Football articles and photos (Jon, Richie, Heather) 9-24-03

http://www.suntimes.com/output/quick...pt-1hit24.html

To thine owner self be true





Soul singer does not quite describe Jon Bon Jovi.

Soul owner does. Actually, Soul co-owner.

The rock singer will co-own the Arena Football League expansion franchise next season in Philadelphia.

"I hope Philadelphia fans will have a good time embracing me in spite of my loyalty to the [New York] Giants,'' Bon Jovi told the Philadelphia Daily News. "I do have one common bond with them. That is that we both hate the Cowboys. I'm going to go out of my way each time here to beat Dallas [whose AFL team is owned by Cowboys owner Jerry Jones] as a Philadelphia Soul owner. Like every Eagles and Giants fan, I hate the ground that the Cowboys walk on.''

http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/sports/football/6847860.htm

Posted on Wed, Sep. 24, 2003

AFL adding Philly team co-owned by Bon Jovi
By Anthony Andro
Star-Telegram Staff Writer

The Arena Football League is building its version of the NFC East.

The league announced Tuesday that it would add the Philadelphia Soul next season, and the team could be in the same division as the Dallas Desperados and New York Dragons after realignment next month.

The Soul have instant star power with rocker Jon Bon Jovi as co-owner and former Eagles quarterback Ron Jaworski as president.

"The AFL is exciting to me as a fan and an owner," Bon Jovi said. "We're bringing action-packed football to fans in Philadelphia, a huge sports town. What I find so appealing about the AFL is the focus on the love of the game and our goal to provide solid sports and entertainment that's fun, affordable and fan friendly."

The Soul, the league's 18th franchise, will be coached by former Grand Rapids coach Mike Trigg, who left after this season.

Commissioner David Baker said the league will find out in the next two weeks whether an Austin franchise will begin play in February. Austin has already been awarded a franchise, but it still trying to work out an agreement to play its games at the Erwin Center.


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Jon Bon Jovi: sports team owner
Rock star and football fan Jon Bon Jovi is now co-owner of the Philadelphia Soul, an Arena Football League expansion team.

"I'm a football fanatic. I love football, always have," the New Jersey native said Monday. "It's the only sport I really live and breathe."

His partner is real estate developer Craig A. Spencer, whose properties include the Ritz-Carlton in Philadelphia. The Soul will begin play next season in the Wachovia Center and Wachovia Spectrum.

http://www.sptimes.com/2003/09/24/Ar...ump_dies.shtml

Soul hire ex-Firebirds GM Hennessy


September 24, 2003


INDIANAPOLIS

Former Indiana Firebirds general manager Joe Hennessy will take over the same position with the Philadelphia Soul, the Arena Football League said in introducing the expansion team owned by Jon Bon Jovi.

Hennessy spent 11 years as the Firebirds general manager, helping build the 1999 ArenaBowl champions.

Tim Farrell has joined the Soul as the director of communications, the same position he held with the Firebirds.

The Soul ownership group includes Bon Jovi, former Eagles quarterback Ron Jaworksi and businessman Craig A. Spencer.

The Soul is the 18th team in the Arena Football League, which also has approved a franchise in Austin, Texas, to play in 2004.

http://www.indystar.com/print/articl...-9860-036.html

From an article about the Super Bowl being at Giants Stadium in five years:


So break out the crystal ball: Give us your prediction.


Lauryn Hill sings the nation anthem, Bruce Springsteen and Jon Bon Jovi perform at halftime, and Joe Piscopo and Uncle Floyd host their own pregame show at the Lyndhurst Diner.


We meant the game. Which two teams get to Super Bowl XLII?


The way things go in the NFL, with parity giving everyone a shot, we're picking the Cincinnati Bengals and the Detroit Lions. They can call it the Cat Bowl, with Meow Mix as the lead sponsor.

http://www.nj.com/sports/ledger/inde...8165598870.xml

Members of Bon Jovi tackle the iron grid

September 24th, 2003



Bon Jovi frontman Jon Bon Jovi and guitarist Richie Sambora have both emptied out their wallets and invested some money into co-ownership of an expansion Arena Football League team. Billboard announced that the two rock stars have teamed up with developer Craig A. Spencer (Ritz-Carlton/Philadelphia, PA) to purchase the Philadelphia Soul, who are the 18th team to join the league.



