Who's the Boss in Orlando?
Adam Markowitz
Tuesday December 16, 2008
The biggest question surrounding the Arena Football League at this point is a very simple one, with a very complicated answer.
Who’s the boss of the Orlando Predators?
Last week, ArenaFan and several local media outlets in Orlando reported that former team President Brett Bouchy bought the Preds from former majority owner, Ron Howse. the Predators introduced Bouchy as the new majority owner of the team the next day. He has also had multiple press conferences since taking over the reigns in Orlando once again.
No one has ever accused the AFL of keeping its website completely up to date with the most accurate information in the world, but normally breaking news hits the site… eventually…. Even yesterday’s release about the Board of Directors’ vote to suspend the 2009 season hit the site… over a half hour after the release went across the pressers.
But I challenge you… Go back and look at ANY AFL sponsored website. Tell me where you find one mention of the fact that Bouchy is the new owner of the Preds? Not on the AFL’s site. Not on the Predators’ site. Not on the AFL’s media site. Nothing. Not one word.
Apparently there’s a really good reason.
ArenaFan contacted the AFL’s Executive Vice President of Communications, Chris McCloskey via email about the ownership situation in Orlando. He stated, “Bob Gries, a minority owner, is the Predators designated Board representative. We understand that there may be a transition in ownership occurring, but the League has not received an application, nor has the Board officially voted on a change of ownership.”
ArenaFan tried to contact Bouchy for comment, but he has not returned phone calls at this time.
Gries, a previous owner of the Tampa Bay Storm, is the manager and founder of Gries Investment Funds, One of the directors of the company is none other than former Predators majority owner, Ron Howse.
According to his bio on the website for Gries Investment Funds, Gries is the second largest shareholder of the Predators. The website also states that the company had previously executed a loan for the Predators
Yesterday, ArenaFan spoke to a member of the Arena Football League Players Association (AFLPA), who is under the impression that Orlando’s vote was not made by the majority owner in Sunday’s Board of Directors meeting. This has obviously been confirmed, as Gries is a minority owner, not the majority owner of the Preds. The source said that a minority owner gave their vote to another team via proxy.
When the Board of Directors first met in the middle of last week, the St. Petersburg Times reported that motion to suspend the season failed by a margin of ten votes to suspend against seven votes to continue playing. A two-thirds majority was needed to suspend the season. The Times reported that the Chicago Rush had flipped their vote from playing the season to suspending it, which prompted another meeting on Sunday. Had all of the votes held, the motion still would’ve failed by one vote.
In a report by the Tampa Tribune, Tampa Bay Storm Head Coach Tim Marcum stated that Orlando was the deciding vote to suspend the season. Marcum also added that the Storm joined the San Jose SaberCats, New York Dragons, Gridiron Enterprises, and Bouchy’s Arizona Rattlers as the votes in favor of playing out the ’09 season as scheduled.
Marcum told the Times that he was concerned that representatives of the teams that were lobbying for suspension could influence others. “They’ve got some kind of plan,” Marcum said. He also warned earlier in the week that those same owners in favor of suspension were, “… trying to finagle things as much as they can until they get their way.” The Storm’s Head Coach also said Orlando was amongst the teams committed to playing in a December 13th report by the Times.
ArenaFan has left messages with Gries, but he has yet to respond at this time.
We will continue to update the story as news unfolds.