Post by fwp on Oct 28, 2009 13:32:44 GMT -5
www.buzznews.net/buzz-extra/general/5934-indoor-football-blues
It is with a slight touch of sadness that I make the following admission ... My old hometown of Lexington Kentucky will most likely not have an Indoor Football Team for the 2010 Spring Season. Miracles can always happen but I've never been one to count on them.
The Horsemen (est. 2003) were originally listed as one of the founding member teams of the newly formed Arena Football 1 when it sprang onto the Indoor Football scene on the 28th of September. Attempting to rise from the ashes of the failed Arena Football League and it's Arena Football 2 subsidiary, the AF1 seriously needs a team in the Lexington area. Lexington is that convenient stopping point between Hither and Yon and if you're attempting to drive a delivery van from Boston to New Orleans, Chicago to Atlanta or Saint Louis to Richmond VA ... The chances are pretty damn good that you'll be going right past Lexington Kentucky. If there is no franchise in the Lexington area ... Teams in Chicago, Huntsville, Jacksonville, Milwaukee, Oklahoma City and Orlando will lose a very convenient road trip.
Drivable rivalries are incredibly important to an organization like the AF1. Although it holds the potential to be one of the three major leagues in the realm of Indoor football, the AF1 must be careful to not fall into the same pit of mistakes as the AFL made. It can't spend money like there's no tomorrow which means that it needs to have travel schedules that are strong on driving and go as sparingly as possible on the plane travel.
Before the winter of 2008, the nature of Indoor Football could be summed up in one simple statement. "There's the AFL and then there's everybody else". Which wasn't to say that good competitive play could only be found in the AFL. There had been a solid decade of "In Your Face" rivalry going on in organizations like the Professional Indoor Football League, National Indoor Football League, United Indoor Football, Continental Indoor Football League, American Indoor Football League and the Arena Football 2 (the AFL's secondary league for smaller markets).
But it was the AFL had the established reputation, the larger markets and the attention of the major media outlets. It had broadcast licensing agreements with ESPN and radio syndicators while the other kids on the block had to deal with local radio stations and the possibility of a bit of internet coverage. The AFL was king of the hill and there was only action that could bring it down. Its own stupidity.
The leadership of the AFL was smart enough to realize that it could never compete with the National Football League but it made the mistake of trying to be the next best thing. Selecting franchise locations based mainly on market size and ignoring the high expense of airplane travel. Player compensation packages that often topped the 100 thousand per year mark and also contained generous health insurance benefits and included a housing allowance or the use of a team sponsored condominium. Agreeing to broadcast licensing contracts that brought in national exposure but that cost the league a good deal of money upfront.
From 2003 to 2008, the AFL gradually strangled itself and as it went down the AF2 sank with it (lasting only 1 season longer than its parent). But while Arena Football was contributing to its own destruction, the rest of Indoor Football was gradually changing and becoming much stronger. This meant that when a handful of AF2 and AFL teams banded together several weeks ago to begin the process of forming Arena Football 1, they found themselves already a step and a half behind two already established Indoor Football Powerhouses.
In 2006, the troubled American Indoor Football League managed to reform and stabilize itself as the American Indoor Football Association. In 2009, fourteen teams played a very competitive schedule and almost every team in the organization worked under a business model that allowed a sustainable profit. The AIFA expects to head into its 2010 season with between 16 to 18 solidly competitive teams.
In late 2008 United Indoor Football, the Intense Football League and three teams from the Continental Indoor Football League joined forces to become the Indoor Football League. In its 2009 season the 19 franchises of the IFL rivaled the teams of the AF2 in terms of intensity of play, fan turnout and franchise profitability. As the 2010 season approaches, the IFL is expected to have somewhere between 24 to 28 teams. At least one of those teams (possibly as many as four) will have come from the old AF2.
The magic pill for the AF1 would be to begin its 2010 season with at least 20 teams that are strategically placed in markets that provide a good fan base while keeping travel expenses to a minimum. But the league's initial 16 teams were spread far and wide. Other teams that were expected to sign on are still sitting on the fence or looking at signing with one of the rival leagues. And the Lexington team had to go back on its original commitment to join the AF1 after it became apparent that the cost of being involved in the AF1 was simply going to be too high.
$ 250,000.00 in cash and insurance guarantees.
According to Matt DiLorenzo (General Manager of the Kentucky Horsemen) the AF1 was asking for a 50 thousand buy in payment, a 100 thousand letter of credit for potential worker's compensation claims and an additional 100 thousand letter of credit to guarantee operation expenses. For a team that could reasonably expect 3,500 to 4,500 people to attend each game, this amount was way over the mark. Numerous sources are saying that the AF1 had kept insisting it would work with the moderate sized markets to minimize the impact of the buy in but that proposal after proposal turned out to be nothing more than variations and distortions of the original plan.
I personally called and asked Mr. DiLorenzo if the Horsemen had given any serious consideration to joining the IFL or the AIFA. He replied that information from the IFL had gotten some very serious attention from his office but that there were some already established rivalries with teams that were entering the AF1 and they were reluctant to leave these behind.
