The Alabama Steeldogs were one of the charter teams in the Arena Football League 2. This Birmingham-based club didn’t make it, and they shut down prior to the 2008 season. Some wonder why this team couldn’t make it. After all, Alabama is crazy about football, and Birmingham doesn’t have many more sports options. With the growth in this area, it would seem as if the Steeldogs were in a perfect position to take advantage of football fans needing a winter fix. The short answer is that the team was losing money. The more complicated answer is that arena football doesn’t garner support among fans in Birmingham.
Arena football might seem like an appropriate substitute for college or the NFL game. This doesn’t play out in the real world, though. Fans like the action of the arena game, but they do not give the game the sort of respect that they give its college counterpart. Likewise, it is very difficult for new teams to break through with support. People develop their love for a team over the course of many years. The Steeldogs needed to make money from the very start, and the fans were not going to become loyal overnight. This created an untenable situation and sunk the franchise.
