Photo credit: Stevie Styles @StevieJohnson13 via X.
If you lived in Buffalo in the late 1990s or early 2000s, you may remember the Buffalo Destroyers of the now-defunct Arena Football League. If you don’t, no one can blame you. The team was downright bad! They had two playoff appearances in four seasons and zero winning seasons.[1] But here in Buffalo, we love our sports teams through thick and thin. Now, two former players from that other football team in Buffalo (the Bills for those who may not know), are looking to bring arena football back to the Queen City as part of the Indoor Football League (IFL).[2] Stevie Johnson, wide receiver, and Fred Jackson, running back, were stalwarts of the Buffalo Bills and fan favorites during the playoff drought years (2000-2016) and are looking to get a team using the Destroyers name up and running in time for the 2026 IFL season.[3]
In order to get an expansion franchise in Buffalo, Johnson and Jackson are looking to raise roughly ~$2 million from investors for the franchise fee and for startup costs.[4] Even if they do get the expansion franchise, they may run into some intellectual property issues. The original Destroyers played in Buffalo from 1999 to 2003, but were eventually sold and then relocated to Columbus, Ohio where they became the Columbus Destroyers. They played in the Arena Football League until the league folded in 2009 due to bankruptcy. As part of the bankruptcy, the Arena Football League was able to hold on to the trademarks.[5] There was an unsuccessful attempt to revitalize the franchise as part of a relaunch of the Arena Football League, but that iteration of the league folded in 2019, and all of the intellectual property was to be auctioned off in 2020, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.[6] The auction was to be overseen by GA Global Partners.[7] It has not been made public who (if anyone) won that auction and who owns the IP, but it can create a roadblock and add expenses for anyone who would like to reactivate the franchise here in Buffalo. Additionally, there is no guarantee that a new franchise in the Indoor Football League won’t end up in the same place as the Arena Football League. The IFL is made up of mostly small market teams that do not have large attendances and can’t charge high prices for tickets.[8] Thus, it is most likely that it will be in a precarious financial position to start, no matter how much capital Johnson and Jackson are able to raise, and it could be only a matter of time before the franchise, or the entire league, folds.
Adding to the complexity, the new team would have to negotiate a lease for the KeyBank Center, the same arena where the Buffalo Sabres of the National Hockey League and the Buffalo Bandits of the National Lacrosse League play. This might make scheduling difficult, as the IFL season overlaps with significant portions of the NHL and NLL seasons running from March through July.[9] This may limit the amount of primetime slots (Friday or Saturday nights) that the team can get for their home games, potentially stifling the revenue the team can bring in. Johnson and Jackson need to be careful about what concessions they are willing to give up in a lease, but as the new guys in town are unlikely to get the most favorable lease terms, particularly because they do not have a track record as owners and are not guaranteed to be successful.
While everyone in Buffalo wants another activity to keep them occupied until Bills training camp starts in earnest in late July, there are numerous legal hurdles that a new Destroyers ownership group has to navigate to bring them back to life. But who knows, Buffalo is known for great comebacks!
[1] https://www.arenafan.com/teams/?page=history&team=42
[2] https://www.wivb.com/sports/former-bills-stevie-johnson-fred-jackson-working-to-bring-arena-football-team-to-buffalo/
[3] Id.
[4] https://wblk.com/buffalo-destroyers-football/
[5] https://www.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/afl_lawsuit.pdf
[6] https://sgbonline.com/arena-football-league-assets-go-to-public-auction/
[7] https://www.foxbusiness.com/sports/arena-football-league-online-auction-bankruptcy
[9] Id.
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