Kevin Guy, head coach of the Arizona Rattlers and co-owner of the Tuscon Sugar Skulls, comes onto AFT Buzz to discuss the new Tuscon team. Guy is the biggest guest to date on the show and he explains why Tuscon was the place to go to put the newest IFL franchise.

Anthony Reynolds, a lecturer at Ohio University also joins to talk about the impacts of successful marketing for indoor football teams before AFT Head of Management talks to Lehigh Valley Steelhawks beat writer RJ Ciancio about rumors involving the Steelhawks, the Baltimore Brigade and more.

AFT Buzz airs Fridays at 7 p.m. Eastern on the internet radio station 920 WON: The Apple. Fans can listen around the world live at www.live365.com/station/a09178 or through the Live365 app. Shows are available after release at https://www.mixcloud.com/AFTBuzz/ 

Tuscon Indoor Football has decided to name their team the Sugar Skulls.

"If you are native to Tuscon, it is the center of the culture here. We celebrate tradition, we celebrate honor, we celebrate festivity and that's what Tuscon Sugar Skulls is all about," the emcee said at the reveal party. 

A sugar skull is used in Mexican culture to honor the departed loved ones of the living. Tuscon has one of the largest All Souls Processions in the United States, a parade celebrated in accordance with dia de los muertos. 

A red,  yellow and black sombrero sits on top of an ornate skull, nestled in between the necks of two similarly colored guitars. Sugar Skulls is written side by side in the logo.

In addition to the name and logo, the full team website is now available at tucsonsugarskulls.com. On social media, the team Twitter handle will be @sugarskullsfb and Instagram is @sugarskullsfootball. 

The video of the announcement can be watched in its entirety on the team Facebook page.

Tuscon Indoor Football has announced the release date for their moniker, logo and colors. It will be Thursday, September 20 at the MSA Annex in Tuscon. 

In accordance with the announcement, Tuscon will have a whole party to integrate the name into the community, complete with live music and performances, facepainters and more. Food, drinks and some team merchandise will be available for sale, but the event is free to attend. 

Will the team go with a temperature or desert theme? Will they take a blue color, since Cedar Rapids is rebranding the only blue-dominant logo in the IFL? All will be revealed Thursday as the party starts at 6:30 p.m. local time, 9:30 p.m. Eastern. 

By Chris Mabry 
​

Today, in Illinois the Quad Cities Steamwheelers announced via Facebook Live that the franchise is moving to the IFL (Indoor Football League). 

Last season, the Steamwheelers announced that the team would return to play after ceasing operations for eight years. In Quad Cities first and only season in the CIF (Champions Indoor Football), they played 12 games and finished the 2018 regular season with a record of 8-4. In their first playoff game, the Steamwheelers faced the Sioux City Bandits. In that playoff game, the Bandits defeated Quad Cities 54-46 to advance to the conference championship game. 

Now, with the move to IFL, Quad Cities will have some intense competition and some familiar foes. In 2019 Quad Cities will face teams like the Iowa Barnstormers who were in the AF2 the last time this team was playing. As for new opponents they will face the Arizona Rattlers who were IFL champions in 2016 and 5-time champions in the AFL. 

Congratulations on the move Quad Cities! Good luck in 2019.  

By Aaron Castete

​Gregg Fornario, owner of the Richmond Roughriders, has announced he will be starting a new arena football league called the Professional Arena Football league in March 2019. The league will have two divisions Southern (SAF) and Northern (NAF) with the goal of lowering travel costs for the teams who participate in the league.

The PAF plans to have a decent size number teams participating in the 2019 Inaugural Season with the goal of "quality over quantity". Each division is expected to have 4 to 8 teams. According the website, the league will make sure teams go through extensive background checks, and make sure the teams have the right finances for a stable long-term future. As for scheduling, the PAF will play "a 8 to 10 game schedule, depending on what the team owners vote on."

The NAF Board of Directors currently includes:
Gregg Fornario (President and Commissioner)
Jesse Heninger (Director of Marketing, Operations, Brand Strategy)
Trey Braid (Operations, Creative Services & Information Technology)
Andrew Germann (Gameday Operations Coordinator)

As for Gregg's Richmond Roughriders, he announced his intentions to move his team to the PAF for 2019! As of now, the team is still currently exploring relocation sites due to the fact that the Richmond Coliseum is likely to be torn down.

As for the rulebook, the PAF website states that the league will play under a set of unique rules.

