Monumental Sports & Entertainment Founder Ted Leonsis is "close to expanding his Washington sports empire" by adding an AFL team that "would play at Verizon Center" beginning in the spring of '17, according to O'Connell & Steinberg of the WASHINGTON POST. MS&E Exec VP & General Counsel Randall Boe said that the organization "hoped to finalize a deal in time to begin play next season." AFL Commissioner Scott Butera "confirmed the league was negotiating" with MS&E about a future DC team, "praising both the Leonsis ownership group and the Washington market." Butera: "We love the market, and it fits our strategic plan." O'Connell & Steinberg noted a DC team "would be the league’s only current outpost between Philadelphia and Florida." The AFL had 12 teams last season and "has never been smaller" with eight teams set for the '16 season. But Butera said that he is "hoping to add teams and increase attendance from the current average of 10,000 to 12,000 per game through better marketing and television deals with ESPN, ESPN2 and CBS Sports." Boe said that he had "explored the possibility of playing games in the 5,000-seat Wizards practice facility and entertainment venue ... in Southeast DC, but that the current design of that project couldn’t accommodate football, partly because of its lower ceiling heights" (WASHINGTONPOST.com, 2/10).
SMALL BALL: In Cleveland, Kevin Kleps notes the eight teams playing in the AFL this season marks the league's "lowest franchise count" since '91. Butera: "We probably don't want to be less than that. We'll probably added two to six (teams) in the following year." Kleps notes during Butera's debut season in '15, the league "had to take control of two struggling franchises" in the Las Vegas Outlaws and New Orleans VooDoo "that later folded." Butera: "Some people in the past came in focused on growth, but it's important to have the right group and not focus on the numbers" (CRAIN'S CLEVELAND BUSINESS, 2/8 issue).
