[ ARENA FOOTBALL ]
Islanders commit
to 2005 af2 seasonThe team, still battling for a playoff
spot with 2 road games left, shuffles
its office staff to maximize revenue
On the field, the Hawaiian Islanders have at least two games left this season. Off the field, the team's management is already looking ahead.
With the Islanders' initial three-year commitment to arenafootball2 expiring at the end of this season, Islanders executive director and general manager Chris Dey said the franchise is committed to returning for the 2005 season.
"Absolutely, we're coming back," Dey said yesterday.
The Islanders joined af2, an offshoot of the Arena Football League, in the fall of 2001 and entered into a commitment for three seasons. The team can make its plans to return for a fourth season official at the end of September when franchises must notify the league of their intentions at a board of directors meeting.
Season-ticket sales for the 2005 season are already under way and Dey said the franchise is on schedule with its plan to reach the break-even mark. Dey said the team is still losing money, but he and team owner Kimberly Dey, his wife, are pleased with the recent trends in revenue through sponsorships and ticket sales.
"We've put together a five-year plan and we feel we're right on track with that," Dey said.
The Islanders went 5-11 in their inaugural season in 2002. They improved to 11-7 and won the West Division last year, earning an af2 playoff berth in Cal Lee's first season as head coach.
The Islanders are 8-6 this season entering tomorrow's road game against the Central Valley Coyotes and still have hopes of retaining the division title or earning a wild-card berth to the playoffs.
They close the regular season at Bakersfield on July 31. The playoffs open the first weekend in August.
The Islanders' average home attendance increased from 2,343 in 2002 to 3,448 last year. The team drew an average of 3,610 fans to their eight home games at the 6,033-seat Blaisdell Arena this season.
As the franchise prepares for its fourth season, the Islanders plan to shuffle some of their office staff in the offseason by replacing members of the operations staff with salespeople in an effort to generate more revenue. Dey said the team is planning to fill the operations positions again as the new season approaches.
He said the size of the staff will remain roughly the same, but with a different emphasis.
"We're getting a little bit smarter on how we do things," Dey said. "We'll focus more heavily on our sales staff in the offseason and as we get closer to January we'll ramp back up with our full-season staff.
"The work load just drops off in the offseason, so what we'll be doing is focusing on our sales staff. It's a formula that's worked throughout the Arena Football League and it's one that we're going to use."
In the hunt: With two games left in the regular season, the Islanders (8-6) can still finish as high as the second seed in the National Conference or be eliminated from the playoff race with their next loss.
They remain two games behind Bakersfield in the West Division and are in a three-way tie for the National Conference's last two wild-card berths.
Three of the National Conference's six playoff spots have been claimed by Tulsa (11-3) and Oklahoma City (10-5) of the Midwest Division and Bakersfield.
While the Islanders focus on their game at Central Valley tomorrow, they will also be keeping an eye on other games around the league.
» Bakersfield (10-4) at San Diego (7-7): The Blitz can claim the West Division championship with a road win over the Riptide. They are 3-0 against San Diego this season, with all three wins coming by three points or fewer. If the Islanders win tomorrow, an upset by San Diego gives them a chance to tie Bakersfield in next week's regular-season finale.
» Peoria (8-6) at Birmingham (9-5): Peoria currently holds the sixth spot in the playoff chase thanks to its tiebreaker edge over the Islanders. The Pirates own a better winning percentage against common opponents. Peoria puts its five-game winning streak on the line against a Birmingham team tied for first in the American Conference's South Division.
» Green Bay (5-9) at Louisville (8-6): Even with last week's loss at Blaisdell Arena, Louisville still holds the strength-of-schedule edge over Peoria and the Islanders.