Post by msantamaria on May 3, 2009 22:53:14 GMT -5
Here are a few of the things that the IFL commish talked about during our 15 minute interview that we aired during halftime of the Omaha/Colorado game on Saturday. If you are looking for anything groundbreaking, I wouldn't hold my breath, but thought it was worth posting:
On Sioux Falls Situation:
Mr. Benizio clearly didn't want to talk about anything specifically in regards to the situation. I ended up asking him 4/5 different questions, most of them tailored in the same manner (timeline of the events, did the punishment fit the crime, etc.), but he talked more on a general term for the most part and didn't say much differently than we have already heard through his few public comments already. He did say when asked if he was concerned about SF bolting from the IFL next season that he fully expected Sioux Falls to be a member of the IFL in 2010 and beyond and conversations with the Storm President have remained very respectful over the last few weeks and he had received assurances from the president that SF has no intentions of looking elsewhere to play in '10. He also said that the word he had heard from members of the Storm FO was that they would not exhaust their legal resources and both parties (Storm, league) would be moving forward.
On Expansion:
Unsurprisingly, his excitement grew tremendously with the transition from the ugly SF situation to expansion in the IFL. He said that he was very pleased with what he has seen from El Paso and Maryland and that more expansion teams should be expected moving forward. He said that one of the reasons he was in Fairbanks for the weekend stemmed from conversations the league was having with two more potential sites in Alaska for future IFL teams. Also touched on a few of the more public cities getting talk (specially in the northwest) and said that overall, there were 15-20 sites the league was looking closely at. He also mentioned late that though anything significant and public was probably months away, that there were conversations with a team based out of Missouri that there was mutual interest between team and league.
On How The League Can Improve:
He said that the first 7/8 weeks has been a humbling experience and that there are many areas in the league that he thinks can be improved. The three things that I can remember vividly were communication between league and fans (duh!), some of the confusing issues with the rulebook after the merger, and taking a hard look at the way the officials are placed. I wanted to follow up with what things are being done to ensure these teams are using live stats and how to get scores to fans in a more efficient manner, but it slipped my mind. Perhaps I will shoot him an email later and ask for his thoughts on that matter.
On Saginaw Payroll Rumor:
He said that the front office had been made aware of the rumors floating around about Saginaw's financial problems and that the league conducted an investigation into the alleged problems. Though he did make clear that Saginaw and Muskegon were suffering with the rest of the Michigan/Great Lakes area in a horrific economic time, he said the IFL front office looked into the situation and has confirmed that players in Saginaw are indeed getting paid.
On the incident in El Paso/CC between owner/player:
He said that the league was fully aware of the situation (he laughed at how the public got ahold of the story so quickly) and that it was indeed handled and handled internally. He said that reports about the incident seemed to be embellished by some, but it was something they took very seriously and that the league felt that the majority of the wrong doing was done by the owner in question. Both were punished, but the owner was punished more severely.
On the playoff format:
Top three teams are in from every division (no wildcards), #1 gets a bye while #2/#3 play. It's a pretty similar formula from there, with the conference championships being played at the higher seed and the same applies for the IFL championship.
All in all, it was a lot of commissioner talk (which was to be expected), but there were a few things that jumped out to me. It was nice to get a permanent format on the playoff situation (though I'd prefer top two from each conference and two WCs), and the comment about the preliminary talks with a team from Missouri was also interesting. I wish he would have discussed SF from the Front Offices' perspective a bit more, but I would have been shocked if he did. I will say that he was very cordial to me and hopefully I have a chance to interview him another time or two as the season goes along. If I get a response about the issue with live stats (and communication in general), I'll post it here.
On Sioux Falls Situation:
Mr. Benizio clearly didn't want to talk about anything specifically in regards to the situation. I ended up asking him 4/5 different questions, most of them tailored in the same manner (timeline of the events, did the punishment fit the crime, etc.), but he talked more on a general term for the most part and didn't say much differently than we have already heard through his few public comments already. He did say when asked if he was concerned about SF bolting from the IFL next season that he fully expected Sioux Falls to be a member of the IFL in 2010 and beyond and conversations with the Storm President have remained very respectful over the last few weeks and he had received assurances from the president that SF has no intentions of looking elsewhere to play in '10. He also said that the word he had heard from members of the Storm FO was that they would not exhaust their legal resources and both parties (Storm, league) would be moving forward.
On Expansion:
Unsurprisingly, his excitement grew tremendously with the transition from the ugly SF situation to expansion in the IFL. He said that he was very pleased with what he has seen from El Paso and Maryland and that more expansion teams should be expected moving forward. He said that one of the reasons he was in Fairbanks for the weekend stemmed from conversations the league was having with two more potential sites in Alaska for future IFL teams. Also touched on a few of the more public cities getting talk (specially in the northwest) and said that overall, there were 15-20 sites the league was looking closely at. He also mentioned late that though anything significant and public was probably months away, that there were conversations with a team based out of Missouri that there was mutual interest between team and league.
On How The League Can Improve:
He said that the first 7/8 weeks has been a humbling experience and that there are many areas in the league that he thinks can be improved. The three things that I can remember vividly were communication between league and fans (duh!), some of the confusing issues with the rulebook after the merger, and taking a hard look at the way the officials are placed. I wanted to follow up with what things are being done to ensure these teams are using live stats and how to get scores to fans in a more efficient manner, but it slipped my mind. Perhaps I will shoot him an email later and ask for his thoughts on that matter.
On Saginaw Payroll Rumor:
He said that the front office had been made aware of the rumors floating around about Saginaw's financial problems and that the league conducted an investigation into the alleged problems. Though he did make clear that Saginaw and Muskegon were suffering with the rest of the Michigan/Great Lakes area in a horrific economic time, he said the IFL front office looked into the situation and has confirmed that players in Saginaw are indeed getting paid.
On the incident in El Paso/CC between owner/player:
He said that the league was fully aware of the situation (he laughed at how the public got ahold of the story so quickly) and that it was indeed handled and handled internally. He said that reports about the incident seemed to be embellished by some, but it was something they took very seriously and that the league felt that the majority of the wrong doing was done by the owner in question. Both were punished, but the owner was punished more severely.
On the playoff format:
Top three teams are in from every division (no wildcards), #1 gets a bye while #2/#3 play. It's a pretty similar formula from there, with the conference championships being played at the higher seed and the same applies for the IFL championship.
All in all, it was a lot of commissioner talk (which was to be expected), but there were a few things that jumped out to me. It was nice to get a permanent format on the playoff situation (though I'd prefer top two from each conference and two WCs), and the comment about the preliminary talks with a team from Missouri was also interesting. I wish he would have discussed SF from the Front Offices' perspective a bit more, but I would have been shocked if he did. I will say that he was very cordial to me and hopefully I have a chance to interview him another time or two as the season goes along. If I get a response about the issue with live stats (and communication in general), I'll post it here.