COLUMBUS AND ATLANTIC CITY LEAGUE OWNED

[jgary48]

The ARENA FOOTBALL LEAGUE recently added Columbus Ohio and Atlantic City NewJersey to its team lineup for 2019. The two cities have experience in the indoor game   and figure to be excellent additions. Recently,   on a AFL podcast a point was brought up that both teams are league owned. This could help explain why no official owner has been named for either franchise. There have been statements which have yet to be confirmed, that Ron JAWORSKI AND Ted LEONSIS may have a hand in the ownership of both teams, this would provide stability however a hands on owner figures to be more benefit to the teams since it would help to solidify the hold the teams have on the market. The league  is wisely not pressing the issue in favor of the teams getting up in running in time for the season, it may not be detrimental to the league like it was a few years ago with the Portland and New Orleans situations. The league will likely get Cleveland back in 2020 and maybe add Detriot as well. This migt bring other investors into the mix to take over one or possibly both franchises. Dual ownership of teams may continue to evolve into a new trend that could put the league on a better financial footing stage that will enable it too continue to grow in the future.   

[David]

John's referring to Episode 1 of the ArenaFan Podcast for the 2019 Season.

Tim Capper, Ben Fraternale, and Jon Stark were discussing how Commissioner Randall Boe was stating that the new teams are "league owned" despite reports saying that Atlantic City is owned by Trifecta Sports and Entertainment. Trifecta's a group that owns the Albany Empire and contains ownership members of Albany and the Philadelphia Soul. In essence, Atlantic City is another Jaws owned franchise.

You can argue that all the AFL teams are league owned right now since they're made up of Ted Leonsis Franchises (Baltimore, Washington) and Jaws franchises (Philly, Albany, AC).

With Columbus, the league owns the franchise, but that there's a different feel to it versus the league owned disasters in Chicago, San Antonio, New Orleans, Las Vegas, and Portland. Capper thought that Columbus being so late in the game was like a 6a, 6b team situation. That team 6a backed out at the last minute, resulting in 6b up and running as late as it did. It could be that they were going to have Columbus all along and when they didn't do the dotted line, the AFL decided "we'll prop up Columbus for a year then they'll be there when ownership comes in next season" or just simply "Hey, look at this team. Investors, come invest in this franchise" as a new model vs the old model of "Oh you want a team? You got it" and resulting in Disasters like Las Vegas.

Should Columbus be successful and stay put in 2020, then you've got more of a reason for the Cleveland Gladiators to return from their 2-year hiatus, which they took after 2017 due to renovations at The Q (although they could have easily set up shop at another arena down the street).

Either way, John's getting that league ownership is being handled much differently than before and that they're not going to be penny pinching on running and promoting league owned teams much like how Kurz and Butera did as commissioners. Whether it works or not, no clue.