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SALT LAKE CITY --The Utah Blaze drew a sellout crowd of 16,855 fans during Friday night’s postseason-clinching, 55-54, victory over the Kansas City Brigade in the regular season finale to secure the No. 1 spot for attendance for the 2006 Arena Football League season.
Utah welcomed a total of 123,985 fans to the Delta Center for their inaugural season for an average of 15,498 per game, including four sellouts (Dallas on February 4th, San Jose on March 4th, Los Angeles on April 15th, and Kansas City on May 12th.)
“This is a great accomplishment for the entire Blaze organization and the greatest fans in the Arena Football League,” said Blaze president JASON JONES. “It is a reflection of the type of ownership we have with the Garff Family and the type of people here in the state of Utah. We are truly honored.”
Following the Blaze in attendance were the Philadelphia Soul (15,463), Kansas City Brigade (15,234), Colorado Crush (15,009), and Tampa Bay (14,820).
The AFL's 20th Season celebration continued when the league's cumulative total attendance surpassed 20 million fans back in Week 14. The AFL’s Week 14 attendance total of 108,244 catapulted the league’s overall attendance numbers to 20,069,791.
SALT LAKE CITY - The Utah Blaze (7-9) finished their inaugural regular season by establishing several team and individual expansion records. Utah’s offense, guided by AFL Hall of Fame head coach DANNY WHITE, set six expansion records and are now set to travel to U.S. Airways Arena to play the No. 3-seed Arizona Rattlers (8-8) on Saturday, May 20 at 3 p.m. (MT) in the Wild Card Round.
This season also brought new individual expansion records for SIAHA BURLEY (5-10, 185, Central Florida) and STEVE VIDETICH (6-2, 200, N.C. State).
Burley, who is an Offensive Player of the Year and All-Arena candidate, finished the season by setting new expansion marks in receptions, receiving yards, and receiving touchdowns, while earning top honors in the AFL with most yards gained this season at 1,934, the second highest (Arizona’s CALVIN SCHEXNAYDER, 1,982 in 1998) in AFL history. Burley finished ahead of Colorado’s DAMIAN HARRELL, who finished with 1,920.
The career record book also took a hit when Videtich became the all-time leader in kicking points with 1,381 career points, while setting two new expansion marks for PATs attempted and made.
After joining the team midway through this season, QB ANDY KELLY became the AFL’s all-time passing touchdown leader with 768, passing New York’s AARON GARCIA with 757.
INDIVIDUAL EXPANSION RECORDS
RECORD PLAYER RECORD PREVIOUS
Receptions Siaha Burley 136 125
Receiving Yards Siaha Burley 1,934* 1,630
Receiving Touchdowns Siaha Burley 44 42
PAT Attempts Steve Videtich 113 97
PATs Made Steve Videtich 106 84
*No. 1 in AFL
TEAM EXPANSION RECORDS
RECORD RECORD PREVIOUS
Pass Percentage 66.7% 63.4%
Passing Yards 4,687 4,457
Passing Touchdowns 93 86
Passer Rating 119.2 113.2
Receiving Yards 4,877 4,356
Receiving Touchdowns 93 85
PAT Attempts 113 97
PATs Made 106 84
This season, ArenaBowl XX will be played in Las Vegas at the Thomas & Mack Center on June 11 at 1 p.m. (MT). Individuals interested in information regarding tickets to the Wild Card Round game in Phoenix, can contact KEVIN JAMES (kevinj@utahblaze.com or 801.257.3492) in the Blaze ticket office.
--BLAZE--
