The Arena Football League, celebrating its 10th anniversary, might be celebrating its 11th season with a franchise at the Delta Center in the spring of 1997.
"It's basically a done deal," said one Delta Center employee, wishing to keep his identity unknown, about Utah acquiring an Arena Football team.But Delta Center general manager Scott Williams is saying, "that might not be necessarily so." It could take longer.
"That all depends if the prospective ownership, which has contacted me, wants to purchase an existing franchise or get a expansion franchise, wait a year and establish your new logo and educate the your new fans on the league itself," Williams said.
"If you purchase an exsisting franchise and move it, you keep the same logo, change the zip code and keep on going. I know the league won't allow the new owners to shelve the franchise for a year. They will allow an exsisting franchise to take a one-year sabbatical. That just won't happen," added Williams.
If that's the case, would the Charlotte Rage become the Utah Rage?
The Rage, which has spent the last two seasons getting established in the Carolina area, have been "just killed by the new National Football League franchise Carolina Panthers," explained Williams, who refused to say the Charlotte expansion would move to Utah.
At the same time, strong sources within the Arena Football League have indicated that Charlotte will move to Utah for the 1997 season, which runs from April to late July, with the playoffs in August.
It is rumored around the AFL that prospective Utah owners would be from Utah County and that current Charlotte owner Alan Swan would retain a percentage of the team.
"Yes, we have been contacted by prospective owners about dates," said Williams. "And finding eight dates for the Delta Center has been easy.
"But finding the other days won't be. We have 41 dates with the Utah Jazz and 41 dates with the Utah Grizzlies to consider first. We will know about the NBA dates within a week but not the IHL dates for possibly a month," added Williams.
"The Arena Football League wants their dates to be on Thursday, Friday, Saturday or Sunday. I don't think Sundays are very good dates (in Salt Lake City) for obivious reasons. I don't think the league likes Sundays, either, at this point.
"I'm confident that we can work the other two dates out in our scheduling," said Williams. "Consider this, too, that the NBA and IHL isn't really the competition in the summer months for the Arena Football League. July, with the rodeo being scheduled, is a tough month for us.
"You can't really schedule an Arena Football League game in the middle of the rodeo," continued Williams. "That is just out of the picture. July is a real busy month, too, with the Rocky Mountain Revue scheduled in the Delta Center.
"We've been asked many, many times to purchase an Arena Football League team and bring to the Delta Center. Before we weren't that interested. Now, we're thrilled with the idea because it's much easier to be a landlord than an owner."
If the dates can't be found by the Delta Center, an AFL Utah arrival would have to be delayed a year.
But Williams is so confident that it will come next year that he is sending his people out to visit Arena franchises in St. Louis, Phoenix and San Jose to educate his people on the needs for hosting the league.
"We're going to visit with people who have been doing this and learn from them," Williams said.
The expected Utah franchise would join the Western Division with teams like Anaheim, San Jose and Arizona.
It is rumored in the AFL that Utah prospective buyers have already purchased the Charlotte franchise for $1.5 million.
"That's a number that the league or the people selling the franchise would like to get," explained Williams. "But I think the purchase price could be lower."
An AFL team would have to average around $15 a ticket to be a success in Utah. Arena teams are averaging 11,500 in attendance this season.
"I think football has a stronghold in Utah," Williams said. "I can't help but believe that 15,000 fans, with the local attraction of former BYU and Utah players, wouldn't be a good investment."
In its first years of existance, one of the best Arena Football League teams was the Detroit Drive. The Drive moved to Charlotte and became the Rage.
Now, it looks like the AFL might be the Rage in Utah next season.