Needing a alternative commissioner amid a tumultuous debut, the brand new Enviornment Soccer League did one thing you typically see from spring soccer leagues: pursue pale NFL expertise.
On this case, Jeff Fisher.
The previous Los Angeles Rams head coach confirmed to reporters Tuesday that he’s taking up as interim commissioner of the lately rebuilt AFL, in response to WSMV’s Lauren Walsh. Fisher will exchange present commissioner Lee Hutton III, reportedly on the behest of a gaggle of the league’s house owners.
Fisher has been concerned in spring soccer for years, first as head coach of the USFL’s Michigan Panthers and lately as a member of the Nashville Kats possession group within the AFL.
“This league is sweet. We’re wanting ahead to persevering with and ending the season,” Fisher stated, by way of WSMV.
Whereas Fisher initiatives optimism, the character of his midseason, owner-engineered rent displays the AFL’s dire scenario in its third life. The second incarnation of the AFL ended when it went bankrupt in 2019, with new traders relaunching the league with 16 groups for this season.
That variety of groups is now right down to 12, after three weeks of play. The Minnesota Fable, Philadelphia Soul, Iowa Rampage and Georgia Power have all folded, with the Fable and Soul calling it quits final week. The exits haven’t been sleek, judging from this story from the Philadelphia Inquirer:
Tristen Burnett, an authorized sports activities agent primarily based in Fredericksburg, Va., who represents Joe Mancuso, the Soul’s scheduled beginning quarterback, stated in a cellphone interview Friday that his consumer had a demoralizing expertise on the Tremendous 8. Burnett stated the Soul gamers have been kicked out of the motel and into the road early Friday morning, that the motel invoice wasn’t paid, and that the gamers’ baggage was taken from them and locked in a motel room.
“Regulation enforcement bought their stuff from Tremendous 8,” Burnett stated. “Joe is simply down. He left scenario within the IFL [Indoor Football League] with the Vegas Knight Hawks. He took a guess on himself in a brand new league. He had a pleasant condominium for his younger son and spouse in Henderson [Nev.], and he involves this? The [Soul] gamers have been promised flats. There have been medicine and prostitution coming out and in of this motel. It’s been a shame. Joe was like, ‘I haven’t gotten a W-2 but to receives a commission.’ With no gamers affiliation, no one goes to stay up for these guys.”
The economics round spring soccer are harsh with out assist from the NFL, which the AFL was really purported to get by having its video games televised on the NFL Community. These plans fell by earlier than the season, and we’re seeing the aftermath right here.
It is arduous to see Fisher considerably altering the numbers at play right here, however at this level the league would possibly simply desire a stabilizing presence because it figures out the way to bounce again for a second season, or put together for an additional chapter.
