leagues.
The new league is based in Tulsa, Okla. -- "because we got an incredibly wonderful deal on office space, and we happen to have a league team there," Evans said -- and has 14 full-time staffers.
The player salary cap in the old league peaked at about $2.2 million, coach Dean Cokinos said. That's more than the Force's entire operating budget.
"What happened to the old league was not anything more than the reality of the marketplace finally being brought to bear to the financial condition of teams," Evans said.
Previously, players could sign multi-year contracts and some made six figures. All players in the league sign one-year deals and most make $400 per game. Three top players make $1,000 per game. All receive room and board. Some players will supplement their income by working part-time jobs during the season.
"It's probably going to be a two- or three-year lifespan for a player," Cokinos said. "You get a guy over three years in this league, it's probably not good for anybody."
The strategy prevents the league from developing long-term stars, but Evans believes it will benefit the game.
"They're either here [trying to get to the NFL] or they're here because they love the game so much they can't give it up yet," he said. "Frankly, I think that gives you a more dedicated, hard-working player than someone who can make a good living playing arena football."
Average attendance in the new AFL was about 8,100 last season, down about 39 percent from the 2008 season. Evans said that the Force need to average about 5,000 fans to break even.
Evans hopes that the lures that created a loyal following in the past -- tickets starting at $10, free parking at Gwinnett Arena and the fast-paced arena game -- will re-claim its niche in the market.
The Force, who drew about 10,300 in 2008 to the 11,200-seat Gwinnett Arena, had sold about 1,200 season tickets as of last week.
"Honestly, in the long run, you can't buy a fan base," Evans said, "because the fact of the matter is you have to earn one."
