Titans won't return to AIFA next season

[Gridiron Battle Sports]

www.tallahassee.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2007710310334

Titans won't return to AIFA next season
'Window is closed' to rejoin '07 league
By Bob Ferrante
DEMOCRAT CORRESPONDENT Print Email to a friend Subscribe

If the Tallahassee Titans are able to play indoor football in 2008, it will not be in the American Indoor Football Association.

While owner David Morris has been talking with potential investors, including former NFL tight end Mark Brammer, the discussions did not move fast enough for the cash-strapped team to meet its deadline to rejoin the AIFA.

AIFA co-owner John Morris said he and league officials completed an initial schedule Monday night and sent it to current owners for review. Morris said there is no chance the Titans could be a late addition.

“The window has closed,” Morris said. “We have come up with a schedule. We certainly wanted to have Tallahassee come back. Unfortunately, they have not been able to get things together.”

The AIFA's decision leaves the Titans in a tenuous position: short on cash and without a league with about four months until the season opens. The team also faces a condensed timeline to find local sponsors, sell tickets and hold player tryouts.

David Morris and Director of Operations Misty Sullivan are divided over the likelihood of the Titans playing in 2008.

“A local person has expressed an interest (in investing),” Morris said. “There is also Mark Brammer. If one of these individuals come through, the Titans can play in 2008.”

Sullivan said she understood the decision by the AIFA, which the Titans were hoping to rejoin after a leap to the now defunct World Indoor Football League this summer.

“I appreciate the fact that they are trying to do the right thing for the teams,” Sullivan said. “It sucks for us ... but the Titans are done for 2008.”

And while Sullivan said there is no other league that plays in the South and is still accepting new teams, Morris said he knows of a league he can join - but would not name it.

The Titans were 11-4 in their inaugural season, reaching the playoffs with a roster filled with former Florida State, Florida A&M and local high school stars and coached by former Alabama All-American defensive back Keven Jackson. While the team drew some of the top crowds in the AIFA, start-up and operating expenses were too much as the Titans were unable to pay debts to the Civic Center, local businesses, coaches, players and front-office staff.

The debts remain largely unpaid, and Sullivan said she and players are considering a lawsuit against Morris for lost wages.

“David Morris needs to take responsibility for this team and the players,” Sullivan said. “We're not done because the players and the personnel quit.”

One Titans player has already found a new team. Quarterback Ben Dougherty signed with the Arena Football League's Georgia Force on Tuesday afternoon.

“I would like to thank the Titans, my teammates and the fans,” said Dougherty, who led the AIFA in touchdown passes last season. “Without them I wouldn't have had this opportunity.”

Wide receiver Rod Miller, offensive lineman Brian Ross and defensive back DeRon Rush all have tryouts scheduled with AFL teams. Sullivan and Jackson are helping other Titans arrange tryouts with AIFA teams.

“I wish (the Titans) would have come back,” Miller said. “It helped me out. I've received more opportunities now than I did coming out of college.”

[titanfandrew]

[titanfandrew]

I will say, though, that I'm glad that the Titans' players are getting try-outs. I can't wait to see what Ben Dougherty can do with the Force and Miller, Ross, and Rush would all be great for any AFL team. I would LOVE to see Rod Miller sign with the Force, too, and have "The FAMU Connection" move to Georgia.

[Gene]

Might be for the best as they have proven that they cant make good business decisions. To jump to the WIFL even when all us fans knew that league was in a downward spiral was just plain wrong. Best thing now that can happen for Tallahassee is for this current team to fold and for a new one to open. One that is more business savvy.

[titanfandrew]

admin said:

Might be for the best as they have proven that they cant make good business decisions. To jump to the WIFL even when all us fans knew that league was in a downward spiral was just plain wrong. Best thing now that can happen for Tallahassee is for this current team to fold and for a new one to open. One that is more business savvy.

I don't see that happening...if the Titans, who led the league in attendance in their 1st season, fold, Tallahassee won't get another sports franchise for a while. Best case scenario, IMO, is that the Titans get sold, play a year in a low-level league (the one Morris somehow knows about that no one else does), and then switch to the AIFA in 2009.

[Gridiron Battle Sports]

I Agree with drew. If the Titans a team that was probably the most talented team from top to bottom in the League last year couldn't get the job done then I don't see another team coming to town anytime soon. It all comes down to fans in the stands and revenue.

The biggest problem isn't the team or the owners. The problem is the venue. The Civic Center just cost way to much money to play in. They ran the Thunder off and the Titans ran into the same exact finacial problems. You can't make a reasonable profit when your home venue is taking 10,000 out of your earings every home game.

I have no idea what league Morris is talking about. He must be talking about a league up north because there are no league anywhere close to us.

[titanfandrew]

gridironbattle said:

I Agree with drew. If the Titans a team that was probably the most talented team from top to bottom in the League last year couldn't get the job done then I don't see another team coming to town anytime soon. It all comes down to fans in the stands and revenue.

The biggest problem isn't the team or the owners. The problem is the venue. The Civic Center just cost way to much money to play in. They ran the Thunder off and the Titans ran into the same exact finacial problems. You can't make a reasonable profit when your home venue is taking 10,000 out of your earings every home game.

I have no idea what league Morris is talking about. He must be talking about a league up north because there are no league anywhere close to us.

I don't know about the league, either, but the Civic Center thing is something that should be discussed further.