Why did they do such a thing you ask? Jon Bon Jovi plainly stated, "I love football, always have." He added, "It's the only sport I really live and breathe."



The Philadelphia Soul will begin playing next season at the Wachovia Center and Wachovia Spectrum in the City of Brotherly Love.

http://www.rockrage.com/headlines/ne...vi_092403.html

Headline Central
September 24, 2003


Philly's AFL franchise has Bon Jovi and Soul
Jon Bon Jovi says it was definitely his idea - calling Philadelphia's new Arena Football League team the Soul. That and this report from The Philadelphia Inquirer's Larry Eichel
The rock star and team co-owner said the name came to him on thinking about the "Philadelphia Sound," created here in the 1970s by Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff. The name is meant, he said, to link music, football and the community.

"I was very passionate about it," Bon Jovi, a self-described football fanatic, said yesterday. "You had to have a catchy name. It had to have something to do with the city. And most importantly, it had to have a unique aspect to it. You wouldn't have that with one of those aggressive animals."

So Soul it is. Which should be a good fit with a league that already has a Rush, a Crush, a Fury, a Force, a Rampage and a Storm.

But even with a distinctive name, the Soul may have a tough time finding their niche in an extraordinarily crowded local sports marketplace.

The Soul, who will play their first game on the weekend after February's Super Bowl, will compete for the professional sports dollar with the Flyers, 76ers, Wings, Kixx, Phantoms and, starting in April, the Phillies in a new ballpark.

"We don't know if it's going to work," said Bon Jovi, who lives in Monmouth County, New Jersey. "But we're going to give people value for their money and then some."

Added David Baker, the league commissioner: "No doubt Philadelphia will be tough. But Denver has as much professional sports per capita as any place in the world. And we went in there last year with a strong ownership and sold out every game."

For Bon Jovi and his partner, Craig Spencer, a local businessman who is president and chief executive officer of the Arden Group, a development company, this is not a lark. It can't be, considering that the league's franchise fee, according to Baker, is about $15 million.

But the Soul's owners say that they have done their homework and that they believe football fans in the area will be drawn to the high-scoring game and fan-friendly league.

The ceremonial launch of the team takes place today, with all the hoopla the presence of a rock star guarantees. After a full day of media appearances - on sports radio, rock stations and network television - Bon Jovi and Spencer will host a 4 p.m. rally on the steps of the Wachovia Spectrum.

Scheduled to attend, among others, are Gov. Rendell, Mayor Street, rock guitarist Richie Sambora and his wife, actress Heather Locklear.

Already, the Soul have most of the trappings of a sports franchise. They have a logo, a stylized football with a trailing wing; team colors, gun-metal gray (almost black) and medium blue; and a primary sponsor, Target stores.

They have a president, former Eagles quarterback Ron Jaworski; a general manager, Joe Hennessy, late of the league's Indiana Firebirds; and a coach, Michael Trigg, who won the league championship in 2001 with the Grand Rapids (Mich.) Rampage.

The Soul even have one player, Dwayne Missouri, a 24-year-old lineman who has limited NFL experience with Baltimore and Dallas, and who spent last year with the league's Colorado Crush. The rest of the 20-man roster and four-player reserve list will come from an expansion draft and free-agent signings.

Arena football is an eight-on-eight game played on a field 50 yards long and 85 feet wide, meaning it fits within the dimensions of a hockey rink.

The Soul are scheduled to play four of their eight home games at the Wachovia Center and the other four at the Spectrum. If the Flyers and Sixers don't have long playoff runs, the Soul might be able to shift a game or two in April and May from the Spectrum to the Center.

Team officials said yesterday that ticket prices would average about $26.

The league, which plays a 16-game schedule from February through June, is expanding from 16 teams to as many as 19 this season, with new clubs in Philadelphia, New Orleans, and probably Austin, Texas. That and this report from The Philadelphia Inquirer's Larry Eichel



http://www.sportsbusinessnews.com/in...story_id=29824

That would be so cool if the Superbowl is at Giants Stadium!! Let's see, five years, I will be...20. I'm going, that's it...hehe.

Bon Jovi's Got Soul

by Josh Grossberg
Sep 23, 2003, 1:30 PM PT



Who would've pegged Jon Bon Jovi as a Soul man?

The New Jersey rocker and pigskin aficionado announced Monday that he has purchased a stake of the Philadelphia Soul, making him a co-owner of the Arena Football League's latest expansion team.