The following information is listed on the PAF Website:

• "Kickoff thru goal post is 1 pt and goes up with each consecutive successful kick.  
  • Example if kickoff goes thru uprights 3x in a row that is 3pts etc
• FG miss attempt, but makes contact with uprights is spotted at the 5yrd line like a punt.
• At the 2 minute warning at end of the game goes to 4 to score there will be no more 1st downs .  
  • Example if it's your ball at mid field with 2min and 5 seconds left and its 3rd and 3 you will want to call a timeout or if you don't it goes to 3rd and goal from mid field.
• Iron man = Must have 1 guy that plays a minimum of 16 plays on both sides of the ball.
• Roster = 19 man dress on the day of the game| 24 Man Roster during season
• Salary cap = $1,900 Minimum | $5,000 Maximum"

Source: www.professionalarenafootball.com

An unfulfilled promise of national coverage of the American Arena League All-Star game headlines numerous issues regarding the exhibition event.

​The league previously announced that the AAL All-Star Classic would be broadcast on ESPN3 with Mick Moninghoff set to lead the announcing crew. The game was not on the streaming platform, and the story announcing the broadcast has been taken down by the AAL, but a post was left on the league official Facebook page. Moninghoff was reported to not be at the contest.

​"I'm not going to say that I was disappointed, but I was feeling down," said Atlanta Havoc running back Zack Brown. "I was wondering 'would my family back at home still be able to watch it?'"

Brown was one of many players, fans, and staff learning about changes the day of the All-Star Classic. Others thought that there was improper action on behalf of the league.

“I just think that it was a sales tactic, and I do not think they had any intentions of airing the game on ESPN3,” said Kevin James, owner of the New England Calvary. 

James said that the appeal of being seen by bigger leagues like the NFL and CFL, thanks to the ESPN3 broadcast, would be a big draw for many players hoping to get their shot. But according to James, many veteran players avoided the AAL All-Star game based on previous experiences.

“The seasoned veterans in this sport didn’t fall for that trick because they have seen that stuff before,” James said. “It’s called bait-and-switch -- you advertise one thing, and the last minute, when everyone is all committed and you can’t turn back, ‘oops we can’t do that anymore’ or ‘it changed’.”

​A broadcast of the game was available on the AAL Facebook page, but is no longer available to watch. No box scores or game recaps of the AAL Stripes 34-29 victory over the Stars have been published on the league website. Game highlights can be found on YouTube.

The AAL website lists all the players named as 2018 All-Stars; both offense and defense, however, there is no mention of how the players were separated into the two teams.

Concerns about how players were selected, whether players were misrepresenting franchises by wearing other team helmets, and who would cover players' insurance requirements also arose as part of the day-of-event changes. 

​Brown was one of the people involved in defending the league given the circumstances.

​"Some of the top players in the league had the chance to play, but since we weren't getting paid, a lot of the top players turned it down," Brown said. "So, that's why I think that (the AAL) had to scramble around and get other players that wanted to play to play."

​Arena Football Talk reached out to the AAL for comment, but did not receive a response. 

​EDITOR'S NOTE: Aaron Castete was involved in the reporting and interviewing of this article. It was edited by Brice Burge and Jeff Simon.

The mystery of what league Tucson will be getting a team in has finally been solved. On Wednesday August 22nd, 2018 a website launched revealing that the Tucson team would be joining the Indoor Football League (IFL). Previously it was rumored that the Tucson franchise would be joining Champions Indoor Football (CIF). The team website has since been taken down due to the official press conference coming at 1:30pm. The team will start play in the 2019 season at the Tucson Convention Center (TCC) which currently hosts the Tucson Roadrunners of the American Hockey League (AHL).
Tucson will have a built in rivalry with the Arizona Rattlers who play just over an hour and a half north up Interstate 10 at Talking Stick Resort Arena in Phoenix. Rattlers head coach Kevin Guy and his wife will be majority owners with minority owners and other details yet to announced. The team will be holding a name the team contest on their website once the official announcement comes at 1:30pm today. Tucson previously flirted with getting an IFL team in 2011, but that fell through due to unknown reasons.
You can be sure this team will be here for the long run with Guy at the helm. In addition to multiple ArenaBowl titles, he coached the Rattlers to a United Bowl title in their first IFL season by knocking off the six time defending champion Sioux Falls Storm. As a head coach Kevin Guy has a 128-45 record. He's also been an assistant coach and general manager, as well as a player. He's been involved in indoor/arena football for a total of 23 years.
For those new to the IFL, the league will have seven teams with the addition of Tucson with more rumored to be joining via expansion or from the CIF. Currently the six other teams are the Sioux Falls Storm, Arizona Rattlers, Nebraska Danger, Green Bay Blizzard, Cedar Rapids Titans, and the defending champion Iowa Barnstormers. One thing to note is that the Cedar Rapids Titans are holding a name the team contest on their website to rebrand the team for 2019. The Titans were sold to new ownership this off-season and will enter this new era with a fresh brand.