Talk:Indoor American football

Proposed Paragraph on Out of Bounds Rules
How does out of bounds work, I know that you can hit the walls without going in there is some condition that qualifies an out of bounds, maybe your feet and legs have to hit the wall too. Here's what I know about out of bounds rules, in article formatting, it may not be entirely accurate, so someone who knows more can stick it in the article when its up to snuff.

Out of Bounds
If a player falls over the walls along the field, he is counted out of bounds and, unlike in the NFL, and similar to in MLB, spectators are allowed to keep balls dropped into the spectator area by players going out of bounds. This sometimes leads to a frenzy of spectators swarming a player to get a souvenir.--Kryptknight July 2, 2005 00:30 (UTC)

Misc.
How wide is an AFL field?--Kryptknight July 2, 2005 00:51 (UTC)

Ties
I believe that the first tie was back when there was just one 71/2 minute overtime and whoever was ahead at the end won and that in this instance no one was ahead. The second one was just a case of both teams scoring once and then no one scoring again. Rlquall 17:42, 17 May 2006 (UTC)

Fatalities Necessary?
Is the section on fatalities really necessary? Many people have died in the course of playing other sports (including traditional American Football). Why include that here? Mrpaco 22:10, 21 October 2006 (UTC)

I agree, fatalities are not relevant to this particular article I suggest moving that information to the Arena Football League article or somewhere it can be used. Possibly in the history section. My condolences to Al Lucas' and Julian Yearwood's families.

Westralian (talk) 08:07, 3 February 2008 (UTC)

Tell what the substitution rules are, not how you feel about them
In 2007, the arena football league is changing the substitution rules. We will see how they will work out in the long run, but a wikipedia article is not the place to argue the pros and cons of such a move.

ESPN
Should there be something about ESPN picking up the AFL? It seems pretty significant that the largest sports network bought into the AFL. 65.48.40.74 15:10, 5 February 2007 (UTC)

Category
because this title is about arena football... shouldn't this article include references to the "minor" arena football leagues, like the AIFL? I think this might be useful as many people may know their city has an arena football team, but aren't sure what league they play in. There is a separate article on Arena Football League..... so couldn't the more league-specific rules shift over there.

Unless I'm mistaken. Is the term arena football a trademark? I've consistently heard teams in other leagues referred to as arena football teams, but that could just be in error. I was looking at the articles on basketball and baseball for comparison. First of all, I believe arena football deserves a place in the team sports group, as it really is its own game (even if rules changes like the Elway Rule are threatening to make it like football). I mean, the entire method to playing the game is entirely different, as noted by what element running plays in the game. I'd understand, though, if others disagree, on this issue. Still, articles like baseball and basketball mention other levels of play. If nothing else we need to link to the other league formats.

Funny enough, I don't know THAT much about the sport, so I'm not even clear what significant minor leagues there are. Plus I'd like to see if others disagree with my views on the minor reorganization. But if I don't hear much, I'll go ahead and make the edits (presuming I remember) in a few days. Thanks JeopardyTempest 02:23, 30 June 2007 (UTC)

I see someone did add the UIFL link, so thanks :-) JeopardyTempest 10:53, 30 July 2007 (UTC)

"Trivia" Section
I noticed the pop culture section on here has the trivia tag, but is not in the typical trivia setup. Is that a mistake, or is that supposed to be on there until the info is incorporated into the article in a better way? Whammies Were Here 12:41, 16 November 2007 (UTC)

Still proprietary?
The article claims the game is "proprietary", whatever that means, and that it was patented in 1987. Wouldn't the patent have expired by now? --Trovatore (talk) 03:01, 3 April 2010 (UTC)
 * Searching the USPTO database of patents since 1976, I see no relevant patents under either James Foster or arena football… –Wulf (talk) 07:17, 18 January 2011 (UTC)
 * Somehow, I seem to have missed patent 4911443, “football game system and method of play”, which did indeed expire in 2007: http://backporch.fanhouse.com/2007/07/03/arena-football-patent-set-to-expire/ –Wulf (talk) 07:35, 18 January 2011 (UTC)


