Miami outfit scores former football league’s gear
The Alliance of American Football lived a Hobbesian life — nasty, brutish and short. The league was out of business in just over a year, pulling the plug in April just eight weeks into its inaugural season and joining a long line of failed challengers to the hegemony of the National Football League.
But hope springs eternal. The league’s equipment went on the block in a bankruptcy sale in San Antonio this week, and other pro football leagues, hoping to dodge fate, lined up to snag helmets, shoulder pads, water coolers, jerseys, rolls of athletic tape and numerous other items at a bargain price. The bidders included the former commissioner of the Arena Football League, the startup Major League Football and the revived XFL, backed by wrestling impresario Vince McMahon.
When the auction ended with Jerry Kurz, the former commissioner of the Arena Football League had made the winning bid, offering $455,000 for equipment. Kurz bid on behalf of a Miami merchandise broker, NCM Wireless, but said the equipment will eventually go to several indoor football leagues he represents through his consulting business, Gridiron Sports Consulting of Glenview, Ill.
“I think there’s room for plenty of football leagues, and we’ll do
everything we can to support any one that’s out there,” he said, declining to disclose the names of his clients.
The Alliance of American Football was launched in March 2018 as an eightleague team playing a 10week season. Among its notable signings were the Heisman trophy winner and Texas A&M star quarterback Johnny Manziel.
In Texas, where the only sports that really matter are football and spring football, the San Antonio team, the Commanders, was succeeding. The team thrilled Alamodome crowds, which averaged 27,700 fans in four home games. But tepid ticket sales in other cities, as well as other problems, doomed the league.
Six AAF-related companies filed for Chapter 7 liquidation in San Antonio in April. One listed $11.4 million in assets and $48.4 million in liabilities.
The auction started with a $395,000 offer from NCM Wireless. Bidding then rose in increments of $10,000 and both Alpha Entertainment, parent of the XFL, and Major League Football submitted bids. The entire proceeding took less than three minutes.
NCM has until 5 p.m. Monday to close on its purchase. If the deal falls through, the court will accept Alpha Entertainment’s $445,000 bid. A previous version of the XFL lasted one season in 2001.
Frank Murtha, Major League Football’s principal executive officer, bid on behalf of his startup league. But he dropped out of the bidding after submitting a $405,000 offer.
“This was an attractive potential opportunity for us,” Murtha said, declining to elaborate because Major League Football is publicly traded.
Major League Football’s budget for its entire first season, which would run from April to July, will be about $20 million, or about what the AAF was spending each week, Murtha said. The league plans to locate teams in cities without NFL or Major League Baseball franchises. The league has signed leases in Norfolk, Va., and Little Rock, Ark.