Report of AAF payroll trouble false, Express president says
Two weeks into the Alliance of American Football’s inaugural season, it was dealt a severe blow — even if only from a public relations standpoint.
On Tuesday, The Athletic reported the league was in jeopardy of missing payroll last week. Multiple subsequent reports stated some AAF players did not receive their paychecks on time, although league officials — including cofounder and CEO Charlie Ebersol — refuted The Athletic’s initial report and
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It’s tough to stay financially successful for a new football league when it has to compete with the NFL, Page 2B told the Orlando Sentinel the delay was the result of a payroll system glitch.
That glitch, coupled with Tuesday’s announcement that Carolina Hurricanes owner Tom Dundon put up $250 million, led some to draw false assumptions about whether the money was intended as a bailout or an investment, according to AAF officials.
Kosha Irby, team president for the Memphis Express, said Wednesday neither development had anything to do with the other.
“(Tuesday) was more of conspiracy meets coincidence,” he said. “It just became one of those, ‘Whoa, wait a minute. Slow down. Let’s not get crazy here.’ That’s what happened and some people just went running with misinformation.”
When Express coach Mike Singletary was made aware of the reports, he made a few calls before hitting the practice
field to prepare for Saturday’s road date with the Orlando Apollos.
“I heard about all the noise and comments,” he said. “I don’t really get into that. But I just made sure I checked with the people I needed to, and (said) ‘Let’s go.’ I told our players that and they responded well. We moved forward and had a pretty decent practice (Tuesday).”
Once the initial uproar over The Athletic’s report subsided, Irby got a chance to process what he classified as the most important news the AAF has received in a while.
“That’s a quarter of a billion dollars and it’s coming from a guy that’s a proven winner,” he said, referencing Dundon, who will serve as the Alliance’s chairman of the board. “As Charlie (Ebersol) has alluded to, there’s numerous people that wanted to try and get involved with the Alliance. But this is a guy who can do great things for us with his expertise in doing these type of things.”
Singletary said he had no idea how much money it takes to get an upstart professional football league off the ground.
"But I'm excited the investment was made. I'm excited we have a chance to continue playing and these young men have a chance to continue to try and reach their dreams. So, good stuff."