The expected announcement about the Orlando Predators is formally made, kicking off the start of this week's all-new AFT Buzz.
Ten-year indoor football veteran Kimo Naehu has found a new team in the Tuscon Sugar Skulls. The Hawaiian shares with the show about how he has physically and mentally kept pushing forward through his career, what it means to win a championship so late in a career and how he perceives the kicking game going in the future of indoor football.
Arena Football Nation's Michael Summers also joins the show. The host of Action VR Network's first indoor football show talks about changes in the offseason for the three big leagues and more.
The results of the first Facebook Question of the Week regarding who AFT Buzz fans would rather have coaching the San Diego Strike Force is in. Host Brice Burge shares who you chose and the difficulties in store for Strikers Coach Burt Grossman.
AFT Buzz is available through 920 WON: The Apple Fridays at 7 p.m., Action VR Sports on Saturdays at 3 p.m. and Western Reserve Radio on Wednesdays at 6 p.m; all Eastern. Episodes are also available after air on their mixcloud channel.

As most fans of the NAL, I was excited to see the notifications start popping up again about the Orlando Predators returning to the sport. The Preds have a diehard fan base and a great history, two things that are necessary for success with all the competing leagues.
Things seem to be going just fine as well. There are official social media pages and phone numbers, even tryouts scheduled. Everything seems to be on track. 
Except, you know, the team actually being announced.
No official word has been made regarding this franchise. No league statements. No local media coverage. Posts and rumors place the team in the NAL and there's a nice logo-sized hole on the front page of the league website. But the best there is on official communication is the occasional deflection from an owner or league officials' personal social media profile saying to be patient and relax. 
Well for anyone who has ever had the displeasure of telling someone to calm down, doing it on Facebook isn't much better. Fans are complaining about not being able to get tickets yet and for a while a major rumor circulated about how the team would actually be called a different Arnold Schwarzenegger movie title. Most recently, somebody created a fake league page to talk about how the Predators were going back to the AFL because things were taking so long.
While reactions were mixed, it was some collegiate-level satire that might have been too good. One of the comments actually said "why not take it as fact since nothing better has come out?"
If you are working with the Predators or the NAL, that statement needs to be taken seriously. On its own the comment can be disregarded, but it cannot as an identifier of a trend.
Obviously creating an expansion franchise is difficult and I don't want to discredit the work of people working to bring back indoor football to Orlando. But there are still concerns with Amway Center hosting the team again, meaning it would be difficult to get the team any home games and impact the league schedule. The intellectual protection to get that name and logo wasn't filed until already late in the offseason. No staff of any kind have been officially announced. 
Let's also circle back to the league schedule for a little bit. There are still many concerns about Lehigh Valley returning after their winless season as their search for a new owner continues. That and continued discussion about the return of the Nashville Kats are leaving fans to wonder the amount of teams in the league for 2019. 
Even when the Orlando Predators do announce their franchise officially, there are many concerns about how it will be done. The team is already the worst kept secret in football and makes the social media mishaps regarding the NY Streets or last season with the Massachusetts Pirates look professional. And if the press conference is anything like the way it was in New York, a lot of people will doubt the seriousness the league will take on the issue.
If you look back at the last three paragraphs, you see a negative trend for three separate issues: the current situation in Orlando is faceless and unaccounted for, the struggles the NAL face this offseason impacting other franchises and the concerns of the NAL to establish and maintain their branding and press relations. 
Ultimately, all these issues can be dealt with by having the team take the field and do well. There are a couple months before that first snap, but right now uncertainty and rumormongering leads the way for the Orlando Predators. The NAL needs to step up and wow the indoor football community and the Orlando market when they officially come back.

Western Reserve Radio out of Youngstown, Ohio is the latest outlet to carry AFT Buzz presented by Arena Football Talk. The first episode will air Wednesday, January 15 at 6 pm Eastern. 
"We at Western Reserve Radio are excited to add AFT Buzz to our weekly lineup," said Jim Craven of Western Reserve Radio. "[We] look forward to very entertaining insight from around the country into the fast-paced game of arena football."
The first episode will air Wednesday, January 15 at 6 pm Eastern. Episodes will stay in that time slot every week.
A sports-centered station, Western Reserve Radio covers local teams and the USHL's Youngstown Phantoms. They also pair with SB Nation radio and the Ohio High School Athletic Association Radio network.
Western Reserve Radio joins 920 WON: The Apple and Action VR Network in carrying AFT Buzz. The show is also available as a podcast on Mixlr.
"This is another step to reaching new fans," said AFT Buzz Host Brice Burge. "We continue to make amazing progress in providing quality content about indoor football to so many new fans and partnering up with Western Reserve Radio is a win for all of us."
Fans can visit Western Reserve Radio's website by clicking HERE.

