Avengers to Try Road Approach to Home Game

The Avengers will be on the road when they play the Las Vegas Gladiators at Staples Center today. At least, the Avengers have adopted a visitors’ itinerary and mentality in hopes of reversing this season’s losing trend before Los Angeles crowds.

The Avengers, who are 6-2 on the road and 2-4 at Staples Center, checked into an L.A.-area hotel after practice Friday. Today, they will go through a game-day routine as if they were playing at New York, where they won last week, 58-53.

NFL teams and most Division I college teams routinely use hotels before home games. But only a few franchises in the cost-conscious Arena Football League have occasionally done so, according to Avenger Coach Ed Hodgkiss.

With the 8-6 Avengers hoping to get one of eight playoff spots, Hodgkiss said he jumped at owner Casey Wasserman’s offer to mimic road-game arrangements for the first time.

Offensive specialist Chris Jackson said the team almost preferred the road environment because it forced it to focus and band together.

The Avengers end their regular season next week with another home game against Orlando.

“We all know the task at hand,” Jackson said. “It’s put up or shut up.”

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The Avengers defeated Las Vegas, 62-55, in the second game of the season at Las Vegas. The loss was part of the Gladiators’ 3-7 start. But Las Vegas has won its last four games, including last week’s 44-35 victory over injury-plagued San Jose.

“It seems like everybody we play starts a little streak before they play us,” Hodgkiss said. “Hopefully, it’s time to start ours.”

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NBC and the AFL agreed to extend their broadcasting contract for two years. The network and the league are in the final year of a two-year agreement, which included a four-year option.

As part of the agreement, NBC does not pay a rights fee. It renews at the network’s option and allows NBC a revenue-sharing component.

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A trial date for Cornelius Coe has been set for July 19 in Michigan, according to Brian Lennon, deputy criminal chief for the U.S. attorney’s office for the Western District of Michigan.

Coe, a starting defensive specialist, was indicted on five cocaine-related felony counts in February after playing in two games.

He was taken into custody in Los Angeles and was released on his own recognizance in Michigan on March 17. He has not played for the Avengers since the indictment was unsealed.