New arena football league launching; Chicago among teams

Another indoor football team, an offshoot of the defunct Arena Football League, may land a franchise in Chicago.

Officials from the newly formed Arena Football 1 league said Monday at a news conference in Tulsa that their 16-team league will start play next year and will include a Chicago team.

Where that team would play is unclear. Harry Pappas, executive director for the Allstate Arena in Rosemont, said he hadn't heard about the new league and remained skeptical a Chicago team would play next year.

"I don't take 100 percent stock in this announcement," he said.

The Allstate Arena was home to the Chicago Rush until the Arena Football League folded earlier this year for financial reasons. That league started play in 1987.

Pappas, however, said there have been talks with officials from arenafootball2 - an existing spinoff league a step below the old AFL - to bring a team from that league to Rosemont. Arena Football founder Jim Foster has been involved in those talks, Pappas said.

Some teams from arenafootball2, once considered a developmental league for the more talented and established AFL, may play in the league announced Monday. Arena Football 1 officials also said at their news conference they would absorb at least one franchise from an existing league.

It's also unlikely any new indoor team would land at the Sears Centre in Hoffman Estates, since that venue is home to the Continental Indoor Football League's Chicago Slaughter.

Like Pappas, Slaughter General Manager Alan Perkins isn't convinced a new Chicago team will start play next year.

Meanwhile Slaughter season tickets go on sale on Thursday as the team attempts to repeat as league champions. Perkins said the team will remain at the Sears Centre at least for the next season. The village of Hoffman Estates and the Ryan Companies, the parent company of the building's current owners, are in talks to transfer control to the village by Jan. 1.