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SALT LAKE CITY — Coming off the first win in franchise history, the Salt Lake Stallions' Week 4 game against the Orlando Apollos has been moved to 6 p.m. MT Saturday.
The home game will now be available on the NFL Network.
The Stallions (1-2) were previously scheduled to host Steve Spurrier and Orlando (3-0) at 2 p.m. MT at Rice-Eccles Stadium.
At the request of the national television broadcaster, the gametime has also been moved to the network's primetime slot, with pre- and post-game shows.
The original gametime of 2 p.m. MT was set for Bleacher Report Live, the online streaming service from Turner Sports that broadcast Salt Lake's 23-15 win over the Arizona Hotshots last week.
The announced attendance of Saturday's game was 10,641, though optical reports estimated the crowd closer to half that.
Head coach Dennis Erickson wasn't deterred by the crowd size in the home opener, though; he's just happy to be home. The crowd was loud and energetic, even if the numbers weren't as bolstered as others, judging by some attendance figures reported across the eight-team league.
"Once people see the product, I think you’ll see a lot more people," Erickson said after Saturday's game. "I know they were yelling and screaming, and it had an effect on what went on.
"This town is a great football town. Once we get this thing going, we’ll start getting a lot of fans in here."
Wish granted
Erickson deadpanned with local reporters that he hoped for even worse weather than the 30-degrees-with-clear-skies that welcomed the Hotshots (2-1) to the Wasatch Front last week.
With the undefeated Apollos coming to Utah, he'll take any advantage he gets.
"It was a beautiful day today. It was colder in Birmingham last week," Erickson quipped. "I hope it’s colder when Orlando comes. I hope it snows.”
Temperatures for Salt Lake City on Saturday include a high of 40 degrees and an overnight low of 35, with a mix of rain and snow expected in the evening hours.
Locals on the inactive roster
Among the players on the inactive list last weekend were all five former BYU players on the Stallions' 53-man roster.
Wide receiver Jordan Leslie, safety Micah Hannemann, tight end Tanner Balderree, defensive tackle Handsome Tanielu and offensive lineman Tuni Kanuch were all battling injuries and didn’t participate in the Stallions’ win, Erickson said.
To be fair, Salt Lake also deactivated former Utah running back Matt Asiata, former Boise State defensive back Chanceller James, and ex-Purdue defensive tackle Eddy Wilson, as well.
Erickson said he would prefer to keep coaching the local prospects in the first-year Alliance of American Football, too.
"It's fun being with those guys, because I know how important it us for those guys," he said. "This league is different, because it has allocation areas. … We get the whole state of Utah, and it’s kind of fun.
"We’ve got to go out and find more players than most because of the skill level we have to get."
