Response to Danny Burnham's Indoor Football Weekly

[mrsummitcitypigskin]

Mr. Burnham, the situation in Ft.Wayne isn't an invitation to burn
money, it's a question of name recognition and old filthy coats in
the closet. Previous ownerships have caused the problems w/ the
Freedom. Current ownership is paying for their fumbles. Ft. Wayne
is a great minor league market for any sport, indoor football included.
The previous owners of the Freedom (UIF, NIFL) and Fusion (AF2)
have a backlog of debt, that the courts say is the current owners
responsibility. The team is set for the rest of this regular season &
playoffs. The CIFL and the league owners want a team in Ft. Wayne.
This off-season will call for some reshuffling in Ft.Wayne. So, maybe
the Freedom will be gone, but I don't think indoor football is leaving
town just yet. Despite what our local media hacks say. A new owner
that can cast aside all the old feces, and do some advertising and
promotion CAN put 5-7000 in the Memorial Coliseum for home games.
And as for your "Nuff said" regarding the Chicago Slaughter, why are
they playing @ this level anyway? Wouldn't AF2 be more appropriate?
Or how about a new "Super" indoor league? Signing old AFL players;
you talk about ridiculous..... The N.Y. Yankees of the little CIFL....

[exit322]

Indeed, advertising, promotion, and the 4000 comps that the old NIFL Freedom gave away every week...

The market's in deep trouble, and all it's been this year is the invitation to burn money, because of past foibles. Should've taken a year off.

[gonzo13]

Mr. Burnham, the situation in Ft.Wayne isn't an invitation to burn
money, it's a question of name recognition and old filthy coats in
the closet. Previous ownerships have caused the problems w/ the
Freedom. Current ownership is paying for their fumbles. Ft. Wayne
is a great minor league market for any sport, indoor football included.
The previous owners of the Freedom (UIF, NIFL) and Fusion (AF2)
have a backlog of debt, that the courts say is the current owners
responsibility. The team is set for the rest of this regular season &
playoffs. The CIFL and the league owners want a team in Ft. Wayne.
This off-season will call for some reshuffling in Ft.Wayne. So, maybe
the Freedom will be gone, but I don't think indoor football is leaving
town just yet. Despite what our local media hacks say. A new owner
that can cast aside all the old feces, and do some advertising and
promotion CAN put 5-7000 in the Memorial Coliseum for home games.
And as for your "Nuff said" regarding the Chicago Slaughter, why are
they playing @ this level anyway? Wouldn't AF2 be more appropriate?
Or how about a new "Super" indoor league? Signing old AFL players;
you talk about ridiculous..... The N.Y. Yankees of the little CIFL....

First, thanks for reading, and thanks again for your feedback.

You spelled out in your post why the Ft. Wayne market IS an invitation to burn money. The market itself has been thoroughly burned, so it is going to be very difficult for any team to have financial success there for a long to come.

It can be salvaged, but it WOULD take a ton of money....Hence the whole "invitation to burn" thing. That's no slight against the current ownership, it wouldn't matter who was in charge, that's just the way it is.

As far as Chicago goes, there's no need to wish them into another league because they are dominating the CIFL. Speaking of burning money...AF2? No, if I owned the Chicago team, I'd stay put. Taking a page out of Steve Spurrier's book, if teams are tired of getting thumped by the Slaughter, they need to "get better players".

[Caballo Diablo]

I found this statement in his June 5, 09 article a little shortsighted;
.....................................
" Head coach Steve "Mongo" McMichael will get my vote as indoor football coach of the year as he and the Chicago Slaughter completed a perfect regular season and start gearing up for the playoffs. "
.......................................

No disrespect to coach McMichael, but I think the AFL roster he was handed this season had far more to do with it than being a coach of the year quality.

Maybe the co-winner should be Coach Ho (formerly) of the Rush - lol
Anything but going undefeated and dominating the opposition would have been a complete failure.

[mrsummitcitypigskin]

I found this statement in his June 5, 09 article a little shortsighted;
.....................................
" Head coach Steve "Mongo" McMichael will get my vote as indoor football coach of the year as he and the Chicago Slaughter completed a perfect regular season and start gearing up for the playoffs. "
.......................................

No disrespect to coach McMichael, but I think the AFL roster he was handed this season had far more to do with it than being a coach of the year quality.

Maybe the co-winner should be Coach Ho (formerly) of the Rush - lol
Anything but going undefeated and dominating the opposition would have been a complete failure.

