Arena Football League and Philadelphia Soul meet to kick off relaunch – NBC10 Philadelphia

The Arena Football League's latest relaunch began on Saturday, but not without problems.

The league, which was originally founded in the 1980s, had some problems as it began its third edition with games on Saturday.

In March, the NFL announced a partnership that will see 30 AFL regular season games broadcast on NFL Network beginning Saturday, April 27, with the Albany Firebirds and Orlando Predators facing off following the network's 2024 NFL Draft coverage compete. The game was eventually broadcast on VYRE network.

The NFL did not respond to a request for comment from ProFootballTalk. The current NFL Network broadcast has the next AFL broadcast scheduled for Thursday at 8 p.m. ET when the Firebirds take on the Nashville Kats.

The AFL's Saturday schedule announcement did not include the Philadelphia Soul's game against the Louisiana Voodoo.

The Philadelphia Inquirer's Christian Red reported a “chaotic and troubling 48 hours” for the soul. Head coach Patrick Pimmel reportedly resigned “the day before the team's first game and many of the Soul players had received release forms.” Players from the Dallas Falcons of the American Arena League 2 subsequently joined the Soul roster and the team lost in Lafayette, Louisiana , with 53:18.

The drama also extended to the Hotel of the Soul. Sports agent Tristen Burnett said Soul players were kicked out of the team's Super 8 motel in the Philadelphia area and had their luggage taken away and locked in a motel room, Red reported via Sports Business Journal.

Red noted that Soul's turmoil stemmed from an ownership situation after an at-risk group “dropped out.”

“Last month, cracks began to appear in the Soul foundation when news leaked that the AFL would be taking ownership of the Soul,” Red wrote.