PHILADELPHIA -- The Arena Football League's 2009 season is on -- for
now.

The AFL's board of directors met via conference call Wednesday night
but "despite rumors and reports to the contrary" did not suspend the
upcoming season.

"The Board will continue to meet regularly to examine any and all
long-term structural improvement options for the AFL," the league
said in a statement.

The meeting came amid a tumultuous week in which the league seemed
poised to cancel the season.

The 16-team league repeatedly has delayed the start of free agency
and the release of its 2009 schedule after an offseason of
uncertainty. No replacement has been named for longtime commissioner
David Baker, who abruptly resigned in July two days before the
ArenaBowl championship game.

"I have yet to hear anything from our ownership, but I am happy for
the league and happy to possibly have the opportunity to defend our
championship," Philadelphia Soul coach Bret Munsey said Wednesday
evening.

"We all know there are some things that need to be corrected, and
that's what they're working on. They're working on the economic
model, and it needs to be corrected. Maybe this makes the league
stronger. We're looking to be around for another 20 years."

The AFL's woes come at a time when the world of sports, once thought
to be largely recession-proof, has felt the economic chill. The NFL
has said it would cut 150 jobs, while the NBA and NASCAR also have
laid off dozens of workers. The NHL is in a hiring freeze while the
Internet operation for Major League Baseball also has trimmed
positions.

It's still possible there could be big changes to the arena league.

Avengers owner Casey Wasserman told the Los Angeles Times that the
AFL needs to take the time to become more efficient because of the
poor economy. Wasserman is a former league chairman and one of the
AFL's major power brokers.

"It's important for the Arena Football League to think about the next
20 years," Wasserman told the Times. "And the economic model,
combined with the economic environment we're in currently doesn't
allow us to take that perspective. By suspending play for the year --
in cooperation with our players and our partners -- it allows us to
get the perspective to try and make the decisions that are in the
best interest of the long-term viability of the league."

Philadelphia Soul wide receiver Chris Jackson told the AP that the
league's players had agreed to take pay cuts and had been told
Tuesday that the season likely would be canceled.

Jackson said he still isn't convinced the AFL will play in '09.

"I'm still reluctant to get too happy," he said. "There's still a lot
to plan out. We need to figure out how many teams are going to be in
it, the finances of it all, and a working financial model for the
future. There's still a lot to be done."

The Grand Rapids (Mich.) Press reported earlier Wednesday that the
players' union, in a conference call Friday, voted to cut the salary
cap from $2 million to $1.4 million in order to help save the coming
season.

"I'm one of the top-paid guys and I was the first one to say I'd take
a pay cut," Ahmad Hawkins, union rep for the Grand Rapids Rampage,
told the newspaper. The Press said Hawkins, a defensive back, earned
$75,000 last season.

"We agreed to take the salary cap lower. The players want to do
anything we can to play this season," Hawkins said, according to the
paper.

Players' union spokesman Carl Francis declined to discuss specifics
about the 2009 season.

"We definitely are in discussions with the Arena Football League on
these issues," he said.

Officials from several teams said they were proceeding with business
as usual for the time being.

"We're readying contracts right now for when we're ready to move
forward with free agency," said Luke Stahmer, vice president of
operations for the Colorado Crush. "We're buying helmets and jerseys
as if it's a regular season. We don't want to get caught with our
pants down, so to speak."

The 22-year-old Arena Football League has lasted longer than the
American Football League, World League, USFL and XFL combined.

Since November 2007, the AFL's board of directors has been looking
into various ways to bolster the league's finances.

One proposal involved individual franchise owners ceding control of
the league to new investors. Sports Business Journal reported in
October that AFL owners had approved a tentative deal with Platinum
Equity in which the company would invest up to $100 million and
assume management control of the league.

That deal, however, has yet to be completed.

There are still no clear answers when the AFL's 16 teams might be
able to start signing free agents. The dispersal draft for the
players of the New Orleans VooDoo, also delayed indefinitely, was
originally scheduled for October.

New Orleans dropped out of the league despite being in the top five
in the league in attendance. Saints owner Tom Benson, who also owned
the VooDoo, said the decision was based on "circumstances currently
affecting the league and the team."

The AFL's minor-league operation, AF2, is still in operation.

ESPN has a minor, nonmanagement financial interest in the AFL. The
network acquired national TV rights to the league in 2006 and signed
a five-year deal to have multimedia rights that included everything
from Internet to radio to publishing to international distribution.

"We've always admired the AFL fan-first philosophy, but we have no
comment on their business activity," ESPN spokesman Bill Hofheimer
said.