My Visit to the League HQ

[Mac the Knife]

A little background... there are around a half dozen arena/indoor football leagues floating around now, some run with a reasonably high level of professionalism (the Arena Football League, the National Arena League, the Indoor Football League), and others not so much.  This is a tale of one of the "not so much..."

 

For those unaware, I live in Raleigh, North Carolina which, reportedly, also happens to be the home of one of these leagues, the "American Arena League," whose website lists its address as:

 

American Arena League

9660-138 Falls of Neuse Road #333

Raleigh, NC  27615

 

Upon learning this a week or so ago, I thought it might be a neat idea to swing by, say hello, talk with the people behind this league, and maybe if they were nice enough even offer to help out with a few things (because based on reviewing their site, it was pretty obvious they could use some).

 

This morning, with a few errands I had to run in that area of town, I decided today would be the day I'd stop by and visit the league office of the American Arena League.  This is where I ended up...

 

 

Now, in a true bit of coincidence, one of the errands I was running was to drop off a UPS package.  So after taking this picture I parked and went inside.  After tending to the package I was shipping, I said, "You know... this is going to sound kind of weird, but this is listed as the address of a professional football league on its website."

 

"Yeah, I know," was the clerk's response.  "We have P.O. Boxes here and they rent one.  We get about one process server in here looking for them every month or so."

 

So, I've now been to the league headquarters of the American Arena League - postal box 333 at The UPS Store.  I'm guessing that finding a miniature desk and chair to fit in that small a space must be an absolute bitch...

[LMU]

Looks like the AAL and the Miami Marlins have something in common.

[Mac the Knife]

I kinda feel like MarlinsMan after this, now that you mention it... 

[Seadragon76]

Considering that one of it's members is now owned by a 'D' list rap star... this whole story sounds like it's par for this league.

[BBTV]

I thought this was going to be about the NFL HQ.  Your title is misleading. 

[Mac the Knife]

Well, I was gonna swing by the HQ of the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, but I got stuck in traffic...

[NYUNDERDOGS]

When you have so low of a budget that you cant even afford a tiny office.

[Sykotyk]

10 hours ago, NYUNDERDOGS said:

When you have so low of a budget that you cant even afford a tiny office.

 

So the question is, where exactly do they conduct business?

[LA_Angels]

6 minutes ago, Sykotyk said:

 

So the question is, where exactly do they conduct business?

From the computer lab at the local library. Meetings are to be whispered, or they’ll revoke their library card

[Mac the Knife]

16 hours ago, Sykotyk said:

So the question is, where exactly do they conduct business?

 

Fair question.  What's really going through my mind though is that fifteen years ago (sixteen, actually), I set up a regional, amateur flag football league that evidently was far better organized than these guys are.  We held league meetings in my business offices.  We had a website that looked better then than these guys have now.  We didn't have a team forfeit a game for the first ten years of our existence, and we did things they seem incapable of (e.g., we sold team-related merch [not a lot of it, but it was available], had top-flight branding thanks to a lot of people who were kind enough to help out through the CCSLC, we made audio broadcasts and video of games available via our website for people to watch, etc.)

 

That was for a podunk flag football league that, at its peak, had 16 teams stretching from Wilmington, NC to Asheville, all of whose players drove to Raleigh just to play in it.  No one ever got paid (either I or players/coaches worked games as officials, getting essentially coupons worth anywhere from $5 to $50 off their team's entry fee the following season), the league broke even (we could've made money had we been so inclined though, I'm sure), and it'd still be around today had I not decided to pursue other interests.

 

I don't point this out to brag.  I point it out because I never thought of what we were doing as all that well put together; yet I see professional leagues launch today that aren't able to pull off half of what we were doing - just as a goof, really - fifteen years ago.  I really can't understand what some of these people are thinking.

[sc49erfan15]

On 4/26/2018 at 10:44 AM, Mac the Knife said:

A little background... there are around a half dozen arena/indoor football leagues floating around now, some run with a reasonably high level of professionalism (the Arena Football League, the National Arena League, the Indoor Football League), and others not so much.  This is a tale of one of the "not so much..."

 

Ha.

 

I can't speak for the league as a whole, but I had a brief experience with the Carolina Cobras of the National Arena League. I met with them about being their PA announcer, communication was significantly lacking. Overall, I found them to be a very shoddily-run organization.

[Mac the Knife]

I can't speak to the NAL, but compared to all but the AFL they seem to have their act the most together.  Greensboro's team was an interesting expansion choice when it was announced.  Are they doing anything significant in terms of promotion in the market?

[sc49erfan15]

5 minutes ago, Mac the Knife said:

I can't speak to the NAL, but compared to all but the AFL they seem to have their act the most together.  Greensboro's team was an interesting expansion choice when it was announced.  Are they doing anything significant in terms of promotion in the market?

 

Decent amount of billboards and I think I've seen a few TV commercials. Most of that was advertising their special of 2 season tickets for $99.

[Mac the Knife]

Cobras won 65-3 tonight.  The "3" came via field goal, kicked with 4.7 seconds left in the fourth quarter.  7 Cobra interceptions, including 5 in the first quarter alone.  A serious ass-whuppin'.