AFL Acting Commissioner Ed Policy Resigns, Effective Immediately

Policy's Resignation Throws More Uncertainty Into Future Of AFL

AFL acting Commissioner Ed Policy has "resigned, throwing more uncertainty into the future of the shuttered league, which is scrambling to complete plans for a relaunch in 2010," according to John Lombardo of SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL. Policy joined the AFL in '01 and was named acting Commissioner last summer after former Commissioner David Baker resigned. Policy said that he is "resigning effective immediately because, if the AFL successfully relaunches, its new centralized structure will call for a chief executive, rather than a commissioner, to run the league." Policy: "It doesn't serve me to have a title or a role that will soon be obsolete. I will be stepping down immediately, and it is an extremely amicable situation. The league's new structure calls for a CEO, and I'm not interested because it is a job that calls for a five-year commitment. I don't know what the position entails, and having been with the AFL for eight years, I'm not in a position where I can commit for another five years." Policy "will work as a consultant to the AFL as the league continues its reorganization effort." Policy said that he has "not lined up another job." AFL Exec Committee Vice Chair and Columbus Destroyers Owner Jim Renacci, "already a key player in the restructuring effort, likely will assume the lead executive role until the league's new structure is completed." The process of hiring a CEO "will begin after a new structure is approved by owners" (SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, 4/6 issue).