The league's board of directors met in "what had to be a tumultuous conference call" on Wednesday night, and will meet again on Thursday "in an effort to reach a three-quarters majority among the 16 league owners on a course of action."
David Mayo of The Grand Rapids Press describes the owners as being split between "AFL hard-liners", and "NFL bottom-liners" -- owners of NFL and AFL franchises, who "seeing their 100-yard profits shriveling, have become quick to view their 50-yard commodities as expendable playthings." In a separate article, Mayo cites an interview with Grand Rapids Rampage union rep Ahmad Hawkins, who alleges that "the owners of the Colorado Crush and Dallas Desperados are ... pushing hardest to suspend league operations for 2009 and perhaps resume in 2010." The Crush and Desperados are owned by Pat Bowlen and Jerry Jones, respectively, both owners of NFL teams.
According to Mayo, even though AFL teams account for "relatively insignificant operating losses compared to the huge profits NFL teams generate," they are an "easy place to cut" for NFL owners feeling the effect of the economic downturn.
For their part, the AFL's players are willing to make major concessions in order to play next season. The union voted on Friday to cut the salary cap by 30%, from $2 million to $1.4 million. Quoting the aforementioned Hawkins, "If I make $50,000, that's still more than I can make if I go out and try to find a job."
Source: Various