If you guys wanna crown the Slaughter. Crown em. But there are still
playoff games to go and there may be some surprises in store. To rebut
Mr. Burnham again, I think there will be CIFL indoor football in Ft.Wayne
in 2010. Or if not Ft.Wayne, then this vicinity. After talking with league
personnel and some other league owners, they all want a team here....

[gonzo13]

If you guys wanna crown the Slaughter. Crown em. But there are still
playoff games to go and there may be some surprises in store. To rebut
Mr. Burnham again, I think there will be CIFL indoor football in Ft.Wayne
in 2010. Or if not Ft.Wayne, then this vicinity. After talking with league
personnel and some other league owners, they all want a team here....

The Slaughter could very well lose in the playoffs. That's why they play the games. I also agree in part with Ole Devils Horse...The talent probably has had alot to do with the Slaughter's success, but the same could be said for any championship team. But somebody had to round all of those guys up and get them on the same page.

And I'm not saying there won't be indoor football in Ft Wayne. There may indeed even be indoor football of the CIFL variety, all I'm saying is it's going to take a ton of money to make it stick....If it even sticks at all.

[Bruiser]

Bwahahahaha. You people are too funny... or delusional. Here's the plain facts:

2009 CIFL Champs hail from Chicago, and no, they dont need to play the rest of the games... it's just a formality at this point, believe it.

McMichael molded his Slaughter team into one cohesive ass-kickin unit, Ho deserves no credit. This Rush bunch couldnt get past Grand Rapids last season - and everyone knows GR should be down here in the $200/game leagues anyway. AFL players want to come to Chicago. Sippio, Bowers and Schroeder weren't on the Rush in '08 last time I checked.

FW has screwed all the leagues they've latched on to in the past half decade, no one wants the tramp anymore so, they gone - again.

[mrsummitcitypigskin]

Bwahahahaha. You people are too funny... or delusional. Here's the plain facts:

2009 CIFL Champs hail from Chicago, and no, they dont need to play the rest of the games... it's just a formality at this point, believe it.

McMichael molded his Slaughter team into one cohesive ass-kickin unit, Ho deserves no credit. This Rush bunch couldnt get past Grand Rapids last season - and everyone knows GR should be down here in the $200/game leagues anyway. AFL players want to come to Chicago. Sippio, Bowers and Schroeder weren't on the Rush in '08 last time I checked.

FW has screwed all the leagues they've latched on to in the past half decade, no one wants the tramp anymore so, they gone - again.

Bruiser, You have not talked to league personnel as I have. The discussion
is on-going about the Ft.Wayne situation. I think the Slaughter is the one
that will be saying bon voyage after the season. Not enough competition
in the CIFL. I don't think I'd pull the plug on Ft.Wayne just yet. Chicago, on
the other hand, should be looking for greener pastures. Ones that aren't
filled with cow pattys from these Midwest farm towns.

[Bruiser]

Bruiser, You have not talked to league personnel as I have. The discussion
is on-going about the Ft.Wayne situation. I think the Slaughter is the one
that will be saying bon voyage after the season. Not enough competition
in the CIFL. I don't think I'd pull the plug on Ft.Wayne just yet. Chicago, on
the other hand, should be looking for greener pastures. Ones that aren't
filled with cow pattys from these Midwest farm towns.
Talking with league personnel does nothing to impress me, in fact if you take ANYTHING they say as gospel I'd have to consider you a fool. Sorry, but reading between the lines is a much better skill to hone when it comes to indoor/arena football banter with league personnel and I'm telling you FW is done.

I dont doubt the Slaughter are looking. However, where it'll end up depends on how ownership shakes itself up once again for their umteenth reincarnation. The Slaughter ownership group has split, regrouped and evolved so many times it'd make your head spin - and they can do it by keeping their dirty laundry out of the local papers - something the podunk towns have a hard time doing and pay for it at the box office.

If the Slaughter can inject fresh cash from some starry-eyed wealthy party, they may indeed splurge and dump the wad into af2 just to see how it goes. But if there is no new cash flow, I doubt any of the current ownership wants to incur further debt. These guys are probably hurting already in their own "real" businesses and aren't stupid.

The difference is Chicago still has potential, perceived or real, it's there. It's not tainted. FW has been used & abused so often they've beaten down their fan base to a pulp. The fact that the fans just dont believe anymore is not lost on investors. Not to mention we can all see how far civic pride gets you in FW. The poor schmuck who owns the team now has been left hanging all by himself. And the good people of FW dont care or they'd be out there in droves supporting the guy.

[Freedom]

First, thanks for reading, and thanks again for your feedback.

You spelled out in your post why the Ft. Wayne market IS an invitation to burn money. The market itself has been thoroughly burned, so it is going to be very difficult for any team to have financial success there for a long to come.

