LAS VEGAS, Nev. (March 16, 2005) – AFL commissioner David Baker was in Las Vegas this week, making the rounds throughout the valley to promote the ArenaBowl.

He has plenty of work to do because this is the first time the championship game will have been played on a neutral site in the league's 19 years of existence. So it's quite a leap of faith to turn a back on the almost guaranteed sellout of playing at the arena of one of the participating teams.

There also is considerable work to be done because of where the game will be played. Las Vegas is a tough sell for just about anything sports related unless a sports book is involved. The Gladiators' attendance has been stagnant while figures have soared throughout the league.

Frankly, I was skeptical when moving to a neutral site was being considered, especially with Las Vegas as the expected target.

Major League Baseball and the NBA don't play their championships on neutral sites, so why would the AFL go in that direction? Also, I live in the Las Vegas Valley, and I know first-hand out tough a town this is when it comes to selling sporting events.

However, the commissioner – in his subtle but effective way of changing opinion – has me thinking a little differently. Do I expect a sellout? No.

Then again, neither does the commissioner. Still, he points out that 6,000 tickets already have been sold for the big game, and that's 6,000 more than usual for this time of year.

But Baker also backs away from the importance of a sellout. His focus is more on the big picture than rather what happens that one day.

This is not recent spinning. He has made this opinion known from the start.

Moving the game to a neutral site allowed the league to establish conference championships, making those the key games in which teams fight to grab home-field advantage. It adds more importance to the divisional and conference races, which was missing from the league. It makes much more sense than the previous seeding formula.

"For us, we were trading that one game we put together on six days notice for now two conference championships," Baker said. "We hope to give that big-game feel to the two conference championships in the same manner."

It's still a risk, but the ultimate payoff is in the future, not necessarily the present.

"We're in our 19th year, and we have some history and tradition, but we still have innovation," Baker said. "And innovation can establish more tradition."

Innovation has been the key to the AFL's growth. This is not a league that sits still and waits for something to happen.

"I don't think we can sit still," Baker said. "We want to be hungry. We want to grow."

QUICK THOUGHTS

• With the season nearly at the midway point, some clubs have shown their nervousness by making coaching changes. The most recent occurred this week when the Kats dumped offensive coordinator Tres Sullivan.

Nashville is 1-6, and its offense has scored less than 40 points four times.

Coach Pat Sperduto said he made the change because they often disagreed about offensive philosophy and thought Sullivan tried to fit players into his system and not be as flexible as he needed to be.

That may be true, but the greater truth is that Sperduto knows his own future is on the line. Making such a move looks like he's taking strong action, but unless the Kats make some noticeable progress, Sperduto has only delayed his own fate.

A sign of the desperate times in Nashville — as many as eight players are being brought in this week for tryouts.

• Colorado became the last team this season to go for it on fourth down. The Crush, which failed to convert, had not gone for it on fourth down until then for two main reasons.

For one, kicker Clay Rush has a powerful, having made a 62-yard field goal earlier this season. Also, the Crush lead the league in converting third downs, making it 58.3 percent of the time.

Still, teams go for fourth down all the time given the short field and the narrow goal posts, so to last that long without a single try was incredible.

• The AFLWA writers vote on each week's point spreads, and an interesting trend developed this week. Those who will not cover the Arizona-Las Vegas game picked the Rattlers, and those who will cover the game picked the Gladiators. Sounds like name recognition affected those not close to the situation since the Rattlers have been in the past three ArenaBowls, and the Gladiators have been underachievers.

There really is no excuse for the Gladiators to lose this game. If they do, they will continue to earn the underachiever label.

Mark Anderson is the AFLWA executive director. He also covers the Gladiators for the Las Vegas Review-Journal.