$10,000 a game is a ton, but when you have 3000-5000 fans in the stands for each game (at $10 a ticket MINIMUM), it seems alright. By my numbers, at an average of 4000 seats sold per game (estimate based on numbers I've heard thrown around) at $10 a seat (the cheapest seats were $10, the more expensive seats I'll say are $10 also to account for tickets that were given away, season ticket discount, etc) is still $40,000 a game. $10,000 is 25% of that, and $30,000 a game, 8 home games, is $240,000. This number, being 75% of ticket sales, WOULD be fair, IF the Titans received a cut of the $6/car parking and food/drinks/alcohol sales. Not only did the Civic Center make $80,000 off the Titans just playing there, but they also made, what I would say (as an estimate) would be $3000 on parking per game (500 cars) and probably 3 times that on concessions. So, while the Titans SHOULD HAVE gotten $30,000 per game, the Civic Center made $22,000 for doing nothing but renting out the arena (a whopping 42.3% of the total income).

What makes matters worse is that the Titans probably didn't see their $30,000 share per game (otherwise, where's the financial issue?). The Civic Center contract does not allow for the Titans to audit the Civic Center and actually count heads/tickets. The Titans are told that "X" people paid and so here's your money by the Civic Center, and they can't do a thing about it if it's wrong.

Having been at 6 of the 8 home games (fires and a lack of funds to repay me for what would've been my $150 trip to Tallahassee kept me from the final 2 games), I can tell you that there were about 4000 fans on average every game. I just don't see how $240,000 income on ticket sales (after the $80,000 the Civic Center got for the season is removed) could have gone without paying the players/coaches/staff/etc. Conspiracy theory would suggest that the Civic Center has not been totally honest with the Titans about sales, and I would tend to lean on the side of the conspiracy on this one.

[frostbite]

it looks that simple drew but your leaving out a lot of expenses. the arena isn't the only one that needed paid.

we wont even go into how many of those approx. 4k a night were PAID tickets, but you forget the titans had to pay a season's worth to the arena in a deposit, so there's another 75k that went to them upfront. i have no idea what kind of rates the aifa negotiated for its teams but i bet their workers comp and general liability insurance premiums cost quite there in florida too.

at this level unfortunately the coaches and players are the last to get paid.

[titanfandrew]

frostbite said:

it looks that simple drew but your leaving out a lot of expenses. the arena isn't the only one that needed paid.

we wont even go into how many of those approx. 4k a night were PAID tickets, but you forget the titans had to pay a season's worth to the arena in a deposit, so there's another 75k that went to them upfront. i have no idea what kind of rates the aifa negotiated for its teams but i bet their workers comp and general liability insurance premiums cost quite there in florida too.

at this level unfortunately the coaches and players are the last to get paid.

I realize that there are other expenses, but $30,000 a game would seem to be enough to at least cover them, right? And I took the free tickets into consideration. I averaged that every ticket was $10, whereas only the uppers cost $10, and trust me, there were MANY more people in the lowers...

In addition to that, David Morris didn't start the team with $0. Of course he had to pay fees and the down payment on the arena and League fees and insurance and etc. What I'm saying is, unless he made sure he got all of his invested money back before paying anybody (i.e. pocketed every dime until he was even on startup expenses), $30,000 a game to cover players, coaches, and staff would seem to be enough. It's basically $15,000 a game if you divide it up home and away, which sounds like enough to me. Now, I can understand if the Titans lost money when considering startup fees and the deposit and league fees or whatever, because you can't expect to come out on top after 1 year with a sports franchise...it's just too costly to form to make it all up the first year.

What I'm saying is that if Morris put as much money into the Titans as he says he did (and I find no reason to doubt him on this), then every cost before the first game, while a cost, should not have devastated the team as it did. If Morris put in (just for an example, no real reference) $200,000 at the beginning and the Titans had spent $250,000 before the season started, then I could see where there would be huge issues. But if the money Morris invested into the team covered the expenses leading to Game #1 (i.e. uniforms, turf, uprights, deposit, league fees, etc), then $30,000 every home game should have sufficed.

I know I rambled on there a bit, but I wanted to put everything down...

[Gridiron Battle Sports]

I agree. The Civic Center may be taking more money than the Titans realize they are making. Someone needs to audit the Civic Center. There were atleast 3-4 thousand fans at the 6 games I attended. Morris definately put a lot of money into this team. From the arena to the equipment, uniforms, and practice facility, he gave the players the best of everything. Theres no doubt in my mind that he had enough money coming into this thing. He could have cut some corners, but he didn't. He ran a first class organization, but unfortunately good guys don't always finish first.

[titanfandrew]

gridironbattle said:

I agree. The Civic Center may be taking more money than the Titans realize they are making. Someone needs to audit the Civic Center. There were atleast 3-4 thousand fans at the 6 games I attended. Morris definately put a lot of money into this team. From the arena to the equipment, uniforms, and practice facility, he gave the players the best of everything. Theres no doubt in my mind that he had enough money coming into this thing. He could have cut some corners, but he didn't. He ran a first class organization, but unfortunately good guys don't always finish first.

While this is all speculation and conspiracy theory and everything, IF this, in fact, were to be true, there would be a tremendous lawsuit filed by Morris against the Civic Center. Because, not only would funds have been stolen, but the stolen funds would have single-handedly led to the destruction of the Titans organization.

Again, this is all based on the conspiracy theory of the Civic Center stealing funds from the Titans and is in no way based on any available facts.