AMERICAN Football News and Photo
 

A lot of these links probably say the same thing. My computer is moving too slow to get the articles past the links. There's one that starts with "It was definitely Bon Jovi's idea to call the team the Soul." If someone can capture that article and post it, I'd appreciate it.

http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercuryne...ts/6836264.htm

Becky


http://us.news2.yimg.com/us.yimg.com...a_league_px103 See next post.

Rock star Jon Bon Jovi (news), left, stands with Craig A. Spencer, right, and Arena League Commissioner David Baker, center, Monday, Sept. 22, 2003, in Philadelphia. Bon Jovi was anounced Monday as co-owner, along with Spencer, of the Philadelphia Soul, an expansion Arena League Football franchise that will begin play next season in the Wachovia Center and Wachovia Spectrum. (AP Photo/Jacqueline Larma)


http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/sports/6836412.htm

http://www.curlio.com/new_showarticle.php?id=5315#

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/23/sp...partner=GOOGLE

Rock and Soul as Bon Jovi Buys Part of Arena Team
By RICHARD SANDOMIR


t a pep rally today outside the Wachovia Spectrum in Philadelphia, the rock star Jon Bon Jovi, a New Jersey resident and a devout Giants fan, will be introduced as the co-owner of the Philadelphia Soul, an Arena Football League expansion team.

"I'm a very conservative investor," Bon Jovi said last Friday in a telephone interview. "I don't like to lose money, first and foremost, so since my name will be out in front, I had to build a great team." Ron Jaworski, an ESPN analyst and former Eagles quarterback, will be the team's president.

Bon Jovi is sensitive to the stereotype of a rock star being fiscally irresponsible or somehow undeserving of team ownership. "I didn't get rich or famous by being stupid," he said. "I've been able to surprise people with my business acumen.''

Craig Spencer, a real estate developer, who had applied to be the sole owner of the Philadelphia team, said he had "leaned to saying no" to being in partnership with a celebrity, but "Jon's one of the brightest guys in the business.''

"His rock life is his business,'' he said. "You'd be shocked at how his band is a well-oiled business machine."

Richie Sambora, a Bon Jovi bandmate, is the owner of a small stake in the team.

Bon Jovi had barely paid attention to the A.F.L. when a friend mentioned it early this year, but once persuaded of its appeal, he spent several months talking to the league and to owners like John Elway of Colorado and Jerry Jones of Dallas.

"I see this as a growing enterprise," Bon Jovi said. "This is a baby league, in its 18th season, as opposed to its 100th-plus season. This is growing by leaps and bounds. It's real football. It's not the XFL."

C. David Baker, the A.F.L.'s commissioner, said he had ignored past contacts by rock stars to buy teams, but he was persuaded that Bon Jovi was different.

"These guys did more due diligence than any other owner," Baker said.

At a Bon Jovi concert in Cleveland, Baker said the atmosphere and the band's marketing "almost felt like one of our events."

Ken Schanzer, the president of NBC Sports, which began a long-term deal with the A.F.L. last season, watched Bon Jovi address team owners earlier this year.

"He talked about the nature of the game as a place to take your children and that in his company, he's never had one guy arrested for drug use, drunk driving or salacious behavior," Schanzer said.

The addition of Bon Jovi, who said his band would not tour this year so he could concentrate on overseeing the Soul, is the latest wrinkle at the A.F.L.

It has expanded, moved teams from midsized markets to larger cities, sold franchises to several N.F.L. owners and received regular broadcast exposure on NBC every week, reaching 25.4 million households last season, up from 5.2 million in 2002.

Bon Jovi's team purchase includes a commitment to make a commercial for NBC, which Baker hopes will help raise the league's profile.

"John Elway and Jerry Jones can get us into Sports Illustrated," Baker said. "Jon Bon Jovi can get us into 'Access Hollywood' and Rolling Stone."








http://www.sltrib.com/2003/Sep/09232...orts/95053.asp

ARENA FOOTBALL

Arena rock: Jon Bon Jovi is bringing arena rock to arena football. Just don't expect him to perform during games. Bon Jovi will be co-owner of the Philadelphia Soul, an expansion Arena Football League team that will play next season in the Wachovia Center and Wachovia Spectrum. His partner is developer Craig A. Spencer, whose properties include the Ritz-Carlton in Philadelphia.
The Soul become the league's 18th team and second expansion team this year, following the New Orleans VooDoo.



http://www.canoe.ca/CalgarySports/cs.cs-09-23-0080.html

Tuesday, September 23, 2003
Ooh, we're halfway there -- it's second and five
By AP
PHILADELPHIA -- Jon Bon Jovi is bringing arena rock to arena football. Just don't expect him to perform during games.

Bon Jovi will be co-owner of the Philadelphia Soul, an expansion Arena Football League team that will play next season in the Wachovia Center and Wachovia Spectrum.

His partner is developer Craig A. Spencer, whose properties include the Ritz-Carlton in Philadelphia, where Bon Jovi spoke yesterday.

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

Bon Jovi guitarist Richie Sambora has a stake in the team.

The Soul become the league's 18th team and second expansion team this year, following the New Orleans VooDoo. A team in Austin, Tex., is expected to enter next season.

Bon Jovi has sold upward of 100 million albums worldwide but he had to overcome skepticism among league executives. The 41-year-old rocker quickly impressed with his business acumen, work ethic and football knowledge, league commissioner David Baker said.

"We're driving on our way to a concert and he's asking me about the emergency quarterback rule," Baker said. "Nobody ever asks me about the emergency quarterback rule."

