AFL Indiana Firebirds cease operations

[Tannerman]

The ebb-and-flow of the Arena Football League just killed another franchise. Amy and I are running out of places to take road trips to!

Owner pulls plug on Firebirds

By Jeff Rabjohns
September 8, 2004

Indiana Firebirds owner Dave Lageschulte said today that the Arena Football League team has been shut down after four years in Indianapolis.

"As of today, we are ceasing operation of the Firebirds," Lageschulte said.

Lageschulte purchased the Firebirds in 2002 from Glenn Mazula, who had owned the team since its inception in 1990 in Albany, N.Y. Mazula moved the team to Indianapolis in 2001. Lageschulte, who resides in Florida, had been seeking local ownership of the team. "There's been a lot of talk the past few weeks and a lot of interest, but we were just never able to find a local owner unfortunately, Arena football is leaving Indianapolis." He said.

Lageschulte estimated the team's losses in his two years of ownership at "several million" dollars. "It's a great sport and I love it, but it just didn't work out," he said.

Firebirds General Manager John Kolner said the league told him it is extending the deadline for a potential buyer to Sept. 20. However, since Lageschulte is ceasing operation of Lags Football, LLC, which ran the team, only the rights to the team are for sale.

"The team has ceased operations and the staff is no longer employed," Kolner said. "Hopefully some sort of local ownership can be found in the next week."

Indiana was a good franchise, and probably got screwed over by a bad owner. The owner lives in Florida and was rumored to want to move the team down there. Obviously, that didn't happen. Losing this team really kills any rivalry Chicago has with teams in our division. The Chicago/Indy battles were some of the best.

Amy and I saw the Firebirds in person twice this past year:
Chicago at Indy (February 29)
Indy at Chicago (May 23)

It's also been rumored that Detroit's team is dead, so that pretty much leaves Grand Rapids as the closest road trip for us next season. (Maybe it's a curse that we've been putting on these teams. We attended games in Indy, Detroit, and Grand Rapids, and now 2 out of 3 are folding!). The current Central Division is looking kinda empty:

I see realignment coming on quickly! Maybe next year Amy and I will have to expand our radius a little and drive to Columbus, OH, and Nashville, TN, for games.

We've always been big supporters and defenders of the AFL, but this just smacks of bad stuff for the league. It seems like every season a team is moving, folding, being added. There is no stability. We had 19 teams this past season. Heading into 2005, up until Indiana folded, we had 20 (with the addition of Nashville). Now we are back at 19, and will probably be at 18 once Detroit finally throws in the towel.

It looks like a lot of these teams that are in trouble have had weak ownership groups. They just weren't prepared to field teams with the AFL operating at a more hyped level. I'm thankful our ownership group in Chicago is pretty sound. (At least, I think it is. Friar -- you have season tickets, what's your take on the ownership?). Still, this whole thing just smacks of 2nd tier sports leagues, and frankly, I think the AFL deserves that kind of wrap right now. They sure haven't earned much prestige in the offseason.

[FriarTuck]

This is sad. I was hoping to make a road trip to Indy too.

I wonder if this means Adrian McPherson is a free agent now?

Anyway, regarding the Rush ownership, I have no special insight there. There seemed to be some cost-saving moves in marketing and game-day operations last season (family fest not the festival it once was, no football camp tour this summer, ran out of mini-footballs with several games left in the season, season ticketholder gifts worth about 1/4 of previous year's, etc.), but the on-field spending seems solid to me.

Compare the coaching situation in Indy last year to the coaching situation in Chicago, and you can see we're talking apples and oranges organization wise.

The ephemeral nature of the league is troubling. But that's the nature of this not quite major, not quite minor league sport. The cream of the crop heads off to the NFL. Teams like San Jose, who are willing to spend significantly more in "soft money" are able to consistently field superior product. Teams appear and disappear. I grew up a fan of the Chicago Sting and professional soccer in the form of the NASL and MISL, so maybe I'm kind of used to this sort of thing.

The Rush loss in the Semi's last year broke my heart. But I am confident they will be in the thick of the ArenaBowl hunt again this year.

I'll have to pop over to ArenaFan and send my condolences to Nancy and the rest of the Firebirds fans.

[Tannerman]

I don't know if this is a joke, but you can buy the team on eBay -- click to view

Yeah, that makes the AFL look legit... not.

[Frog]

The AFL really needs to raise it's standards in regards to ownership. Seems like there are a few teams folding or changing locations every season and it really looks bad on the league.

[Tannerman]

The bidding is up to $1,000,000.00. A business owner from Atlanta has the high bid as of now. But the reserve price still isn't met.

[Tannerman]

From ESPN.com:

Fire Sale for AFL's Firebirds

By Darren Rovell
ESPN.com

It's a fire sale for the Firebirds.

As a last-ditch effort to sell the team, Dave Lageschulte, owner of the Arena Football League's Indiana Firebirds, put the franchise up for bid on eBay on Thursday night. As of 4 p.m. ET Friday, one person had matched the minimum opening bid of $1 million, though the auction reserve price has not been met.

