Arena Football
Arena football is a game resembling American football that is played on a shorter indoor field between two teams of eight players each. The Arena Football League considered starting an expansion team in the arena, but the league folded in August 2009. However, after a two-year hiatus, the AFL returned and has also considered an expansion team in Pittsburgh. On August 19, 2010, news sources reported that the Consol Energy Center will be the home of the Pittsburgh Power, which began play in the spring of 2011. The team's ownership group will include former Pittsburgh Steelers and National Football League Hall of Famer Lynn Swann. Pittsburgh will be the 5th city added for the 2011 AFL season, joining the San Jose SaberCats, Kansas City Command (formerly the Brigade), New Orleans VooDoo and Philadelphia Soul – who were all previous members of the Arena Football League. Playing in a city renowned for its enthusiasm for sports, the Power finished its inaugural season with impressive attendance figures. In nine home games, the Power averaged 9,197 fans per game, a figure that includes an audience of 13,904 that showed up for the season opener against the Philadelphia Soul. Overall, the Power ranks sixth among the 18 Arena Football League teams in average attendance through 17 games, and its average attendance is about 1,000 people more than the AFL average.
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Famous quotes containing the words arena and/or football:
“... often the empowering strategies we use in the arena of love and friendship are immediately dropped when we come into the arena of politicized difference—when in fact some of those strategies are useful and necessary.”
—bell hooks (b. c. 1955)
“People stress the violence. That’s the smallest part of it. Football is brutal only from a distance. In the middle of it there’s a calm, a tranquility. The players accept pain. There’s a sense of order even at the end of a running play with bodies stewn everywhere. When the systems interlock, there’s a satisfaction to the game that can’t be duplicated. There’s a harmony.”
—Don Delillo (b. 1926)