Note: The Manchester Wolves issued the following press release Monday after the Arena Football League announced that it had decided to suspend the 2009 season:

The arenafootball2 league (af2), the official development league of the Arena Football League (AFL), will continue to operate as usual and will play in 2009 - the league's 10th anniversary season, the af2 league office announced Monday.

The af2 operates entirely on its own and is not directly affected by the AFL's current situation. The Manchester Wolves, owned by a group of local businessmen, are financially stable and strong.
 
The af2 is supported by 25 team ownership groups that are personally and financially committed to operate in 2009, a sound and sensible economic structure, and a league office which operates efficiently.
 
The AFL announced Monday that the League's Board of Directors have decided to suspend the 2009 season subject to agreement and cooperation with the Arena Football League Players Association while the League works on developing a long-term plan to improve its economic model.
 
"Today's decision by the AFL will not affect our preparation for a successful 2009 af2 campaign," said af2 president Jerry Kurz. "We're excited by the addition of Milwaukee to our league family and feel that this, our 10th anniversary season, will provide our fans with the most competitive and most entertaining year ever."
 
The 2009 af2 schedule was finalized and released in early November. Since then, all af2-member teams have been busy building rosters, selling season tickets and hiring additional staff as necessary in preparation for the 2009 season.
 
The af2 is also coming off one of its most successful campaigns in 2008. Last season was the fifth time in nine (9) seasons that the league's total attendance figure topped one million fans. The campaign was capped off by the best attended ArenaCup championship game in league history.
 
The future of the af2 stands on solid ground as well as evidenced by the addition of two new expansion teams already committed for the 2010 season (Toledo, Ohio and Worcester, Mass.). The league has also expanded its corporate support by developing multi-year relationships with two brand new league partners - Aaron's and Russell Athletic - to join current proud supporters such as Schutt, Spalding and Network Foundation Technologies (NFT).