In years past, there have been a handful of attempts to start a premier professional gridiron football league. Some have had partial success, and the others have outright failed. Information on the latest attempt is limited, but what little is known has left many wondering, what is the MLFB thinking?
What Is The MLFB Thinking?
The first problem is the acronym itself- Major League Football. The word football is a single word. No matter how hard one tries, the word cannot be split to suit an acronym that tries to piggy-back on the Major Leagues of Baseball. Their name is not, and never will be, the MLBB for good reason. This is just nitpicking, but since it’s in the first-impression category it’s a big deal. That’s just the tip of the iceberg here.
I was first made aware of this startup league, later than most, in November when I heard they were going to be playing a yet-to-be-determined spring schedule. I’ve since learned the plans began in late 2014. The general word was that the league would start playing a schedule of ten games in April and would crown a champion before NFL camps begin in July. That answers when, but at the same time raises other questions. Has there ever been a startup professional sports league who planned to launch a nation-wide product in less than 140 days? The answer is no according to my research.
The next question was, where are the teams located? After a short search, I discovered I knew as much as the MLFB did about what cities would be awarded the inaugural franchises. Nothing. There were no franchises announced largely because the league had so-far failed to negotiate a single stadium lease.
I realized the details were not yet available and that I’d have to investigate the more basic questions.
In order to further understand what the thought process was, I needed to identify who the individuals are that make up the MLFB’s management team.
• Wes Chandler, the President, is a four-time NFL pro-bowl wide receiver and the most recognizable name for football fans.
• Rick Smith, founder and CEO of Mainframe Communications, is the Chief Operating Officer.
• Michael Queen, a startup business and development expert, is the Executive Vice President of Finance.
• Frank Murtha, a lawyer and sports agent, is the Senior Executive Vice President.
• Ivory Sully, a former NFL player and team players association representative, is the Vice President of Branding and Licensing.
• Rick Nichols, a former NFL team administrator with multiple clubs over 27 years, is the Vice President of Business Development.
• John Mattio, an accomplished International business professional, is the Vice President Communications and Investor Relations.
• Nick Athan, a journalist and TV analyst, is the Vice President Media Relations.
• John “JJ” Coyne, a 25 year U.S. Naval veteran and supply chain manager, is the Vice President Project Management Office.
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Now that I knew who makes up the MLFB, I moved on to the leagues motive for existence. Why and what was the MLFB thinking and trying to accomplish? This answer, at least, was clear. The MLFB intends to develop its players for opportunities in the NFL. They cite the difficulties that many overlooked college players have in making the jump from the NCAA to the NFL. Guys like Cam Wake, Jerrell Freeman and Kurt Warner all took alternative routes.
I admit. Sometimes logic escapes me but I don’t believe that’s the case here. Aren’t there alternative routes today like the CFL and the indoor leagues? Wouldn’t a ten game schedule ending right before the NFL season kicks off actually be detrimental to the NFL aspirations of players? For example, if a player was injured in the MLFB, we know most football related injuries take at least a few weeks to recover from. Puzzling to say the least.
Any fan of the Canadian Football League knows this all too well. Speaking of the CFL, it has met and exceeded the goals set forth by the MLFB for over 100 years.
The CFL Is A League Rich In History
The CFL is the second most recognizable gridiron football league in the world. Canadian professional football’s 104-year history is rich with talent and legendary personalities: Warren Moon, Raghib “Rocket” Ismail and Doug Flutie to name just a few.
Currently there are nine teams spanning from the province of British Columbia to Québéc. These teams battle from June to November, from training camp and an 18-game schedule plus playoffs, for the Grey Cup championship trophy. The five teams in the western division are the B.C. Lions, the Edmonton Eskimos, the Calgary Stampeders, the Saskatchewan Roughriders, and the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. The four in the East are the Toronto Argonauts, the Hamilton Tiger Cats, the Montréal Alouettes, and the Ottawa Redblacks.
It hasn’t always been a nine team league. In 1993, the CFL expanded south of the border. It started with a franchise in Sacramento and in ’94 in Las Vegas, Baltimore, and Shreveport. In ’95 the league formed the Northern division with the Canadian teams and a Southern division of American teams adding franchises in Birmingham and Memphis. That same year the Sacramento franchise was moved to San Antonio. This was all fairly rapid expansion in the world of professional sports.
This was a short-lived expansion that was done too quickly, and the American franchises folded in ’96. Baltimore won the Grey Cup in ’95 to ensure that no one would ever forget this era. The league was left with just 8 teams for a short while after a previous Ottawa Renegades franchise folded in 2006. It stayed that way until the Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group, led by Jeff Hunt, was awarded a franchise that began play in 2014.
Today the nine team league is as strong as ever under commissioner Jeffrey Orridge. With new stadiums popping up in the markets that need them, a licensing deal with Adidas, national sponsorships like Nissan, and television deals in both Canada on TSN and in the United States on ESPN, the league is in good financial shape.
The 2015 Grey Cup participants included the Edmonton Eakimos and the two-year-old Ottawa Redblacks franchise. This may seem like an indication that success can come early in an organizations history. Those who perceive it this way are forgetting that the Redblacks franchise was five years in the making.
The Next Chapter For The MLFB
They’ve held their “drafts”, both franchise player and territorial. They’ve filed trademarks for eight regional areas where the inaugural season will be played. The names in those regions are Alabama Airborne, Arkansas Attack, Florida Fusion, Northwest Empire, Ohio Union, Oklahoma Nation, Texas Independence, and the Utah Stand.
How will the MLFB be funded? It is a single-entity business model. What that means is that the league owns and operates all of the teams. MLFB is a publicly traded company offering shares to potential investors to fund the teams and the league office. Today the over the counter (or OTC) stock is at $1.10 USD. That’s equal to its opening price of $1.10. The low dipped to $1.06 and the high went to $1.15 thus far. Their goal is to have individual owners in place in all markets by 2019 or 2020. More info here.
On February 5th, the MLFB announced on their website that they did not secure a $20 million investment in stock from Houston based, Clairemont Private Investment Group. Their already uncertain future was now a rat race to secure a single major stock client or about 19 million small ones. I’m sure a few were thinking the dream was done.
The latter would not happen in time to meet any of their obligations like stadium leases- never mind the planned season start in April and staff/player payrolls. I’ve never attempted to lease a stadium but I have to imagine they need some surety from potential lessees before they sign off on a group of event nights that they could otherwise sell to other event promoters who can pay upfront or at least provide guarantees of payment.
A Second Chance
Fast forward to February 17th. The MLFB announced they had received a letter of intent from Asian Global Capital Ltd. that would see the league funded through 2016 and 2017. The deal is for a $20 million purchase of MLFB stock, a $100 million line of credit for two years of operations, and the right of first refusal for a MLFB franchise in Orlando, Florida if one becomes available. The funding agreement has not yet determined final terms while both sides hammer out the details. We’ll know fairly soon as time is evaporating quickly. At least now the MLFB was thinking positive thoughts.
My thought is that AGCG will recoup the $120 million they commit in 2018 when the MLFB plans to open bidding on “turnkey” franchises. AGCG must be thinking cash-flush fans won’t be an issue. Seems like it could work but you have to wonder how this will all come together in 50-60 days? I don’t imagine any of the executive management team is getting more than a few winks a night as deadlines draw closer. Leagues like the CFL should not worry about competition for fans and players, despite rumours that a franchise could come to Canada one day. I wonder what the MLFB is thinking about at least a few times a week.
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