"I'm a football fanatic. I like other sports, but I love football," Bon Jov said. "I live and die football. The day after the Super Bowl, I usually go into mourning."

Before he landed his team, Mr. Livin' on a Prayer had to convince league execs that he was a serious businessman, not some chuckleheaded celeb looking for a vanity project.

"I didn't get rich or famous by being stupid," Bon Jovi told the New York Times. "I've been able to surprise people with my business acumen."

Bon Jovi, 41, was able to hook up with real-estate developer Craig Spenser, who initially was the sole applicant for the expansion team. But once Spencer heard the "Bad Medicine" singer's sales pitch, he decided to take him on as a partner.

The duo reportedly plunked down $15 million for the franchise.

Joining them in the owner's box is bandmate Richie Sambora, who ponied up some of his own dough for a small piece of the Soul. Former Philadelphia Eagles quarterback-turned-ESPN broadcaster Ron Jaworski will be the team's president.

Bon Jovi even came up with the team name, after the soulful Philly Sound of the 1970s. "You have to have a catchy name that has something to do with the city, and most importantly, it has to have a unique aspect to it," he said at press conference. "You wouldn't get that with one of those aggressive animals."

While it might make a great marketing blitz, don't expect Bon Jovi and his eponymous band--who kicked off last year's NFL season with an all-star concert in Times Square--to play "It's My Life" or "You Give Love a Bad Name" during the Soul's halftime shows.

Instead, Bon Jovi has agreed to appear in a television promo for the AFL to air on NBC. Additionally, he and the boys will play a one-off private concert/pep rally exclusively for Soul season ticket-holders before the league's four-month-long season launches in February.

"This is a very sports-minded town. You know what they think of their sports teams: They love them, they love to hate them. But they'll love you if you try, if you give everything you have, if you go above and beyond," he said.

"This is my reputation. It took me 20 years to sell out Veterans Stadium. I'd hate to ruin that by promising [a winning team] and not delivering on it."

Speaking of which, Bon Jovi the band has opted to take a break from the road so he can focus on the Soul, which becomes the second AFL expansion team when it starts playing next season and is the 18th team overall in the league.

In the meantime, to keep his music fans sated, Bon Jovi is releasing This Left Feels Right, a collection featuring acoustic versions and new instrumentations of the band's old concert faves, along with two new songs, "Last Man Standing" and "Thief of Hearts."

"We went into the studio thinking we were making an acoustic record," Bon Jovi said. "We had a definite idea of the record we were going to make. But once we began experimenting with the songs and trying out new ideas we created a very different, unique album. We made a complete left turn and took the project down a different road."

The album hits stores on November 4.


http://www.eonline.com/News/Items/0,1,12552,00.html

Bon Jovi Sings Praises Of New Philly Arena Football Team
Philadelphia Soul Premiere February 2004



POSTED: 7:28 p.m. EDT September 23, 2003
UPDATED: 7:58 p.m. EDT September 23, 2003

PHILADELPHIA -- Philadelphia welcomed a new pro football team to town Tuesday.

The new arena football league team is called the Philadelphia Soul, which is appropriate since it is owned by two musicians -- Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora.

Bon Jovi, Sambora and Sambora's wife, Heather Locklear, were in town to help give the team a big push to the media. Bon Jovi made the rounds of the radio and television talk shows, joking that they should know he isn't fooling around since he was up at 6 a.m. "Alright, let's get something straight here. Rock and rolls stars do not get up this early in the morning. We are usually up late at night," he told reporters.

Later in the day, Bon Jovi and company attended a big, splashy kickoff at the Wachovia Spectrum.

"(Philadelphia) is the greatest sports town in the world. When it comes to football, it is immeasurable," explained Ron Jaworski, the president of the Philadelphia Soul. "Jon will create the sizzle."

Some of that sizzle was evident in the fans that surrounded the singer at every step on his promotional tour. Bon Jovi fans were in heaven Tuesday and many told NBC 10 News that they will go see the football team just because their favorite musician is involved.

"The Philadelphia Soul is going to be a unique name in a unique sport and we wanted everything about it to be origianal," Bon Jovi said.

The Philadelphia Soul is the 18th arena football league team and will kick off its inaugural season in February 2004. The team will be televised in the Philadelphia area exclusively by NBC 10.