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Biggs: End is near for Arena League

UFL leaves fewer teams, and fewer players, to scout. Brad Biggs

Print This Send This August 05, 2009, 11:54 AM EST

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This time, the Arena Football League appears to be shutting down for good.

Multiple reports indicate the league will be taken off life support, and the indoor game as we know it will cease to exist or will have to return in a different form.

Arena League AP

The league proved to be a breeding ground for several NFL players, none more famous than two-time NFL MVP Kurt Warner. The AFL produced other quality players like Michael Lewis, who went to the Pro Bowl for New Orleans as a return man, and wide receivers David Patten and Oronde Gadsen.

Tommy Maddox came out of the AFL (and XFL) to have a short but memorable run in the NFL as a quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Tampa Bay defensive end Stylez White went through seven NFL franchises, including the Bucs, before righting himself with the Orlando AFL team. He’s made 13 sacks over the last two seasons. Chicago wide receiver Rashied Davis transition started as a cornerback in the NFL before he switched to offense. He was deeply upset when the AFL decided in December to pull the curtain on the 2009 season, worrying about friends in the league who kept offseason jobs to make ends meet. Davis held a job at Best Buy and worked as a bouncer when he played for the San Jose franchise.

That leaves the fledgling United Football League as the only place other than Canada for NFL teams to scout for talent. One general manager said it would be easier because the UFL is going to use mostly NFL rules (starting with an NFL-size field) but admitted he wasn’t real excited to go searching for gold. It will be easier to scout the UFL, too, because there are only going to be four teams in the inaugural season.

“It would be nice to have another minor league-type deal,” one scout said. “There will be players, and we’ll find someone that can play in the NFL. We always have. Any time they’re playing a game, you can evaluate it. But a good chunk of these players have already been through the league, the J.P. Losmans and guys like that. We’ve already seen them. I don’t know that I need to watch them again.”