"By the time it became apparent that the AF1 was not the place to be, it was just too late to turn our ship towards any other port." DiLorenzo said. "The IFL Commissioner and his staff worked very hard over a period of a few days to try and help us get a workable plan drafted and in front of them. But they were already facing their own business deadline for moving their league forward and they simply couldn't give us the two or three weeks we needed to dot our I's and cross out T's and put together a group of investors who would take a chance on helping us move to the IFL."
This doesn't automatically mean the death of the Kentucky Horsemen. Other teams have taken a year off and then come back strong and DiLorenzo said that he had hopes that the Horsemen could do the same. But this little conundrum is leaving a good many Indoor Football Fans wondering if the AF1 really understands the type of business model that is necessary to grow a strong network of Indoor Football Teams.
There are some very good reasons for wanting to set a reasonably high buy in mark. The torpedo that sank the very promising NIFL was that its leadership overestimated its ability to go head to head with the AFL. In a misguided attempt to grow the league too quickly, they allowed too many under financed franchises to barter their way into the league. This caused the mass exodus of strong teams to the UIF before the start of the 2005 season and began a slow decline which finally ended the NIFL in 2007. The Continental League (CIFL) had managed to work its way up to more than fifteen teams at one point but the fact that it had not collected proper assurance or franchise fees from certain teams, and was unable to pay forfeiture deposits back to teams who's opponents did not show, caused several teams to bolt to other leagues. As the 2010 season approaches, there are questions about whether or not the CIFL can continue.
The problem for the AF1 and the Kentucky Horsemen seems to be a case of Arena Football 1 being both too ambitious and too cautions. On the one hand, the leadership of the AF! wants to hand pick the very best teams from the old AFL, AF2 and a handful of other leagues. On the other hand, they're asking for a buy in price that is practically assuring they will have a small number of teams in large population areas that are going to have to pay very high travel costs to make the inaugural season work.
Even the once mighty AFL had to start small. And in its attempt to grow too big, it wound up planting the seeds of its own destruction. Let's hope the AF1 hasn't caused itself a similar problem by attempting to jump to step number four of the stairs instead of carefully climbing them one at a time. As it is, their "Pie In The Sky" attitude has wound up causing the Kentucky Horsemen to ave to shelve the 2010 season.
Here's hoping the Horsemen can come back from the mistakes made by the AF1. I'd really been looking forward to them traveling up here from time to time and giving a Chicagoland team some good competition.
Travis
(The Kentucky Horsemen symbol is owned by the franchise. This parody of the symbol is intended to be used only for the purpose of making sports commentary.)
It is with a slight touch of sadness that I make the following admission ... My old hometown of Lexington Kentucky will most likely not have an Indoor Football Team for the 2010 Spring Season. Miracles can always happen but I've never been one to count on them.
The Horsemen (est. 2003) were originally listed as one of the founding member teams of the newly formed Arena Football 1 when it sprang onto the Indoor Football scene on the 28th of September. Attempting to rise from the ashes of the failed Arena Football League and it's Arena Football 2 subsidiary, the AF1 seriously needs a team in the Lexington area. Lexington is that convenient stopping point between Hither and Yon and if you're attempting to drive a delivery van from Boston to New Orleans, Chicago to Atlanta or Saint Louis to Richmond VA ... The chances are pretty damn good that you'll be going right past Lexington Kentucky. If there is no franchise in the Lexington area ... Teams in Chicago, Huntsville, Jacksonville, Milwaukee, Oklahoma City and Orlando will lose a very convenient road trip.
Drivable rivalries are incredibly important to an organization like the AF1. Although it holds the potential to be one of the three major leagues in the realm of Indoor football, the AF1 must be careful to not fall into the same pit of mistakes as the AFL made. It can't spend money like there's no tomorrow which means that it needs to have travel schedules that are strong on driving and go as sparingly as possible on the plane travel.
Before the winter of 2008, the nature of Indoor Football could be summed up in one simple statement. "There's the AFL and then there's everybody else". Which wasn't to say that good competitive play could only be found in the AFL. There had been a solid decade of "In Your Face" rivalry going on in organizations like the Professional Indoor Football League, National Indoor Football League, United Indoor Football, Continental Indoor Football League, American Indoor Football League and the Arena Football 2 (the AFL's secondary league for smaller markets).
But it was the AFL had the established reputation, the larger markets and the attention of the major media outlets. It had broadcast licensing agreements with ESPN and radio syndicators while the other kids on the block had to deal with local radio stations and the possibility of a bit of internet coverage. The AFL was king of the hill and there was only action that could bring it down. Its own stupidity.
The leadership of the AFL was smart enough to realize that it could never compete with the National Football League but it made the mistake of trying to be the next best thing. Selecting franchise locations based mainly on market size and ignoring the high expense of airplane travel. Player compensation packages that often topped the 100 thousand per year mark and also contained generous health insurance benefits and included a housing allowance or the use of a team sponsored condominium. Agreeing to broadcast licensing contracts that brought in national exposure but that cost the league a good deal of money upfront.
