2004 AFL Season

Originally written by GCEDW

In 2004, the Arena Football League entered into its second year of having games televised by NBC. This season, the AFL expanded from 16 to 19 teams, adding the New Orleans VooDoo, Austin Wranglers, and Philadelphia Soul. In addition, the Buffalo Destroyers moved to Columbus, keeping the Destroyers moniker in the process. Thus, this would be the 19 team lineup for the 2004 season:

Dallas Desperados

Grand Rapids Rampage

Chicago Rush

Indiana Firebirds

San Jose SaberCats

Los Angeles Avengers

Arizona Rattlers

Colorado Crush

New York Dragons

Detroit Fury

Las Vegas Gladiators

Columbus Destroyers

Tampa Bay Storm

Orlando Predators

Georgia Force

Carolina Cobras

New Orleans VooDoo

Austin Wranglers

Philadelphia Soul

The AFL would chose to expand to a 17 week season so that each team would have a bye week and only include 8 playoff teams; which was down from 12 in recent years.

Regular Season

WEEK 1, 2004

Sunday 2/8:

VooDoo-Soul, NBC, 3:00 (regional). Tom Hammond, Pat Haden, Lewis Johnson

Rampage-Rush, NBC, 3:00 (regional). Dan Hicks, Mike Pawlawski, Mark Schanowski

Predators-Storm, NBC, 3:00 (regional). Dave Hammond, Pat Sperduto, J.P Peterson

Dragons-Force, NBC, 3:00 (regional). Bob Papa, Ray Bentley, Fred Kalil

Avengers-Rattlers, NBC, 3:00 (regional). Eli Gold, Charles Davis

NBC 3:00pm coverage map

WEEK 2 2004

Saturday 2/14:

Rush-Dragons, NBC, 3:00 (regional). Tom Hammond, Pat Haden, Lewis Johnson

Avengers-Gladiators, NBC, 3:00 (regional). Bob Papa, Ray Bentley, Mitch Roberts

Firebirds-VooDoo, NBC, 3:00 (regional). Eli Gold, Charles Davis, Rich Lenz

NBC 3:00pm coverage map

WEEK 3 2004

Sunday 2/22:

Desperados-Dragons, NBC, 3:00 (regional). Bob Papa, Ray Bentley, Otis Livingston

SaberCats-Avengers, NBC, 3:00 (regional). Tom Hammond, Pat Haden, Lewis Johnson

Crush-Rush, NBC, 3:00 (regional). Eli Gold, Charles Davis, Mark Schanowski

Storm-Wranglers, NBC, 3:00 (regional). Bill Weber, Pat Sperduto, Roger Wallace

VooDoo-Force, NBC, 3:00 (regional). Allen Bestwick, Mike Pawlawski, Fred Kalil

NBC 3:00pm coverage map

WEEK 4 2004

Sunday 2/29:

Rush-Firebirds, NBC, 3:00 (regional). Eli Gold, Charles Davis, Dave Calabro

VooDoo-Gladiators, NBC, 3:00 (regional). Bill Weber, Pat Sperduto, Mitch Roberts

Dragons-Rattlers, NBC, 3:00 (regional). Tom Hammond, Pat Haden, Lewis Johnson

Desperados-Destroyers, NBC, 3:00 (regional). Allen Bestwick, Mike Pawlawski, Dave Maetzold

Soul-Storm, NBC, 3:00 (regional). Bob Papa, Ray Bentley, J.P Peterson

NBC 3:00pm coverage map

WEEK 5 2004

Sunday 3/7:

Storm-VooDoo, NBC, 12:00 (regional). Allen Bestwick, Mike Pawlawski, Rich Lenz

Rush-Soul, NBC, 12:00 (regional). Bob Papa, Ray Bentley, Vai Sikahema

SaberCats-Dragons, NBC, 12:00 (regional). Tom Hammond, Pat Haden, Lewis Johnson

Gladiators-Force, NBC, 12:00 (regional). Eli Gold, Charles Davis, Fred Kalil

NBC 3:00pm coverage map

WEEK 6 2004

Sunday 3/14:

Dragons-Storm, NBC, 12:00 (regional). Tom Hammond, Pat Haden, Lewis Johnson

Avengers-Rampage, NBC, 12:00 (regional). Bob Papa, Ray Bentley, Jack Doles

NBC 12:00pm coverage map

WEEK 7 2004

Sunday 3/21:

Predators-Rush, NBC, 12:00 (regional). Allen Bestwick, Ray Bentley, Mark Schanowski

Crush-Soul, NBC, 12:00 (regional). Tom Hammond, Pat Haden, Lewis Johnson

NBC 12:00pm coverage map

WEEK 9 2004

Sunday 4/4:

Dragons-Cobras, NBC, 12:00 (regional). Allen Bestwick, Charles Davis, Marty Snider

