Event Date: August 7th, 1994
Event Description: CFL Not Fazed
Source: The Sun
There’s one born every minute, it seems.
Pro football leagues, that is.
Working on the premise there is always room for one more, a former United States Football League executive is attempting to bring the North American Football League to the U.S. in 1995.
Steve Ehrhart, who served as director of administration for the long-gone USFL and more recently as William Dunavant's right-hand man in Memphis' bid for an NFL expansion team, is chairman of a five-man executive council for the prenatal NAFL.
Nine days ago in St. Louis, Ehrhart met with representatives from 11 cities to measure interest and pocket depth. If successful, his venture would be a critical blow to the Canadian Football League's expansion plans in the United States.
That's because several of those cities -- Memphis, Oakland, St. Louis, San Antonio and New York -- have been prominently mentioned in the CFL's plans.
But Larry Ryckman, owner of the Calgary Stampeders and chairman of the CFL expansion committee, isn't worried. He said he thinks the movers and shakers of the new league want to get into the CFL forless than the $6 million expansion fee established for 1995.
"By the time we expand by four more teams, these guys will not even be out of the chute," Ryckman said. "We will be in eight U.S. cities, tying up the markets they're looking at.
"The expansion fee is not a problem for real players. This is a bunch of guys trying to get into pro sports cheap. We're no longer concerned about these guys."
The NAFL is an offshoot of the "A League," a concept introduced by former Minnesota Vikings executive Mike Lynn in which corporate sponsors would pay the bills. But Lynn didn't deliver and the concept disappeared. Enter the NAFL with its $1 million entry fee.
Pepper Rodgers, who also worked on Memphis' NFL expansion bid, said he thinks the $1 million fee makes more fiscal sense than the CFL's $6 million fee.
"Nobody here is going to do that [meet the CFL price]," Rodgers said. "We're hard and fast on that."
Rodgers nevertheless believes the CFL is still an option for Memphis. He contends the CFL needs cities like Memphis, St. Louis and San Antonio if it is to reach its goal of a lucrative network TV contract in the U.S. And, in fact, that's how the CFL views the situation.
Now it's a matter of whether the CFL lets new franchises in at $6 million or the $3 million that Baltimore owner Jim Speros paid last February.
Speros said there is "flexibility" in the price. "It's $6 million with terms," Speros said. "If you pay in cash, there's a discount. It's financed over three years, so it's actually closer to $5.4 million."
Speros said he doubts the NAFL has the finances to get off the ground.
"Owners like Larry Ryckman and Bill Comrie [of the British Columbia Lions] say don't panic and lower the price just because these guys say they're going to do something," Speros said. "We know how hard it is to do it. To start a league up, you need a substantial amount of money."
Remember the Alamo
Ryckman is interested in San Antonio, himself, at least as a point of reference in negotiations with the city of Calgary over his stadium lease.
He pays $1 million a year to use McMahon Stadium -- and gets no revenue from parking, advertising or concessions. Since bailing out the debt-ridden Stampeders three years ago, Ryckman has been attempting to get a better deal. His lease expired last April.
"I won't stay if I'm going to lose $1 million a year," he said. "The team is doing everything it can to be viable in the market. I'm at the end of my rope. If I took a team with Doug Flutie to San Antonio, or another market, they'd eat this up."
One hang-up. Ryckman said he was voted among the top four most influential businessman in Calgary on its 100th anniversary.
"How do I leave a city after that?" he asked. "I think we'll find a solution."
