Utah Blaze (2006-2008)

Arena Football League (2006-2008)

Background

Very popular Salt Lake City-based Arena Football League team which had the misfortune to enter the league just as a massive asset bubble in franchise valuations began to deflate.  The Utah Blaze packed large crowds into EnergySolutions Arena for three seasons, but vanished into bankruptcy along with the rest of the league in August 2009.

Father and son auto barons John & Robert Garff, along with partner Brett Hopkins, paid an estimated $18.0 million expansion fee for the Utah franchise in September 2004. Arena football franchise fees had skyrocketed over 350% during the past six years, since Casey Wasserman acquired the Los Angeles territory for a then-record $5 million in 1998. However, the expansion gold rush obscured the fact that virtually every team lost money every season, often millions of dollars. After the Garff’s bought in, the league would only manage to sell one more expansion franchise (Kansas City, also for $18M, in 2005) during its final four seasons of existence. Hoped for paydays from investor groups in Boston, Pittsburgh and elsewhere stalled.

On The Carpet

The Blaze were neither particularly bad nor especially good.  The team hired former Dallas Cowboys quarterback Danny White as Head Coach and General Manager.  White was one of the top coaches in the league, previously winning two Arena Bowls with the Arizona Rattlers. After two middling campaigns, White resigned midway through the Blaze’s third and final season in 2008.  The club was 0-9 at the time, but rallied following White’s departure to finish 6-10 and earn a playoff spot.

Although the Blaze never finished a season above .500, they did make the playoffs in all three of their seasons.  They lost in the first round every year.

The Blaze’s top player was former Ohio State quarterback and NFL journeyman Joe Germaine. Germaine set an Arena Football League all-time record with 5,005 passing yards during the 2007 season.

Another key figure in Blaze history was WR-LB Justin Skaggs. Skaggs played parts two of seasons with Utah in 2006 and 2007.  After suffering headaches during the season, Skaggs was diagnosed with inoperable Stage III brain cancer on June 1, 2007.  He died just two weeks later on June 15th, less than two weeks after suiting up for the final time.  The Blaze retired Justin Skaggs’ number in 2008.

Arena League Bankruptcy & Re-Boot

Following the 2008 season, a heretofore private crisis of confidence among the league’s investors came to the surface. Long-time league Commissioner C. David Baker resigned, the NFL ownership group backing the league’s popular New Orleans Voodoo franchise abruptly pulled out, and a $100M private equity investment in the league collapsed. In December 2008, the league cancelled the 2009 season and announced plans to revamp its business model.  Most team staff around the league were laid off.  The Los Angeles franchise dropped out during the re-structuring process. Ultimately, the league failed to emerge from the crisis and folded in August 2009.

At the end of 2009, a group comprised of former owners from the AFL and its smaller-market minor league, Arena Football 2, purchased the intellectual property of the defunct AFL from the bankruptcy court. This acquisition included the rights to the Utah Blaze name and trademarks.  The Garff family elected not to continue with the “new” Arena Football League.  Instead, a much thriftier owner named David Affleck took over the rights to the Blaze name and re-launched the team in 2010.  This re-booted version of the Blaze muddled along for four seasons from 2010-2013, enduring arena moves, ownership turmoil, and eventual insolvency and was a pale imitation of the original franchise.  The new version of the Blaze will be covered in a separate FWIL entry.

Utah Blaze Shop

Utah Blaze Video

The Blaze take on the New York Dragons at EnergySolutions Arena on February 11, 2006.

Links

Arena Football League Media Guides

Arena Football League Programs

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