The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Big shift for Florida team in Georgia
Football practice not in home state because of insurance issues.
A new professional football team based in Orlando began practicing in Georgia this week. Yes, Georgia.
This isn’t happening because the Orlando Apollos — part of the brand-new, eight-team Alliance of American Football league — enjoy the scenery better in the Peach State. Or because Apollos coach Steve Spurrier —who previously led the Florida Gators — wants to taunt Georgia Bulldog fans.
Blame it on insurance. The league hasn’t been able to find an insurance company that will cover the Apollos in Florida.
Here’s why, according to the league: Florida law does not classify professional athletes as employees. That means they are prohibited from filing workers’ compensation claims in the Sunshine State for injuries on the job. Georgia law does allow it. So the league says it is paying an insurer in Georgia — which it declined to identify — to cover the Apollos.
The Apollos will practice for more than half the season at Camden County High School in Kingsland, about 180 miles north of Orlando, according to the league. That will allow them to maintain their insurance coverage when they play their home games at Spectrum Stadium at the University of Central Florida in Orlando, said David Cohen, the head of player operations.
“We value the well-being and safety of our players. Ultimately, while not the ideal situation,
we were able to ensure that our players receive workers’ compensation benefits, including medical care, if they are injured on the field,” Cohen said.
“Our goal is to partner with a workers’ compensation carrier who will extend coverage to players in Florida so they are given the same rights and benefits when injured in the line of work as any other Florida employee.”
Founded by TV and film producer Charlie Ebersol and NFL Hall of Famer Bill Polian, the league is playing a 10-week schedule and is televised on CBS. Two playoff rounds will follow the regular season, which started earlier this month. The championship game is set for April 27 at Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas. League teams include the Atlanta Legends, coached by Kevin Coyle, who previously served as the defensive coordinator for the Miami Dolphins.
Frank McKay, chairman of the Georgia State Board of Workers’ Compensation and a graduate of Clemson University, said Spurrier — who coached Clemson’s in-state rivals, the South Carolina Gamecocks — is welcome to bring his professional team to practice in Georgia. McKay stressed the word “professional.”
“We wish them well,” he said, before jokingly adding, “we do prefer that he stay out of the college level.”
McKay pointed out that the Apollos’ decision to practice in Kingsland will increase spending in Georgia.
“We have seen quite a number of businesses, industries and corporations that have relocated from other states to Georgia or expanded their Georgia operations,” said McKay, who also serves as the chief appellate court judge for the State Board of Workers’ Compensation. “In part, it is because Georgia has a very stable workers’ compensation system that is recognized within the workers’ compensation industry as being a fair and balanced system for both injured workers and employers.”
Georgia, though, is by no means considered a paradise for workers, according to Charlotte Alexander, who teaches employment and business law at Georgia State University. For example, the state’s minimum wage is set at just $5.15, below the $7.25 federal minimum wage.
“It is particularly strange in this case,” she said, “that Georgia is the one that is coming out as being more worker-friendly.”