Three teams down entering week three
Brian Belefski
Sunday May 12, 2024
After just two weeks of play, three franchises (Iowa Rampage, Georgia Force and Philadelphia Soul) have officially pulled the plug on the 2024 AFL season. That's a first, if you want to count this iteration of the league in the history books.
Ownership issues were the primary reason for the failure to launch in all three markets. Iowa, which played out of Council Bluffs, just didn't have the capital to succeed at a professional level from the onset. Georgia and Philadelphia were legacy markets that couldn't find adequate ownership groups and shouldn't have been fielded if the league wasn't going to take care of its coaches and players financially.
The AFL is falling short of preseason promises and is a mess on a league scale, even though some franchises have held their end of the bargain. Hopefully, positive news will be answered, but the players on departing teams were used like the predominantly worn astroturf fields some were playing on. Commissioner Lee Hutton III has yet to answer questions and league CEO Travelle Gaines resigned without comment this week.
Many league owners, including Billings Outlaws owner Steven Titus and Rapid City Marshal owner Wes Johnson have grown exhausted of the upper management of the league. During a May 6 interview on The Nate Brown Show on Fox Sports Rapid City, Titus mentioned that league game officials haven't been paid. Players were supposed to be paid $1,000 per week, with teams paying $250 and the league $750, however the league has not been issuing its part of the agreement according to Titus.
"Every team in the league has at least a $20,000-25,000 salary commitment to their players that the league had promised they would pay," Titus said on The Nate Brown Show. "Now each team is left picking up the bill for what the league promised they would pay."
Enough of the soap opera, there's four games on this week's schedule.
Billings at Rapid City, Saturday
Billings has been the cream of the crop out of all of the CIF teams that merged into the AFL. The Outlaws have outscored opponents 114-38 after their first two games and Rapid City has had two weeks of to work on issues after a 58-28 loss in week one to the now defunct Iowa Rampage. Expect another offensive explosion led by Isaac Harker, who is on pace to be an All-Arena QB for the Outlaws.
West Texas at Washington, Sunday
Are they playing or aren't they playing? We finally have an answer. West Texas reached a settlement with its previous league, the NAL to continue to play in the AFL. The Desert Hawks, which were known as the Warbirds in the NAL, were put on a court order mandate that disallowed them to play in the AFL, mainly in part to exit fee contractual issues with the NAL.
Now that everything is settled, West Texas should improve to 3-0 against a Washington team still learning the nuances of the arena game. Early in the season, the Desert Hawks have shown that they have the best defense in the league, after allowing a potent Orlando team only 14 points in a road victory. West Texas defensive end Justin Alexandre has been a terror coming off the edge.
Salina at Nashville, Sunday
Nashville will look to bounce back after losing 51-41 to Albany last week. Kats receiver Marquise Irvin has made a name for himself early in the season and is coming off a three-touchdown performance. Salina is playing its first road game of the season, but has a well-run orchestra on offense with Charles McCullum, Jr. running the show with Demarius Washington and Tracy Brooks, Jr.
SW Kansas at Wichita, Monday
Wichita finally gets to host a home game, after its week two tilt against SW Kansas was postponed due to a state-wide National Weather Service tornado warning. A storm though is coming to Wichita in the form of SW Kansas, who beat the defunct Iowa Rampage 34-18 last week, after Iowa announced it was folding. Wichita will have to stop the tandem of QB Caden Walters and WR Da'Quan Bailey-Brown, who had two touchdowns last week.
Finding a new home
After only being a free-agent for a few days, WR/LB Jaylen Schleicher has signed with the Orlando Predators. The former Iowa Rampage player brings a physical 6-foot-4, 240-pound presence at the receiver position and proved he can play the Arena game in his two games with Iowa. Let's hope to see more players from Iowa, Georgia and Philadelphia get second opportunities.
VooDoo Doom?
Louisiana has had back-to-back bye weeks due to scheduling issues, putting a pause to the direction of the team. According to Offensive Coordinator John Fourcade, players haven't been paid and are having housing issues.
Kats vs. ?
In week four, the Nashville Kats were originally scheduled to host the Georgia Force in a special home game at F&M Bank Arena in Clarksville, TN on Saturday, May 18. With Georgia folding, there's no word if a schedule change will take place.
