Week two schedule change to impact west and south division, confusion brewing among league owners
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Photo via: Rapid City Marshals
This article has been updated to reflect the correct schedule change, teams impacted and a new quote from Billings Outlaws owner Steve Titus. Last Updated: May 1, 10:09 p.m.
PHILADELPHIA — A recent schedule change for week two will impact teams in the west and south divisions with communication appearing to be lacking from the league to its team owners.
According to a league memorandum shared by Shady Sports Network on X, The Georgia Force will now be on the road against the Oregon Blackbears on Saturday and the Billings Outlaws will travel to play the Washington Wolfpack on Sunday.
The Louisiana Voodoo and Rapid City Marshals are on a bye week.
Blackbears were originally scheduled to play against the Outlaws, while the Wolfpack were set to host the Marshals.
Billings Outlaws owner Steve Titus informed Arena Insider they were told to not play in Oregon.
“We were told by the league that the [Blackbears] venue had issues that needed to be fixed before home games were approved for further play,” Titus said. “We were already headed that way so I had no issues with just going to Everett [Washington].”
Titus shared that quote and was posted on Arena Insider before the memorandum was leaked. A.I. followed up with Titus on if he mistakenly meant the Voodoo as the team with the venue issues and he clarified his original statement.
“Nope, meant Oregon, not sure why [Force] are playing there,” Titus said. “We were told by the league to not play there for safety issues. Very strange situation.”
Titus also said the league informed them of three issues involving the Blackbears’ venue at the Oregon State Fair and Exposition Center – a cattle guard railing was used as boards, the rebound net was not league standard and streaming.
During last week’s game, the Washington Wolfpack echoed the internet problems.
“The feed was really rough. Unfortunately there was no high speed internet to upload from and we had to use a mobile hotspot. There was also no press box so we were in front of the fans in the middle section of the field…We were not provided any access to internet capabilities at the venue.” The team said on X.
The feed was really rough. Unfortunately there was no high speed internet to upload from and the we had to use a mobile hotspot. There was also no press box so we were in front of the fans in the middle section of the field. We have a much more robust set up for our home game.
— Washington Wolfpack (@AflWashington) April 28, 2024
Blackbears president Pat Johnson mentioned the issues during Monday’s episode of AFL’s weekly podcast that has since been deleted. The team won its game against the Wolfpack 47-40.
The Arena Football League has not publicly shared a statement regarding the changes. Commissioner Lee Hutton is expected to address the state of the league on Thursday.
This is a developing story and more details will be released as it becomes available.
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[…] Marshals, who were scheduled to be on the road against the Washington Wolfpack for week two, are on a bye week. The league or team did not share any reasons behind the […]