 * The patent expired in 2007. I will edit the article to say that the game is no longer proprietary. Mathew5000 (talk) 08:38, 2 March 2014 (UTC)

I think that this article must be integrated with Indoor American football --Muhib mansour (talk) 23:10, 31 August 2015 (UTC)

What is the playing surface made of ?
Some sort of synthetic grass ? Rolled up when not in use ? Rcbutcher (talk) 13:53, 28 September 2015 (UTC)
 * Yes and yes. Originally it was first-gen AstroTurf. Still uses a simple carpet-type turf (as opposed to the infill systems now used outdoors). oknazevad (talk) 10:15, 31 December 2018 (UTC)

The Teams
How about listing the TEAM NAMES of the teams that have played and still do play Arena Football?

And how about a chart of some kind showing who won the yearly championship?

Each of these should then have links to more detailed entries. 2600:8800:50B:6700:C23F:D5FF:FEC5:89B6 (talk) 00:23, 14 February 2017 (UTC)
 * That belongs in the article on the league, not the sport the league plays.
 * Of course, there's no real need for three separate articles, as the AFL is just one of a handful of indoor football leagues and while the best known because of its one-time national footprint and former TV deals, its ruleset is hardly unique enough to warrant a whole separate article. oknazevad (talk) 10:22, 31 December 2018 (UTC)

Was there a proposed team in Virginia Beach, Virginia either named the Sharks or the Stingrays? It's probably a proposal or I would found a web site to verify the claim. If so, the AFL would have 6, not 5 teams. 12.218.47.123 (talk) 03:25, 17 September 2018 (UTC)
 * If there was once such a proposal, it was a long time ago, and there's no guarantee that they'd still be around, like the other AFL teams that have folded. Again, though, this article is about the sport, not the league, though also again, we don't need a separate article. oknazevad (talk) 10:22, 31 December 2018 (UTC)

External links modified
Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified one external link on Arena football. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20090715205508/http://www.dallasdesperados.com/news.cfm?DB_OEM_ID=3500&id=F68965A7-9464-E8CA-B60CAFCEF87DB2A6 to http://www.dallasdesperados.com/news.cfm?DB_OEM_ID=3500&id=F68965A7-9464-E8CA-B60CAFCEF87DB2A6

When you have finished reviewing my changes, you may follow the instructions on the template below to fix any issues with the URLs.

Cheers.— InternetArchiveBot  (Report bug) 20:28, 8 July 2017 (UTC)

External links modified
Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified one external link on Arena football. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20140222063249/http://www.aolnews.com/2007/07/03/arena-football-patent-set-to-expire/ to http://www.aolnews.com/2007/07/03/arena-football-patent-set-to-expire/

When you have finished reviewing my changes, you may follow the instructions on the template below to fix any issues with the URLs.

Cheers.— InternetArchiveBot  (Report bug) 14:31, 4 September 2017 (UTC)

Rules of the Game 
The page comments that AFL fields are about 30% the dimensions of a standard American football field. That doesn't seem accurate. In feet, an NFL field is 360feet by 160.5feet (including the end-zones). An arena field (including the endzones) is 200feet by 85feet (per this article and other sources). That's a scale-factor of .56 for the length and a .53 for the width. Shouldn't the article say the arena field is about 55% of the dimensions of a standard NFL field (including the endzones)? Andrewbressette (talk) 15:35, 30 January 2019 (UTC)
 * The field area is about 30% of the outdoor game. 17,000 square feet vs 57,600 square feet. (By the way, it's 160 ft, not 160.5 for the width of an outdoor field.) oknazevad (talk) 22:51, 2 April 2019 (UTC)

In popular culture section
Per this RFC, "in popular culture" sections need to be properly sourced, just like any other content on Wikipedia. A bunch of random, unsourced examples of when some fictional character mentioned arena football really doesn't help anyone. NinjaRobotPirate (talk) 00:01, 31 July 2020 (UTC)