It can be salvaged, but it WOULD take a ton of money....Hence the whole "invitation to burn" thing. That's no slight against the current ownership, it wouldn't matter who was in charge, that's just the way it is.

It doesn't take a ton of money, it simply takes money to begin with. One thing every FW owner has had in common is that they really didn't have the necessary funds. They may have had dream, a story or hope . . . but little or no money.

With that being said, the good that gets lost is that every single home game has been played throughout FW indoor football history. That means every fan and advertiser that paid to see a game or have their logos in the stadium got their monies worth. Other businesses that provided equipment or services to the team may not have, and those are the areas one would need to worry about.

Hardly justifiable for your "thoroughly burnt" comments, lets leave those for the teams bolting town once the season ticket money is collected or the team that folds midseason or the ones who even fail to field a team at all.

FW has had issues, but we're not looking to raise the Titanic in a salvage opperation as you make it out to be. FW is a fairly good size city compared with other indoor towns and a rich history in minor league sports and plenty of untapped businesses to support another quality sports team in the area. FW simply needs the PROPER financial backing and a reason for fans to attend games, that's just the way it is.

[gonzo13]

It doesn't take a ton of money, it simply takes money to begin with. One thing every FW owner has had in common is that they really didn't have the necessary funds. They may have had dream, a story or hope . . . but little or no money.

With that being said, the good that gets lost is that every single home game has been played throughout FW indoor football history. That means every fan and advertiser that paid to see a game or have their logos in the stadium got their monies worth. Other businesses that provided equipment or services to the team may not have, and those are the areas one would need to worry about.

Hardly justifiable for your "thoroughly burnt" comments, lets leave those for the teams bolting town once the season ticket money is collected or the team that folds midseason or the ones who even fail to field a team at all.

FW has had issues, but we're not looking to raise the Titanic in a salvage opperation as you make it out to be. FW is a fairly good size city compared with other indoor towns and a rich history in minor league sports and plenty of untapped businesses to support another quality sports team in the area. FW simply needs the PROPER financial backing and a reason for fans to attend games, that's just the way it is.

Done right, it should cost somewhere over a half Mil to start an indoor football team,and operate it for a season anywhere. I don't know much money you make, but in my book that's a ton of money.

And by saying the market has been burt, there have been multiple teams in the area. How many times will fans come back for a new team with a new name in a new league? Look at Augusta,Ga. with the AF2 Stalllions, and the AIFL/WIFL Spartans, and see how it's worked out for the AIFA Colts. Or Daytona Beach, with the NIFL Hawgs, AIFL/WIFL Thunder and AF2 Thunderbirds...People in that town think indoor football is a joke now.

Good luck with your football team, I hope it works out, but I doubt it.

[Freedom]

Done right, it should cost somewhere over a half Mil to start an indoor football team,and operate it for a season anywhere. I don't know much money you make, but in my book that's a ton of money.

Yeah, it would cost that anywhere at any time. You simply have to have the funds or you
don't. So why bring it up? Why call it burning money?

And by saying the market has been burt, there have been multiple teams in the area. How many times will fans come back for a new team with a new name in a new league?

As many times as it takes to do it right. Fort Wayne has more fans now with all it's "bad"
history than many teams kicking off their inaugural seasons this year. It's a nice fan base
to start with don't you think? I started my business with $1,000 and no customers. I would
have loved to have started with a built-in 1000 to 2000 paying customers, who wouldn't?
As said before, we as fans have always gotten what we've paid for. . . EVERY FOOTBALL
GAME PLAYED.

Look at Augusta,Ga. with the AF2 Stalllions, and the AIFL/WIFL Spartans, and see how it's worked out for the AIFA Colts. Or Daytona Beach, with the NIFL Hawgs, AIFL/WIFL Thunder and AF2 Thunderbirds...People in that town think indoor football is a joke now.

That's their right and their outlook. Did you do some kind of scientific analyzes of Northeast
Indiana to lump us all in that group or you just guessing like all the other hack experts
taking a jab from 850 miles away?

Good luck with your football team, I hope it works out, but I doubt it.

Yeah, FW hasn't heard that every year . . . maybe this year you will be the one who just
happens to be right. Thank you.

[gonzo13]

Wow, you sure told me that time...

As I said before, I wish Ft. Wayne the best of luck. I hope you have a team now and forever. But I ain't holding my breath.

[Freedom]

Wow, you sure told me that time...

As I said before, I wish Ft. Wayne the best of luck. I hope you have a team now and forever. But I ain't holding my breath.

Need some help? Duct tape would work. :D