An exciting episode of AFT Buzz debuts this Friday, as Texas Revolution CEO Tommy Benizio and High Country Grizzlies Assistant Coach Mo Gore joins the show.
Major changes are coming to Texas as they have partnered with the Dallas Cowboys. While the main point is using The Star as their new venue, the deal means a number of other advantages to promote the Revs and football in the area. Benizio explains these benefits and more before the start of their season.
High Country is bouncing back after getting a new head coach for the 2019 campaign. Talking about the team is Gore, a coach retained on the staff. Gore is local to the area, works in the front office as well and shares his knowledge of High Country and the AAL with listeners.
Host Brice Burge dives into the announcement of an announcement regarding the new Atlantic City AFL franchise and talks about indoor football coaches in the NFL. 
AFT Buzz is available through 920 WON: The Apple, Action VR Sports and Western Reserve Radio. Episodes are also available after air on their mixcloud channel.

AFT Buzz will have a new way for listeners to hear the show as Action VR Network has picked up the show in syndication.
"This is an amazing opportunity for AFT and everyone involved," said Host of AFT Buzz Brice Burge. "The players and staffs for every team give so much to keep football like this alive. By providing a good show, we hope we can increase the awareness of the effort needed to be successful and share the stories that celebrate the sport."
Starting on Saturday, January 12, the show will air Saturdays at 3 pm Eastern, noon Pacific on Action VR. It will air after Arena Football Nation, creating a dedicated block of coverage to the sport. 
Burge and Producer Jonathan Rios will appear on Arena Football Nation to talk about the move and other indoor football topics. The show is hosted by Mike Summers and Former AAL Championship Coach Joshua Resignalo.
The episode will be live this Saturday at 1:00pm EDT.
The original home of AFT Buzz, 920 WON: The Apple, will continue broadcasting the show in the usual time slot and will stay involved with technical production.
Action VR Network is available worldwide at this link: http://www.mixlr.com/action-vr-network

by Rob Disario - Add linebacker Nick Haag to the list of Pirates lost to other National Arena League teams. The all-NAL linebacker is the latest in a string of star players to say goodbye to Worcester, Massachusetts. Early in the off season, Pirates wide receiver Bones Bagaunte signed with the Columbus Lions creating a big, receiver vacancy. In addition, the loss of their head coach, Ameer Ismail to the Cobra’s this week would surely cripple any professional football team.  

Pirate ownership reassures Arena Football Talk the off season gains will surely make up for any roster loss. A possible replacement for Nick Haag is recently signed All Pac-12 linebacker David Luafatasaga. The University of Utah alumnus participated in rookie mini-camps with the Washington Redskins and San Francisco 49ers this past off-season. Another big addition is offensive lineman Kenny Lacy out of UCLA. The 6’4” 310 pound lineman is excited to join the swashbucklers after missing out on the 2017 UCLA season due to hip injury (according to Mick Moninghoff and the Mass Pirates website). 

Pirates re-signed wide receivers Devonn Brown, Mardy Gilyard and Lavon Pearson to return for the Pirates second season. The addition of wide receiver Jhajuan Seales could finish off the wide-out targets for returning NAL MVP quarterback Sean Brackett. Following the 2017 season with Oklahoma State, Seales signed as a free agent with the Chicago Bears and then the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He should fit in well with the Pirates’ powerhouse offense. 

RJ Ciancio
Director of NAL Coverage 
​
With rumors of Newark and/or Atlantic City getting teams, Arena Football Talk thought now would be a good time to look at the history of indoor and arena football in the Garden State.