SaberCats-Storm, NBC, 12:00 (regional). Bob Papa, Ray Bentley, J.P Peterson

Desperados-Soul, NBC, 12:00 (regional). Tom Hammond, Pat Haden, Lewis Johnson

NBC 12:00pm coverage map

WEEK 10 2004

Sunday 4/11:

Storm-Rush, NBC, 3:00 (regional). Tom Hammond, Pat Haden, Lewis Johnson

Force-Wranglers, NBC, 3:00 (regional). Allen Bestwick, Ray Bentley, Roger Wallace

NBC 3:00pm coverage map

WEEK 11 2004

Sunday 4/18:

Desperatos-Rattlers, NBC, 3:00 (regional). Bob Papa, Ray Bentley, Mark Curtis

Crush-Dragons, NBC, 3:00 (regional). Tom Hammond, Pat Haden, Lewis Johnson

NBC 3:00pm coverage map

WEEK 12 2004

Sunday 4/25:

Desperatos-Predators, NBC, 12:00 (regional). Bob Papa, Ray Bentley, Pat Clarke

SaberCats-Force, NBC, 12:00 (regional). Allen Bestwick, Mike Pawlawski, Fred Kalil

NBC 12:00pm coverage map

Rattlers-Firebirds, NBC, 3:00 (regional). Eli Gold, Charles Davis, Dave Calabro

Avengers-Rush, NBC, 3:00 (regional). Tom Hammond, Pat Haden, Lewis Johnson

VooDoo-Wranglers, NBC, 3:00 (regional). Bill Weber, Pat Sperduto, Roger Wallace

NBC 3:00pm coverage map

WEEK 13 2004

Sunday 5-2:

Storm-Predators, NBC, 3:00 (regional). Tom Hammond, Pat Haden, Lewis Johnson

Rush-Fury, NBC, 3:00 (regional). Allen Bestwick, Ray Bentley, Marty Snider

NBC 3:00pm coverage map

WEEK 14 2004

Sunday 5-9:

Avengers-Storm, NBC, 3:00 (regional). Tom Hammond, Pat Haden, Lewis Johnson

SaberCats-Rattlers, NBC, 3:00 (regional). Eli Gold, Charles Davis, Mark Curtis

Predators-VooDoo, NBC, 3:00 (regional). Allen Bestwick, Mike Pawlawski, Rich Lenz

NBC 3:00pm coverage map

WEEK 15 2004

Sunday 5-16:

Avengers-Dragons, NBC, 3:00 (regional). Tom Hammond, Pat Haden, Lewis Johnson

Desperatos-Rush, NBC, 3:00 (regional). Bob Papa, Ray Bentley, Mark Schanowski

Crush-Firebirds, NBC, 3:00 (regional). Bill Weber, Charles Davis, Marty Snider

NBC 3:00pm coverage map

WEEK 16 2004

Sunday 5-23:

Dragons-Predators, NBC, 3:00 (regional). Allen Bestwick, Charles Davis, Pat Clarke

VooDoo-Storm, NBC, 3:00 (regional). Bob Papa, Ray Bentley, J.P Peterson

NBC 3:00pm coverage map

WEEK 17 2004

Sunday 5-30:

Predators-Avengers, NBC, 4:00 (regional). Tom Hammond, Pat Haden, Lewis Johnson

Rush-Crush, NBC, 4:00 (regional). Bob Papa, Ray Bentley, Marty Snider

NBC 4:00pm coverage map

Playoffs

QUARTERFINALS

Saturday 6-5:

Storm-SaberCats, NBC, 2:45. Bob Papa, Ray Bentley, Lewis Johnson

Sunday 6-6:

Crush-VooDoo, NBC, 3:00 (regional). Eli Gold, Mike Pawlawski

Avengers-Rattlers, NBC, 3:00 (regional). Bob Papa, Ray Bentley, Lewis Johnson

Predators-Rush, NBC, 3:00 (regional). Allen Bestwick, Charles Davis, Marty Snider

NBC 3:00pm coverage map

SEMIFINALS

Saturday 6-12:

Rush-SaberCats, NBC, 3:00. Bob Papa, Ray Bentley, Marty Snider

Sunday 6-13:

Crush-Rattlers, NBC, 3:00. Tom Hammond, Pat Haden, Marty Snider

ArenaBowl XVIII

Sunday 6-27:

SaberCats-Rattlers, NBC, 4:00. Tom Hammond, Pat Haden, Marty Snider

• NBC would televise their regional slate of games on Saturday instead of Sunday in week 2 due to the Daytona 500 taking place on the Sunday of that weekend.
• From Weeks 5-7, and again in week 9, NBC would switch to televising AFL games at noon due to PGA tour coverage
• NBC did not show any games in week 8 due to coverage of The Players Championship
• In Week 12, NBC televised a doubleheader of AFL games at noon and 3 ET.