Islanders to kick off in 2002

By Michael Tsai
Advertiser Staff Writer

The Islanders are back!

Sort of.

Arenafootball2 yesterday announced that the Hawaiian Islanders will join eight other expansion teams approved for the league's 2002 season.

"We're hoping to establish a western division and Hawai'i is just a wonderful environment for arena football," said af2 executive director Jay Marcus.

The team, owned and operated by Charles Wang and daughter Kimberly Wang, is scheduled to play eight of 16 regular season games in the Neal Blaisdell Center starting in March 2002.

While the team's name may conjure memories of another Hawai'i professional sports franchise — the departed Hawai'i Islanders baseball team — it is actually derived from the New York Islanders of the National Hockey League. Charles Wang owns the New York Islanders, as well as the Arena Football League's New York Dragons and another af2 expansion team in New Haven, Conn.

Kimberly Wang said af2's affiliations with the Arena Football League and, indirectly, the National Football League will help the new Islanders succeed where other professional sports franchises in Hawai'i have failed.

Af2 spun off from the AFL in 2000, fielding 15 teams in its first season and 28 last season. The league expects to have a total of 40 teams competing in the upcoming season.

The NFL holds an exclusive option to purchase equity interest in the AFL, which would give it minority ownership of the 15-year-old springtime league.

"One of the reasons why we're different is we bring a foundation and a history," said Jerry Kurz, one of the founding members of the AFL and managing director for the Islanders. "All of the sports that came before, even indoor football, were basically amateur-type setups. The other teams that came before meant well, tried hard, but didn't have the inner structure that we think we bring."

Honolulu Mayor Jeremy Harris said the addition of a professional football team based in Honolulu fits in well with his intention to make Hawai'i a "sports center in the Pacific.

"Indoor football made a good run at it, but I think the advantage we have with arena football is they have the financial resources and the staying power to get through those first few years that you need to establish a franchise," Harris said. "Knowing how much our local community loves football, once they get exposed to arena football and they get a chance to build some pride around their own team, I think it's going to take off."

Kurz said that shouldn't take long.

"Our goal (for the first season) is to have every game sold out," he said. "We only have 6,800 seats. With our population base and our sports-minded fans, shame on us if we can't sell that out."

Kurz said the team expects to name a coach within the next two to three weeks. While he declined to name the five or six candidates under serious consideration, he did say "it will be a local coach because that's the design of all this."

An educational meeting for potential players will be held later this month, with official try-outs scheduled for Oct. 20 on O'ahu and Oct. 27 on Maui.

Kurz said all but two players will be from Hawai'i, in accordance with league rules. Players will be paid $200 per game with a $50 bonus for winning.

"This will be for players who want to get to the next level and for players who may never get to the next level but enjoy playing. They may be players who went away to junior college, didn't get to play for UH, but still want to play. They can play here in front of their family and friends and be on TV."

Speaking of TV, Kurz said the team is currently negotiating with local stations and cable networks to televise home and away games.

"We think it's crucial that we're able to broadcast to our fans," he said. "We firmly believe our games are going to be sold out and those thousands of fans who want to get to our games but can't — we need to broadcast to them."

The team also plans to work with youth programs to help foster interest in football. Boxer Jesus Salud, who was hired as the team's community relations director, said he'd like to see Pop Warner teams play before Islander games at the Blaisdell Arena.

"When I was growing up and I saw boxing matches at the Blaisdell, I always thought, 'I want to fight here,' " he said. "I want kids to have that same feeling playing on the field and watching arena football."