Outline · [ Standard ] · Linear+ Football league for sale., No really.

[finestkind]

All that’s left of AFL on the block
Print This Story By JOHN LOMBARDO
Staff writer

Published November 02, 2009 : Page 01
The AFL’s Philadelphia Soul had to fight to win 17 games and the right to hoist the Jim Foster ArenaBowl trophy in 2008. Now, anyone with a checkbook will likely be able to buy the championship hardware as part of a bankruptcy auction set for Nov. 25.

If the 60-pound silver trophy isn’t attractive enough, how about the authentic playing field from the Grand Rapids Rampage franchise? The field is listed as an asset of the shuttered league, which is now in Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The Northern District of Illinois U.S. Bankruptcy Court has appointed a trustee to sell the AFL’s assets.

As a result, the AFL’s intellectual property, including the name and logo for the league and all of its teams’ names and logos, is on the block along with myriad other items, such a 25 boxes of AFL equipment stashed in an O’Hare Airport storage facility, 40 boxes of AFL merchandise, and two flat-screen televisions still attached to a wall in the league’s Chicago office.

Like the looks of the trophy Jon
Bon Jovi is holding? It perhaps
could be yours.It is unclear what the sale means for any future iteration of the league, or whether a buyer of the AFL assets will resurrect it. A group led by Jerry Kurz, a co-investor in the AFL, already has created arenafootbal1, a new startup indoor league based in Tulsa, Okla.

There is no minimum bid or value listed for the assets and all proceeds are earmarked for a wide-ranging list of AFL creditors, including Fifth Third Bank, the largest secured creditor, which is owed $7.7 million. Other nonsecured creditors include former rights holder NBC, which is owed $1.59 million. Former AFL Commissioner David Baker is owed $985,000.

Baker said he is “saddened and disappointed” by what has happened to the league, adding that in 2008, the AFL had a $1 million gate for the ArenaBowl, record expansion fees and record attendance. “I sincerely believed the league was never stronger,” he said.

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www.sportsbusinessjournal.com
Nov. 2, 2009

[joe31]

Wow, I kind of liked going to Rampage games. AFL games were pretty cool and I liked the style of play.