Hiring Line: AFL To Hire Host Of New Staff Members

By Terry Lefton, Editor-at-Large

Call it the AFL version of a troop surge: at last week’s board meeting at cable rightsholder ESPN headquarters in Bristol, league owners authorized a massive increase in employment. The AFL BOD approved the immediate hiring of 17 new employees, which would mean a 46% increase in the league’s headcount, which now totals 37, not including af2 employees. The new jobs will be in marketing, sales, team services and communications and likely all be based in N.Y. AFL Exec VP/Communications Chris McCloskey said the incremental positions are “part of a five-year business plan to maximize the league's new relationships with ESPN, Russell, Discover Card, Mitsubishi, and anticipated additional [corporate and broadcast] partners.”