Andy Lopusnak
Thursday March 10, 2011
Friday s 2011 opener will be the first Arena Football League game for the San Jose SaberCats in 958 days. It was more than two and half years ago that the three-time ArenaBowl champs fell three points shy of hoisting the Foster Trophy for a fourth time.
In the months following ArenaBowl XXII, the Arena world went from thriving to dying. By December of 2008, the league suspended operations and the entire 2009 season was lost. Late in 2009, Arena Football One formed from a hodge-podge of arenafootball2 teams and a handful of AFL franchises. Months later, AF1 bought all the rights of the AFL and re-branded itself as the AFL. Absent from the 15 teams of the 2010 re-launch was the SaberCats.