From 2003 to 2008, the AFL gradually strangled itself and as it went down the AF2 sank with it (lasting only 1 season longer than its parent). But while Arena Football was contributing to its own destruction, the rest of Indoor Football was gradually changing and becoming much stronger. This meant that when a handful of AF2 and AFL teams banded together several weeks ago to begin the process of forming Arena Football 1, they found themselves already a step and a half behind two already established Indoor Football Powerhouses.
In 2006, the troubled American Indoor Football League managed to reform and stabilize itself as the American Indoor Football Association. In 2009, fourteen teams played a very competitive schedule and almost every team in the organization worked under a business model that allowed a sustainable profit. The AIFA expects to head into its 2010 season with between 16 to 18 solidly competitive teams.
In late 2008 United Indoor Football, the Intense Football League and three teams from the Continental Indoor Football League joined forces to become the Indoor Football League. In its 2009 season the 19 franchises of the IFL rivaled the teams of the AF2 in terms of intensity of play, fan turnout and franchise profitability. As the 2010 season approaches, the IFL is expected to have somewhere between 24 to 28 teams. At least one of those teams (possibly as many as four) will have come from the old AF2.
The magic pill for the AF1 would be to begin its 2010 season with at least 20 teams that are strategically placed in markets that provide a good fan base while keeping travel expenses to a minimum. But the league's initial 16 teams were spread far and wide. Other teams that were expected to sign on are still sitting on the fence or looking at signing with one of the rival leagues. And the Lexington team had to go back on its original commitment to join the AF1 after it became apparent that the cost of being involved in the AF1 was simply going to be too high.
$ 250,000.00 in cash and insurance guarantees.
According to Matt DiLorenzo (General Manager of the Kentucky Horsemen) the AF1 was asking for a 50 thousand buy in payment, a 100 thousand letter of credit for potential worker's compensation claims and an additional 100 thousand letter of credit to guarantee operation expenses. For a team that could reasonably expect 3,500 to 4,500 people to attend each game, this amount was way over the mark. Numerous sources are saying that the AF1 had kept insisting it would work with the moderate sized markets to minimize the impact of the buy in but that proposal after proposal turned out to be nothing more than variations and distortions of the original plan.
I personally called and asked Mr. DiLorenzo if the Horsemen had given any serious consideration to joining the IFL or the AIFA. He replied that information from the IFL had gotten some very serious attention from his office but that there were some already established rivalries with teams that were entering the AF1 and they were reluctant to leave these behind.
"By the time it became apparent that the AF1 was not the place to be, it was just too late to turn our ship towards any other port." DiLorenzo said. "The IFL Commissioner and his staff worked very hard over a period of a few days to try and help us get a workable plan drafted and in front of them. But they were already facing their own business deadline for moving their league forward and they simply couldn't give us the two or three weeks we needed to dot our I's and cross out T's and put together a group of investors who would take a chance on helping us move to the IFL."
This doesn't automatically mean the death of the Kentucky Horsemen. Other teams have taken a year off and then come back strong and DiLorenzo said that he had hopes that the Horsemen could do the same. But this little conundrum is leaving a good many Indoor Football Fans wondering if the AF1 really understands the type of business model that is necessary to grow a strong network of Indoor Football Teams.
There are some very good reasons for wanting to set a reasonably high buy in mark. The torpedo that sank the very promising NIFL was that its leadership overestimated its ability to go head to head with the AFL. In a misguided attempt to grow the league too quickly, they allowed too many under financed franchises to barter their way into the league. This caused the mass exodus of strong teams to the UIF before the start of the 2005 season and began a slow decline which finally ended the NIFL in 2007. The Continental League (CIFL) had managed to work its way up to more than fifteen teams at one point but the fact that it had not collected proper assurance or franchise fees from certain teams, and was unable to pay forfeiture deposits back to teams who's opponents did not show, caused several teams to bolt to other leagues. As the 2010 season approaches, there are questions about whether or not the CIFL can continue.
The problem for the AF1 and the Kentucky Horsemen seems to be a case of Arena Football 1 being both too ambitious and too cautions. On the one hand, the leadership of the AF! wants to hand pick the very best teams from the old AFL, AF2 and a handful of other leagues. On the other hand, they're asking for a buy in price that is practically assuring they will have a small number of teams in large population areas that are going to have to pay very high travel costs to make the inaugural season work.
Even the once mighty AFL had to start small. And in its attempt to grow too big, it wound up planting the seeds of its own destruction. Let's hope the AF1 hasn't caused itself a similar problem by attempting to jump to step number four of the stairs instead of carefully climbing them one at a time. As it is, their "Pie In The Sky" attitude has wound up causing the Kentucky Horsemen to ave to shelve the 2010 season.
Here's hoping the Horsemen can come back from the mistakes made by the AF1. I'd really been looking forward to them traveling up here from time to time and giving a Chicagoland team some good competition.
Travis
(The Kentucky Horsemen symbol is owned by the franchise. This parody of the symbol is intended to be used only for the purpose of making sports commentary.)