In 1997 the Arena Football League (AFL) saw New Jersey field a team for the first time as the Red Dogs. After going 9 and 5, they were eliminated in the quarterfinals, falling to the Orlando Predators 37 to 45. The Red Dogs 1998 campaign was an improvement. After going 8-6 in the regular season they made it to the semifinals where they fell to the Tampa Bay Storm 49 to 23. In the 1999 season the Red Dogs missed the playoffs after a mediocre 6 and 8 campaign, and things got worse in 2000 as they went 4 and 10, again, missing the playoffs. For the 2001 season the team rebranded as the New Jersey Gladiators. Sadly, their record kept going downhill as the franchise hit a new low, going 2 and 12. That same year the Indoor Professional Football League (IPFL) gave New Jersey the Trenton Lightning, a pathetic team who lost six straight games before folding. In 2002 the Gladiators had a comeback year as they went 9 and 5, making it to the quarterfinals where they once again fell to the Orlando Predators, this time in a heartbreaking 46 to 49 loss. Unfortunately for Gladiators fans, the team relocated to Las Vegas.

The National Indoor Football League (NIFL) placed a team in Atlantic City as the Card Sharks joined for the 2004 campaign. The team posted a 9 and 5 record before falling to the Lexington Horsemen in the wild-card round of the playoffs. After the season the team disbanded. After the 2004 NIFL season the Staten Island Xtreme moved to New Jersey and became the XTreme. The team had an abysmal 0 and 14 in the 2005 campaign and folded in the offseason. ​In 2006 the upstart Great Lakes Indoor Football League (GLIFL) granted New Jersey a charter team with the New York/New Jersey Revolution. The team didn’t fare well during their first season as they went and abismal 0 and 10, finishing last in the league. The following season, the GLIFL rebranded as the Continental Indoor Football League (CIFL). Similar acronym, similar results. The Revolution went a sad 1-11. For the 2008 CIFL season the team rebranded as the New Jersey Revolution, and that year they went 3-9. In 2009 they played three semi-pro games and didn’t participate in the CIFL going 3 and 0. In 2010 the Revolution jumped to the American Indoor Football Association (AIFA) in what would end up being the final season for the team and the league the.  However, New Jersey’s dense population continued to entice new leagues and teams.

The Southern Indoor Football League (SIFL) put the Trenton Steel in The Garden State for the 2011 campaign. The team went 8 and 4 before they fell to the Columbus Lions in the Eastern Conference Round 1 before going under. Trenton fielded another indoor football team,  the Trenton Freedom, joining the Professional Indoor Football League (PIFL) in 2014. The Freedom went 8 and 4 before falling to the Lehigh Valley Steelhawks in the National Conference Championship. In the 2015 season the team went 6-6 and after season’s end the team folded. Last year, the Jersey Flight joined the American Arena League (AAL), going 5 and 3 in their inaugural season, but missing the playoffs.

Since the Red Dogs joined the AFL the Garden State has been home to seven franchises and partaken in eight leagues and over a decade of professional ball New Jersey has an illustrious history of the indoor and arena game.

A journeyman quarterback returns home and tells AFT Buzz all about it.

Jake Medlock is returning to where it all started for him in Florida, as he is the newest quarterback for the Jacksonville Sharks. After playing in the German league and with Cedar Rapids last season, he explains what he will look forward to heading home, the QB battle with Liam Nadler and who on the Sharks roster he will be excited to work with.

Also on the show this week, the AAL also surprised a lot of people -- many of them were high-ranking coaches and front office staff -- when they shifted to three divisions on Christmas Eve. With the move a surprise to many, it makes the divisions meaningless and difficult to put into a playoff format.

Also on the show this week host Brice Burge shares his thoughts on the new AFL logo and what that means for the league as a whole moving into the future and answers fan submitted questions.

AFT Buzz presented by Arena Football Talk airs Fridays at 7 p.m. Eastern, 4 p.m. local time on the 920 WON: The Apple out of Brooklyn, New York City. 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/.

Back-to-back Coach of the Year and the most recent championship head coach of the IFL Dixie Wooten is our guest on this week's all new AFT Buzz, presented by Arena Football Talk.

Wooten's positive attitude remains ever present, as the coach breaks down why open tryouts are such a positive impact on his rosters. He also describes what his new coaching staff will bring to the team and what it's like coaching one of the most historic franchises in the sport.

Also on the show this week host Brice Burge shares his thoughts on the NY Streets press conference and talks about the interesting comment made by a former owner of the Duke City Gladiators in his goodbye message to fans. Some elves also dropped off a copy of Santa's list with some of the major names in indoor football highlighted on it. We'll see who was naughty and who was nice this year.

AFT Buzz presented by Arena Football Talk airs Fridays at 7 p.m. Eastern, 4 p.m. local time on the 920 WON: The Apple out of Brooklyn, New York City. 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/.