Af2

af2 (short for '''arenafootball2''') is the name of the Arena Football League 's Minor League , which started play in 2000. The rules are the same as for the parent league. While the parent league moved its season opening to February to accommodate a television contract with the National Broadcasting Company in 2003, af2 stayed with the "traditional" Arena season of April-July.

Like most other minor sports leagues, the af2 exists to develop Football players, and also to help players adapt to the style and pace of Arena Football . In addition, the af2 is similar to other minor leagues because af2 teams play in smaller cities and smaller venues. While the AFL is played in larger cities like Los Angeles , Philadelphia , and Chicago , the af2 fields teams in cities such as Oklahoma City , Stockton , Bakersfield , and Spokane .

ARENACUP

The ArenaCup is the af2's championship game, held each August (results are below). For the league's first five years, it was held at the arena of the higher seeded team. However, as their parent league, the AFL, has changed, the af2 has changed too. The 2005 Arena Cup was the first to be played at a neutral site in Bossier City , Louisiana .

For the 2000 and 2001 Arena Cups, the game was televised nationally by TNN (now Spike TV ), who carried AFL games on Sunday afternoons at the time. However, when the AFL announced their televised games would be shown on NBC rather than TNN, the ArenaCup telecast was lost. The 2002 ArenaCup was televised by the Vision Network, and the 2003 game was televised by KWHB , a local station in Tulsa , Oklahoma . After having no television coverage in 2004, the game will once again be telecast nationally in 2005 , now by Fox Sports Net .

BAKER'S VISION

In a June (California), the Everett Hawks , and the Spokane Shock (both of Washington state). In addition, the Tennessee Valley Vipers , after playing the 2005 season in the UIF , have announced they will return to the af2 in 2006. (The original ownership of the team in Huntsville moved the UIF franchise to Rockford, Ill., and the league awarded an expansion team to Huntsville, and they assumed the team's original name) The Mississippi Headhunters of Biloxi, Mississippi were originally going to play in the 2006 season, but because of Hurricane Katrina the team was given a grace period to start play in the 2007 season. Also, the league plans to add teams in Boise, Idaho , Lakewood Ranch, Florida , Rio Rancho, New Mexico and Youngstown, Ohio that season.

CURRENT AF2 TEAMS

Eastern Division