The winner of the auction, which will close on Sept. 16, receives the AFL rights to the Indiana market, the team assets and the lease at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. The Firebirds are one of two AFL teams expected to announce that they will fold when the league's board of directors meet on Sept. 20.

"We thought that this was the best way to market the team," said Rich Simeone, general counsel for Lageschulte's businesses interests, which include Hooters franchises. "We're not here to waste time and we hope someone comes through."

After claiming that he has lost millions of dollars in the three seasons he has owned the Firebirds, Lageschulte announced Wednesday that he was shutting down the team. The Firebirds entered the league in 1990 as a franchise located in Albany, N.Y., but moved to Indianapolis in 2001. Lageschulte bought the team in 2002.

A letter from the league's lawyers to eBay forced Lageschulte to list that purchasers "are subject to thorough background and financial investigations and must meet a combined net worth of $60 million."

"If eBay can produce an applicant with a net worth of $60 million, we will consider the application," said Chris McCloskey, a league spokesman. "But any change of ownership requires a three-quarters approval by the board of directors."

If a bidder does come forward, the application materials must be submitted by Sept. 20, when the league's board of directors is scheduled to meet. Sources told ESPN.com that the Detroit Fury will also officially cease operating on that date, though McCloskey declined to comment on the specific agenda of the meeting.

McCloskey did say that the fortune of the Firebirds is hardly indicative of the state of the league. "The league has never been stronger," he said.

Four NFL owners -- Jerry Jones, Pat Bowlen, Arthur Blank and Bud Adams -- own teams in the league, which set an attendance record of 1.9 million fans in 2004. NBC recently renewed its revenue-sharing contract with the league through the 2006 season. Possible expansion teams for the 2006 season include Boston, Miami and Washington, D.C.

As for the Firebirds, Simeone said Lageschulte is looking for someone who has money and has relationships in Indiana, like Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, a billionaire who graduated from the University of Indiana.

"Yeah, someone like Mark Cuban," Simeone said. "Or Mark Cuban."

Said Cuban: "One team is enough for me."

[perfdata]

The real issue is that owners are realizing that Elway is building a dynasty and they will have no chance to win the championship in the future.

[Tannerman]

Originally Posted by perfdata

The real issue is that owners are realizing that Elway is building a dynasty and they will have no chance to win the championship in the future.

Hardly.

What's happening is that the AFL's profit model is screwed up -- they are getting away from the financial responsibility they had in previous years, and that frankly scares me a little. Most owners don't make money, and when the league does make income, it's from overpriced expansion fees. That's not a sound business model. Just ask the CFL when they tried to expand into the U.S.

[FriarTuck]

The Crush do indeed seem to be a franchise on the rise. Good owners with strong ties to the community, a good head coach, and lots of good returning players. And, thanks to the close relationship between the two coaches, the Colorado rivalry with Chicago is friendly at this point.

But don't you have to at least win something -- say, your division -- or at least have more than one winning season -- before you start talking dynasty?

Just wondering....

[Tannerman]

Good points, Friar.

This eBay auction thing has really caused a lot of contriversy in the AFL community. For example, the league seems to want to bury the story about it. It's not mentioned on their website at all, and discussions that take place on their forums are removed rather quickly.

Of course, ignoring the issue just makes you look dumber, especially when the story is already public knowledge:

MSNBC story
FOXSports story
ESPN story

They've never had good discussion forums on the official site, and their moderator seems to be on crack.

[Tannerman]

The auction has been modified to add a "Buy It Now". The team can be yours for only $3,900,000.00

[FriarTuck]

Originally Posted by Tannerman

The auction has been modified to add a "Buy It Now". The team can be yours for only $3,900,000.00

You see, that's why you should buy used. Let someone else take the depreciation hit for the first couple of years of use, and then you get a perfectly nice AFL team for a song.

Austin Wranglers franchise fee paid in late 2003: $16.2 million
Indiana Firebirds: $3.9 million

That's a 76 percent discount folks.

[Tannerman]

People are asking why the league isn't doing more to help out these teams. From what I understand, there is no short-term motivation for them to do so.

For example, as Friar has posted, an expansion team has to pay a bunch of money to enter the league. These fees are shared by teams, the league, and NBC. It's income and a lot of it.

However a moved, existing franchise to a new market nets the league nothing. So from their perspective, they'd rather kill a franchise and then charge to start a new one up. Something is a little screwy with that financial model.

Of course, that's not factoring in the intangables... public opinion, fan support, league stability, etc.

[Tannerman]

Per the Indy Star:

Posting the Indiana Firebirds on the Internet auction site eBay did not produce a buyer that could purchase the Arena Football League team in time for it to play the 2005 season.

The league's board of directors meet Monday to set the 2005 schedule. A vote is expected on adding an expansion team in Salt Lake City.

Firebirds owner Dave Lageschulte posted the team on eBay and the auction expired Thursday.

[seekerwithin]

Sad thing is, the 1 firebirds game i went to i enjoyed.

Ah well, guess my one visit didn't keep the company in the black