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A NEW JOURNEY BEGINS
Perhaps the only news story big enough to compete with the attention of the Patriots being the focus of
the movie Minor League: A Football Story is finally here. After a half decade as a member of the North
American Football League, the Patriots will take up arms against new foes in the Great Lakes Football
League.
The Patriots were the longest tenured regional member of the NAFL but finally decided to make the same
decision the majority of the teams in the Great Lakes area had done; they moved on. In actuality, the
NAFL, which once boasted of over 110 teams in the USA and Canada has now dwindled down to 61. Many
of these teams who departed the NAFL did so for different reasons. The Patriots had a number of their
own.
"Growth for starters," states Director of Operations Brad Lyon, "Not just from a team stand point, but in
terms of the direction of Minor League football in general. The NAFL in the past appeared to be the
flagship of change (for the better) for this level of football. It projected a new way of thinking, to truly
approach this level of football as a growing business with strong plans of marketing from various media
media levels."
The problem became just that, it was a new way of thinking, but not doing. "You have to admire anyone for
taking a risk and trying to go where no league had gone before. In the past the NAFL did just that, it took
risks with such endeavors as broadcasting the Championship game with ESPN." However, that risk, among
others, were failed attempts. "Over the past few years the league continued to talk about improving, but
never seemed to take any real steps towards it. Instead, we've lost nearly half our teams while other
leagues are growing."
One of the things that attracted some owners to the NAFL was one of its goals to nationally brand the
league into regular media outlets. Yet no such progress has became visible, at least to some owners. The
inability to brand itself was an issue the Patriots witnessed first hand. The movie Minor League: A Football
Story was offering leagues on this level an opportunity to brand itself in their Theatrical and DVD market.
While the NAFL talked about finalizing such a partnership, other leagues actively tried to pursue it. The
Great Lakes Football League was one of those leagues.
"When the NAFL failed to take advantage of the opportunity with the movie, we really began evaluating
the pros and cons of being a member," shared Assistant D.O. Anna Dutcher.
Finally, the Patriots really had to decide what was best for our team. There were a lot of factors that
impacted our decision during that evaluation process. What came to be realized was that being a NAFL
member had no significant benefit over the competition, and to the contrary, actually had a much higher
cost. Travel in the NAFL was terrible, the Patriots would see more over night stays than same day road
trips. Annual dues are actually higher than any of the other leagues in the Mid-West that were
researched. Beyond all of that, the Canadian member teams brought on even more issues.
With having two Canadian teams in their Division the Patriots had more hurdles to face than any other in
state Minor League franchise. By having to cross the boarder to play Canadian teams, Patriot players and
staff would be required to pay for Passports. Not only was this an additional cost for all of the organization,
but it impacted recruiting greatly when competing with other Michigan based teams for players that did not
have to deal with traveling to Canada.
The Great Lakes Football League immediately showed they were more than just talk when it came to
promotion by their desire to market in the movie. Further more, travel in the GLFL would be highly
reduced, with the Patriots furthest trip being under three hours. The Patriots would also reestablish a
friendly old rivalry with the Detroit Diesels. The Diesels had left the NAFL two years ago and became a
founding member of the GLFL.
In today's economy the choice was simple: continue in the NAFL and take extreme hits in the pocket book
as well as in recruiting or select the GLFL and lower both issues. To quote another recent movie that just
came out the week of this story (Star Trek), we made the "only logical choice."
Welcome Patriot fans to the Great Lakes Football League.
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