A few weeks ago, Amy & I caught a Chicago Rush vs. Utah Blaze game at the Allstate Arena. We were joined at this Arena Football game by my parents, along with two fellow Kidology staff members who were in town for various meetings… my boss Karl Bastian and our Executive Operations Coordinator, Todd McKeever.
Steve, Todd, & Karl
The sound system was way too loud and distorted at times
Let's just say right off the bat that there wasn't much of a football game. At the time, the Rush were undefeated and the Blaze had yet to win a game. And it stayed that way with the Rush winning this game 63-40. So when you have a blowout like that, you tend to poke around and see what else is going in.
East Endzone attendance check: 7,459 was the reported attendance for this game
Compared to the home opener, there weren't any changes in advertisers on the field. This was another Friday night game, but not televised on NFL Network, and the attendance was very poor. Only 7,459 people were there. The first home game had 8075, so this was a dropoff. Not good, given the 14,000+ audiences we had during the Rush's prime years before the AFL bankruptcy.
An overview of the emptiness
Goofy races on the field
We saw a few more promotions on the field, but overall, the non-game portion of the game was actually quite dull.
Utah... kinda stunk
Final score: 63-40
Here's hoping the overall experience improves (we're heading to the next home game vs. Iowa on Saturday), because at this point, I'm on the fence regarding the value proposition of attending. I know, that sounds a bit crazy for someone like me who has been a big Arena Football fan over the years. But in this rebooted league, there's just something missing.
Arena/Indoor Football Story Navigation
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2011
PHI – SJ
2009
Intro – MKE – WIS – RR – WHL – MAR
2008
SJ – PHI – COL – ARI – GR – LA – KC – DAL
2007
@CMB – LA – PHI – COL – NSH – KC – LA
2006
NY – NSH – SJ – DAL – GR – LV – UTA
ArenaBowl XX – Celebration
2005
DAL – ORL – @GR – COL – LV – GR – @NSH
2004
GR – COL – @IND – ORL – DET – TB
LA – @DET – @GR – DAL – IND – ORL
2003
ORL
