AFL's demise won't affect future of Dorados, af2

HIDALGO – Though there probably won’t be an AFL, there will be an af2 and the Rio Grande Valley Dorados next season.

Both af2 president Jerry Kurz and Dorados general manager Grant Buckborough said Tuesday the af2 will go on without the AFL, and that the af2 and Dorados will be back for 2010.

“I don’t think this will affect us at all,” Buckborough said, adding the af2 has a conference call scheduled for 2 p.m. Wednesday where this is expected to be discussed.

“They didn’t play this year, and we did and functioned fine without them,” Kurz said. “We’d prefer to have them functioning and active. However, our existence is not dependent upon their existence.

“We want them to be active, we’d like them to be active, but whether they are or not, we’re playing.”

Late Monday, reports began to circulate that the AFL was on the brink of folding and declaring bankruptcy after sitting out the 2009 season in hopes of creating a better business model. But if the AFL were to declare bankruptcy, that wouldn’t affect the af2.

Though the af2 is considered a developmental league for the AFL, the leagues do not share offices, staffs or even seasons. While the AFL does own 50.1 percent of the af2, the lower league is financially independent.

“We don’t rely on them for any funding, we don’t rely on them for any supplies, we don’t rely on them for players,” Kurz said. “When we first started af2, we were in their offices, using their staff and we were very young and growing. We’re in our 10th year, we’ve become mature, more mature.”

It’s certainly a good thing for af2 that it is financially independent from the AFL. If it weren’t, the recent reports of the AFL declaring bankruptcy (which it hasn’t yet) could possibly be damaging for the af2.

“If we were dependent on them for money, for our existence, to pay our bills, to operate, and they were filing bankruptcy, shoot, then we’d go ‘OK, we’ve got to replace it,” Kurz said. “We’ve never, even when they were functioning, received money from the AFL. On a purely financial outlook, it doesn’t affect us. On an emotional outlook, an emotional joining with us, it absolutely affects us.” 

Founded in 1987, the AFL started as a niche minor league that eventually tried to expand into major-league markets such as New York and Chicago. By 1999, the AFL was strong enough to form the af2, a developmental league that placed teams into smaller markets. Now, a decade later, it appears the af2 will outlive its founder. That eventuality could cause the af2 to re-evaluate some aspects of the league, aspects which could include its name and whether it will remain a developmental league.

Those issues could be discussed at a meeting later this month of af2 teams in Las Vegas, the site of the ArenaCup

“What we do know is that the Dorados will be there and that other teams will be there playing arena football,” Kurz said.

Brian Sandalow covers the Rio Grande Valley Dorados for Valley Freedom Newspapers. You can reach him at (956) 683-4436.