Arena football is a fast-paced version of the outdoor game that sent quarterbacks Kurt Warner and Tommy Maddox to the NFL. The 17-year-old AFL debuted last season on NBC, drawing 65 million viewers while attendance increased 15% to an average of more than 11,000.

The value of a typical AFL team has gone from $400,000 US six years ago to about $16 million, said Baker, who declined to put a price tag on the Soul.

The Soul's president is Ron Jaworski, who once quarterbacked the Philadelphia Eagles to the Super Bowl. The coach is Mike Trigg, who won an ArenaBowl title with Grand Rapids.




http://msnbc.com/news/970337.asp

http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/

Bon Jovi gets to live out a dream
Co-owner wants Soul to rock Philly
By PAUL DOMOWITCH
pdomo@aol.com

THERE'S SOMETHING you should know right up front about one of the owners of the city's new Arena Football League franchise.

He's a stinking Giants fan.

That's right. New Jersey rocker Jon Bon Jovi, who will officially be introduced today as the co-owner of the Philadelphia Soul along with local real estate developer Craig Spencer, bleeds Giant blue. And if you're expecting him to convert now that he owns a 50 percent chunk of a Philly sports team, dream on.

"I hope Philadelphia fans will have a good time embracing me in spite of my loyalty to the Giants," Bon Jovi said yesterday. "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 Eagle and Giants fan, I hate the ground that the Cowboys walk on."

Bon Jovi and Spencer have ponied up almost $15 million for the AFL expansion franchise, which will play its home games at the Wachovia Center and the Spectrum. The season runs from February to May. They have hired longtime AFL executive Joe Hennessy to be the club's general manager. They have brought in Mike Trigg, who won an Arena League title 2 years ago with Grand Rapids, to be the head coach. Ex-Eagles quarterback Ron Jaworski will be the club's president.

"The good part is Jon and I know what we don't know," Spencer said. "The first thing we did was get the best coach in the league and the best GM in the league. One's been in the league 13 years. The other's been around 15 years. They've both won Arena Bowls. There's only so much I can lend. I'm a businessman in the real estate business. Jon's a rock star in the music business. Bringing those two guys on board, along with Ron, was a big coup."

Bon Jovi didn't do this on a lark. He has been interested in owning a piece of a pro sports team for several years. Had surface discussions with his longtime pal Bill Parcells in the early 1990s about buying a minor league baseball team and putting it near his home in central Jersey. But football is his true love.

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

He became interested in an Arena League franchise earlier this year after talking with former Denver Broncos quarterback John Elway, who is part-owner of the AFL's Colorado Crush.

"What appealed to me most about the league was the fan-friendly aspect," Bon Jovi said. "I have an 8-year-old playing his second year of Pop Warner. I've realized how influential sports can be in kids' lives. The opportunity to meet, really meet, the players in this league and not be just No. 99 in line at the mall, is a part of what the AFL experience is about.

"After looking at it closely, I decided it was something that was very viable; something I wanted to be involved in."

Bon Jovi and Spencer didn't know each other previously. When both expressed interest in buying an AFL team and putting it in Philadelphia, commissioner David Baker suggested they go in on it together.

"When I initially called the league about bringing a team to Philadelphia, I wanted to do it myself," Spencer said. "Then the commissioner asked me whether I'd consider a partner. My first answer to him was no. He said, 'Well, we'd really like you to consider it because there's another gentleman that's been looking at this very seriously.' "

When he found out the other gentleman was a rock star, he had even more reservations.

"Jon brings a lot of celebrity," Spencer said. "But for people who are not celebrities, the sense of celebrity can be a lot of baggage. That was my initial concern. But from the first time I met him, I realized he was hard-working, smart, savvy, sophisticated, everything I didn't think he would be. I've been incredibly impressed with everything he's done and how he does it."

Having a rock-star owner certainly can't hurt the 16-year-old league's popularity.

"His celebrity-ness is helpful," admitted Baker, who has been the AFL's commissioner since '96. "We've never had an owner who sold out Veterans Stadium. Or, for that matter, someone who owns the Ritz-Carlton [Spencer].

"John Elway got us in Sports Illustrated twice last year. But we've never been in Rolling Stone or on 'Access Hollywood' or so many other areas that Jon gives us entree to where people are interested in sports and entertainment."

Said Bon Jovi: "[My fame] has gotten us to places that the league hadn't been before. If it's People mag or 'Entertainment Tonight' or the 'Today' show, these are things that I'm obviously going to open the doors for. But at the end of the day, we have to put a good product on the field and off the field.

"There's a big risk for me to damage my wonderful relationship with this town that I've built over 20 years. It takes a lot for me to put my entire relationship on the line with this. It's not like I'm opening a restaurant down on South Street and said, 'Hey, come on down to a place I'm never going to show up at.' This is my reputation. I waited 20 years to sell out Veterans Stadium. I'd hate to ruin that by promising something and not delivering on it."

Soul season tickets will go on sale immediately. Bon Jovi said the team plans to have a meet-the-team pep rally for season ticketholders in January before the start of the season. The pep rally will include a free Bon Jovi concert.

"[Comcast-Spectacor, which owns the Wachovia Center and the Spectrum] gave us a date as a gift for a meet-your-team day, so people can meet their quarterback, meet their coach, meet the players," Bon Jovi said. "We're just going to happen to be the house band that plays that day. So you buy your season tickets, come to the pep rally and you see a Bon Jovi concert.

"I'm not going to do this at every halftime. I'm not going to do it every week. I'm not going to show up at Sixers, Flyers and Phillies games and do it. This is going to be something special."

And he promises not to wear his Giants jersey.

Another photo link:

http://us.news2.yimg.com/us.yimg.com...a_league_px101