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Commentary: NIFL daily buzz

by Jerry Hewitt
May 31, 2006 - National Indoor Football League (NIFL)


It's taken me quite a while to sit down and write this thing today. Not that I don't have anything to say, but how to arrange all that I do have. I don't have any late-breaking NIFL fire news or any real news for that matter, but I still have things I feel need to be said. They don't all have to do with the NIFL either.

Information

I've received several emails pleading with me to continue with the Buzz, not that anyone feels I do such a great job, but because information of any kind is so hard to find. Most say the NIFL website is the last place they look, simply because it carries no real news of anything and what it does cover simply hides the truth or ignores it and buries stuff without explanation. Well I'm glad that some feel the Buzz is their best source for NIFL info, but truth be told I'm not getting much to talk about, good or bad. In a way not having anything is good news. I personally feel all the fires in the NIFL have already hit and the rest of the season will pretty much go on without much more controversy.

Now information I get from fans on one subject is worth reporting on and hopefully those who have the power might take steps to correct some of it. Part of being a fan of any team is having the expectation that your team could lose any given game. It just adds to the competitive excitement of things. Fans are expressing to me that they are tired of the extremely lop sided games caused by replacement player filled teams. I've had several tell me they will no longer buy tickets when they know the game will be a joke, just not fun for them and I agree 100%. Not counting forfeits, last weekend we had three games where the combined total score was 226-6. I'm not even counting the Arkansas at Beaumont game which was a minor blowout at 28-6. So out of nine scheduled games, there were only three that could be called competitive. One third is it, and I'm sorry, but that's just sad and unforgivable.

Professionalism

OK here we go. This is and has been a pet peeve of mine for all of the time I have been a part of this game. I have a saying I have used over the years way to many times, when does professional start to mean more than just a word?

I got an email yesterday from someone involved with a new league. It was a thinly veiled threat. Now it had nothing to do with this new league, but I have received many emails from this individual over the last couple of years and most have expressed no professionalism at all. Now I see he is part of starting a new league on the East Coast and I see it as just another scam. I know that is harsh and maybe uncalled for, but it's been my experience with this person that professionalism enters into nothing he does or has been associated with. So I can draw no conclusion on his new venture as anymore than a way to try to grab some quick bucks, nor create a true professional league. I'd go so far as to say I feel joining or staying in the NIFL would be a step up. I hope those interested in this new league would think long and hard on it along with doing some simple research into those behind it.

Next I got another email from someone in the Osceola area, actually a member of the media. They felt I may have some preconceived notions of Osceola and indoor football in Florida. I really don't. I've never seem a game in Florida, so have no first hand knowledge of the kind of show they put on. I do know part of the Lakeland ownership and I believe them to be fine people, both personally and as business people.

I do have preconceived, so to speak, notions of indoor football in some areas, but these notions are based on my six years experience in and out of the NIFL. I've seen too many teams succeed and fail not to draw some conclusions. Doesn't make me 100% right and I am not right all of the time I know.

From a professional standpoint I believe a team can operate at the same level as any NFL team. Operating in a professional manner is not limited by how rich a team is or at what level they play at, it's solely how they conduct business on and off the field. In Osceola's case, I feel they do operate pretty professionally, at least from what I see and hear. So do a lot of other teams I question on how long they might last.

To clarify, I've seen teams come in and do everything right and fail. I've seen others do everything wrong or do nothing at all and succeed. No magic formula seems to exist although I prefer the doing everything right one as the best chance for success. I feel you need around 3000 a game to make it and that number is low, more borderline than anything. Ideally, closer to 4000 and with some teams, still not high enough. One thing I do know is that 1500 or even 250 isn't going to turn the red into black in 99% of cases.

I know there are owners who don't care how much their team loses, they're just happy owning a team. But in most cases owners at this level don't have the money to suffer losses year in and year out, have to be able to at least break even to continue. Numbers are numbers, they can be made to say whatever a person wants, but bottom line is number of fans equal dollars in the bank and that number you can't change. Also the more fans, the more likely sponsors are going to want to invest their dollars with you.

All of this numbers business has nothing to do with how professional an operation is run, just whether they choose to continue or not.

And next

Question is, can a league operate in the miner leagues just as professionally as say the NFL? In my opinion, yes. I have a dream on of a league office that is just as self-supporting as the teams it manages and provides support for. Would my dream work? Who knows. But I look at it this way, if you create a league that is credible, answers the concerns of teams, sponsors, players and fans and goes into things working to be self supporting and it fails in that area, aren't you still a head of the game if it comes down to the teams supporting it just like almost every other league?

Again to clarify or try to, everybody seems to want a league that gives back, supplies needed support and structure. From what I hear that isn't being accomplished in most of the indoor leagues. Maybe some are trying to achieve that, but clearly some are not.

My email for those wanting to contribute to my dream indoorbowl@yahoo.com.

How professional is this

A team folds and its owner basically announces it on a message board, then cries foul when the league by rule takes all the equipment to fulfill that team's schedule obligations. Then his quitting is met with less than the amount of sympathy he wanted by fans, so his brother, mother, sister, three cousins and whoever else he can get, posts what a nice guy he is. Give me a break, Mr. Lind, you defaulted, failed to live up to your agreements with the NIFL. Your actions affect more than just you or your team, but also those of every team on your remaining schedule.

I'm sick and tired of owners feeling like they are the ones to be pitied when they don't live up to their obligations. They along with others are what makes the NIFL somewhat the joke of indoor football. Here's my point, if you can't afford the franchise fee and have somewhere in the neighborhood of $500,000 in the bank to operate a team through the season, do us all a favor and don't ever start, because you won't finish.

Bye now

This turned out somewhat shorter than I imagined, but then again I just got lazy.

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National Indoor Football League Stories from May 31, 2006


The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer(s), and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.


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