AFTER recently returning from the dead, the Arena Football League is already at risk of going under again.
What was originally supposed to be a 16-team league is already down to 10, and the AFL is facing many more issues.
The Washington Wolfpack, one of the remaining teams in the league, released a statement attacking the leadership of the AFL and blaming them for its struggles.
“Teams were promised player salaries and team travel to away games — paid by the league,” the Wolfpack told the Seattle Times.
“Under commissioner Lee Hutton III, the AFL failed to provide a single dollar towards these expenses.
“The Wolfpack has been able to absorb the impact of the former league’s leadership refusal to compensate player salaries.
“[But] we need to revise our model moving forward. Our current player roster has been offered a revised compensation structure we feel is competitive with indoor football, although reduced from salary levels initially proposed at the start of the season.”
Meanwhile, the Georgia Force are a team that couldn’t survive the start of the new Arena Football League.
Players from the Force described what conditions were like on their failing team as wages failed to arrive.
The Force’s first team meeting happened in a hotel room and players said there was little talk about strategy.
When they finally had their first practice the team had no footballs, pads or helmets.
Their schedule was constantly changing, meals weren’t paid for, and players didn’t have a trainer.
Wide receiver Jojo Spann recalled threats from head coach Durwood Roquemore when complaints about pay arose.
“I got 10-plus people on the line,” he recalled.
The problems facing the Force are seemingly league-wide, and uncertainty about the league making it through just one season.
AFL commissioner Lee Hutton was outed midseason and replaced by former NFL coach Jeff Fisher.
Still, that move couldn’t salvage the teams that were already lost, and Force players were swiftly booted from their dwellings.
“Players in the hotel have to be out by Saturday [May 11] midnight,” Roquemore texted players after the team folded.
Players were even more enraged with their coach as they believed he received his payment in full, while they got nothing.
“[Roquemore] was a guy I trusted,” defensive specialist Dominique Patterson said.
“He met my mom and everything.”
Currently, the AFL’s website is down and the league’s future has never been more uncertain.
Fans don’t seem to be in support of the league either, with many calling for the league to fold.
“Stop trying to sell us off-season football… Give it up,” one fan said.
“Why don’t they just stop with these satellite football leagues and all just invest in the UFL,” another fan said.
“This new arena league is a disgrace to THE original AFL,” a third fan said.
“Maybe it’s time to hang up the cleats instead of buying the dream,” a fourth fan said.
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