Hawks leave the NIFL nest for Arenafootball2

Published 9:00 pm Monday, August 29, 2005

EVERETT – Those who speculated the Everett Hawks of the National Indoor Football League were the right team in the wrong league may have been prescient.

Arenafootball2 has announced Everett is one of four cities approved for the higher-level indoor league’s 2006 expansion.

AF2 league president Jerry Kurz made the announcement Saturday during the Fox Sports Network telecast of the Arena Cup championship game between the victorious Memphis Xplorers and the Louisville Fire.

When contacted Monday at the AF2 league office in Chicago, Kurz expressed enthusiasm for Everett’s part in an expansion group which includes new teams in Spokane, Stockton, Calif., and Biloxi, Miss.

“We’ve been wanting for a great period of time to move into the Pacific Northwest,” Kurz said of AF2, which enters its seventh season in 2006. “It’s gorgeous country, great sports country and they’re great sports fans. When they see our product they’ll really take to our game.”

The four new entrants join the existing 20-team league, which includes west coast teams in San Diego and Bakersfield, Calif.

“The addition (of Everett, Spokane and Stockton) gives us a nice footprint in the western part of the country,” Kurz said. Kurz said the league was first approached by Everett Hawks owner Sam Adams about an AF2 franchise in Everett.

“We were very impressed by Sam both as a person and as a businessman,” Kurz said.

The franchise fee for Everett’s entry into the AF2 is about $600,000. Players are contracted to the league and paid $200 per week.

All players receive a $50 bonus per victory.

Adams, a defensive lineman with the Buffalo Bills who is busy preparing for his 13th NFL season, sounded ready to do a sack dance over Everett’s admission into AF2, which is affiliated with the Arena Football League.

“We have the best arena, the best fans and we want to be the best franchise,” Adams said. “Everett deserves the best level of football they can get and that’s A2.”

Adams said current Hawks coach Dan Maciejczak, a former Arena Football League player, is the perfect coach for his AF2 venture.

“He was the best schematics coach in the NIFL,” Adams said. “As far as I’m concerned he can coach with the best there is.”

Unlike the NIFL, in AF2 all players except the quarterback, one other designated offensive specialist and a designated defensive specialist are required to play both offense and defense.

If you think there was a lot of passing in the NIFL, you haven’t seen anything yet. In 2005 the AF2 leading rusher averaged 29 yards per game.

“You’ve got to recruit a different kind of football player,” Maciejczak said.

Maciejczak envisioned Hassan Brockman as the prototype AF2 player because he has the size and athleticism to play both wide receiver and defensive back. Or, perhaps wide receiver Cory Grow could fill the offensive specialist role. How about Travis Salter or Tupo Tuupo as a fullback/linebacker?

“If we do the right things it will be successful,” Maciejczak said.

The 16-game AF2 regular season, including eight home games, has traditionally started in April. Play may start in March next year according to AF2 media services director Ron Deuter.

Fred Safstrom, executive director of the Everett Public Facilities District, which oversees Everett Events Center operations, said an additional home game would not be difficult to accommodate.

“They were a very good tenant,” Safstrom said. “They presented an exciting entertainment option for our area fans and gave football a new exposure here in Snohomish County. The fans I talked to had a lot of fun and really enjoyed it … If Sam Adams and the Everett Hawks see that as a good move (to AF2) we’re ready to support it.”

During its maiden season in the NIFL – a season that ended with a July playoff loss after winning the first 15 games in their brief history – Everett averaged more than 4,200 fans per home game at the Everett Events Center.

“That’s definitely something they’ll be able to build on,” Deuter said, noting the league’s AFL affiliation. “It’s what people see on NBC every week.”