Don't call it a comeback: AFL to fold

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) - Arena Football League owners have voted to suspend the league indefinitely, ending the small glimmer of hope that was left that the league could return in 2010, various media outlets report.

Owners were unable to reach a consensus on a plan to revive the league. Any proposal to bring the league back would have taken a 75 percent majority vote among the league's remaining 17 franchises.

A formal announcement is expected within a day.

But Scott Gorsline, the chief operating officer of DP Fox Sports & Entertainment, spoke with 24 Hour News 8 and denied most of the initial reports.

"No decision was made," Gorsline said. "We tried; multiple different plans were put forward and there was not enough votes in favor of any particular plan to get anything done and move forward."

When asked if the league is folding, and about reports of the AFL going into bankruptcy, Gorsline said: "There was definitely no vote to voluntarily take the league into bankruptcy."

So, is it a suspension of operations indefinitely?

"Officially, nothing's really changed from where we've been. I mean, we haven't voted on any plan that would change anything," Gorsline said.

The demise of the league has been widely predicted, especially since the owners were unable to ratify a new collective bargaining agreement with the players' union that called for a 50 percent reduction in the salary cap.

Initial reports say that the league will file Chapter 7 bankruptcy, effectively dissolving the league.

"The Chapter 7 part ... I don't think (is) true," he said.

The league intially suspended play for the 2009 season on December 15, 2008 to take one year off to resolve financial operations.

He and Dan DeVos are disappointed with the idea that there may be another year without the Rampage in Grand Rapids.

"We finished the 2008 season on a high note after having, you know, a number of down years," he said. "We felt like we had a good group of players, a good group of coaches and a great staff in place to bring the Rampage back to where it wanted ... and then the wheels fell out from under us."

On whether there will be a 2010 season: "I guess it's not totally out of the question, but I'd say it's probably unlikely at this point."

The Columbus Dispatch and Orlando Sentinel contributed to this report.