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AFL: Barnstormer moving to lower league

capitalcityguy

capitalcityguy

Well-Known Member
Jun 14, 2007
8,332
2,124
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Des Moines
It was announced today that the Iowa Barnstormers are going to the Indoor Football League.

One word: FAIL

I think maybe a new team could come to a city and start in that lower league and succeed. I just can't see fans accepting and supporting a team that essentially demotes itself.

Maybe they put a winning team together (finally) and that will bring 'em in? I'm just not real optimistic.

Too bad.
 
I do have to kind of chuckle with the timing of the announcement.

Barnstormers owners situation room:

"hey guys....lets wait and announce the week that college FB kicks off. Maybe no one will notice that way and we'll just be able to start up next spring and no one will be the wiser!"

(janitor walks by an chimes in) "hummm....I wonder if they'll start asking questions when they open the season with the Mankato Manhole Covers instead of the LA Kiss? "
 
I really enjoyed it when it came back in 2008, and I think a lot of other people did too, based on attendance. I thought when they went to the higher level of Arena Football that they would really draw the crowds in, but it just got less and less. It was a lot less fun going to an empty arena than a mostly full one. Once I moved out of the DSM area, I completely forgot about the Barnstormers.
 
The Barnstormers lost their fan base when the original team was sold to a New York owner in an attempt to make the AFL "big time", and then Barnstormers fans had to settle for a pretty sad AF2 team. They might have won back the fans in the AFL's attempt to recover from their failed "move to the big time" if the Barnstormers won games, but that didn't happen. The move to the IFL is just a stop along the route to folding completely.
 
Has Arena just passed it's prime?

It was a hot, hot deal (around Iowa at least) back when Warner was playing and they were winning - but most notably it was new and fresh.

20 years later - not so much and lack of success only ads to the malaise. What do they draw down there anyway - never been....
 
Short sighted.....first step towards no team in my opinion.
 
I don't understand the appeal other than going to games as "something to do". I watch ISU because I'm an alum and I watch the Vikings because I'm from there. What reason is there to watch second-tier players play a game that doesn't really matter if there is no true hometown connection? If teams were made up of players from your city I could see the appeal.
 
RubyClone said:
Has Arena just passed it's prime?

It was a hot, hot deal (around Iowa at least) back when Warner was playing and they were winning - but most notably it was new and fresh.

20 years later - not so much and lack of success only ads to the malaise. What do they draw down there anyway - never been....
Click to expand...


I think it was getting down to only 7 -8K a game....maybe less. That's not good when you look down the street at Principal Park and see some nights with over 10K at the park....with many, many more games on their schedule to draw fans than Barnstormers did.

I had season tix first few years but losing got old.
 
mtowncyclone13 said:
I don't understand the appeal other than going to games as "something to do". I watched ISU because I'm an alum and I watch the Vikings because I'm from there. What reason is there to watch second-tier players play a game that doesn't really matter if there is no true hometown connection? If teams were made up of players from your city I could see the appeal.
Click to expand...
I assume because it's fun? I never went, but sports are typically fun, so I'm going to say fun.
 
mtowncyclone13 said:
I don't understand the appeal other than going to games as "something to do". I watched ISU because I'm an alum and I watch the Vikings because I'm from there. What reason is there to watch second-tier players play a game that doesn't really matter if there is no true hometown connection? If teams were made up of players from your city I could see the appeal.
Click to expand...

"Hometown connections don't really matter."

signed, my friends growing up who were Steeler and Cowboy fans.
 
Losing Warner (not that I fault him *at all*) and the original Barnstormers to NYC in the AFL's misguided attempt to move away from regional/mid-sized markets with devoted followings to the big city glitz kind of undid it all, for me. The Well was never as much fun as the Vet, too. Sad to see them drop down like this, given this is probably the beginning of the end, but it was a fun ride and we've still got Cyclones.

By the way, curiosity, was the black/gold/red color setup of the Barnstormers a takeoff from...

Iowa State . cardinal/gold/black . Iowa

Something like that? A lot of pro teams take their colors from local colleges (the Bears and UIUC, Falcons and UGA, Panthers and UNC with the powder blue), so I just wondered if that were the case here. Thanks.
 
3TrueFans said:
I assume because it's fun? I never went, but sports are typically fun, so I'm going to say fun.
Click to expand...

You could take away tailgating, beer, and crowds from the ISU football games and almost all of us here would still go for the play on the field.

Take away the attractions, beer, and crowds of the Barnstormers. Would most of us still go if not for the entire attraction of the game, on and off field?
 
mtowncyclone13 said:
I don't understand the appeal other than going to games as "something to do". I watch ISU because I'm an alum and I watch the Vikings because I'm from there. What reason is there to watch second-tier players play a game that doesn't really matter if there is no true hometown connection? If teams were made up of players from your city I could see the appeal.
Click to expand...

Well - about any "pro" team isn't made up of hometown players. The one draw I have - and I've never been, but do pay a little attention - is the makeup of the team often having a number of ex-ISU players. So in a certain respect it's a little "hometown". (same for the Iowa Energy Dleague)

Seems to me the problem AFL has is it really doesn't have any genuine connection to the NFL. These small teams need a connection to the highest level of the sport.

I-Cubs clearly have that appeal, and even if you're not a cubs fan you'll see the prospects for StL or KC come through in games.

Energy I think is getting better at that. Same with the Stars. Ideally you get to see some future star.

Kurt Warner not withstanding, that's pretty rare in AFL.
 
mtowncyclone13 said:
You could take away tailgating, beer, and crowds from the ISU football games and almost all of us here would still go for the play on the field.

Take away the attractions, beer, and crowds of the Barnstormers. Would most of us still go if not for the entire attraction of the game, on and off field?
Click to expand...

With our season by season record, you take away great tailgating and you lose several thousand fans. Don't kid yourself.
 
Anyone else find it potentially a bit embarrassing, if the team isn't rebranded away from being the "Iowa" Barnstormers as a result of this move?

I mean... we're getting pretty low level league in a still somewhat fringe sport.
 
mtowncyclone13 said:
You could take away tailgating, beer, and crowds from the ISU football games and almost all of us here would still go for the play on the field.

Take away the attractions, beer, and crowds of the Barnstormers. Would most of us still go if not for the entire attraction of the game, on and off field?
Click to expand...
Might not want to bet the farm on that just yet.
 
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