The Philadelphia Soul's return to Arena Football League was short-lived, but team leadership is promising the Soul will live on.
A post on the X social media platform on Friday, May 10, announced that the Philadelphia Soul was "taking a pause" for the rest of the 2024 AFL season.
"We look forward to bringing Soul football back for all of #SoulNation next year," the post on the team's verified X page said.
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Just days earlier, the Soul's X page promoted the Soul's Sunday, May 12, 2024, road game against the Nashville Kats. The Kats wound up hosting the Salina Liberty instead, falling 50-30, according to the Kats' social media.
That kind of hodgepodge game is unfortunately fairly typical during the reboot of the AFL, as pointed out by Pro Football Talk's Mike Florio. The Iowa Rampage and Georgia Force had already folded and the AFL has no had games broadcast on NFL Network as was first announced.
The Soul (well sort of them since they used mostly replacement players for their opener on the road against the Louisiana Voodoo) went 0-2 before folding. The team's last game on Sunday, May 5, on the road against the Minnesota Myth wasn't even streamed, "due to technical difficulties," according to the team.
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The team's website, PhiladelphiaSoulFB.com, was down by Monday, May 13, 2024.
It was a far cry from the Jon Bon Jovi-owned and Ron Jaworski-owned Soul teams that won three arena league titles while playing most home games in the Wells Fargo Center.
The 2024 Soul was set to play its home games at Trenton's CURE Insurance Arena, but the Soul never took the field for a home game. Tickets that were previously on sale for games scheduled for May 26, June 23 and June 30. Logan on Friday didn't immediately know how ticket refunds would be handled.
Soul GM Kelly Logan joined the Take the 8 Count podcast to discuss what led to ending the 2024 season. "unfortunately guys we just don't have the money," Logan said he told the players.
Logan said that the players had already lost housing and that some of the Soul players who stuck around were disheartened. Logan mentioned players being kicked out of the Super 8 motel in New Jersey as foreshadowing what was to come.
Logan said only three players made the trip to the Voodoo game. Logan said he didn't even get jerseys for the players until they showed up for the Louisiana game, representing that game a tryout for the players who filled in.
Will the Soul be back? “My goal is to come back [to the AFL] next year, or be somewhere, with the name of Philadelphia Soul," Logan said.
"I just want to tell the fans that I do appreciate you guys, I really did my best," Logan said.
Will that happen? Time will tell.
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