Source: The State Journal Register
The Springfield Stallions of the Continental Indoor Football League introduced former professional wrestler D’ Lo Brown as a new co-owner Wednesday at a press conference at the Prairie Capital Convention Center.
Brown wrestled for World Wrestling Entertainment – formerly the World Wrestling Federation – and was Intercontinental and European champion in the WWE. He wrestled for the past few years in Japan.
He said his interest in the CIFL as a whole and the Stallions in particular was sparked by his relationship with owners Justin Gettys and Kris Underwood.
Gettys has been associated with professional wrestling for years and is scheduled to appear on CBS-TV’s reality series “Armed and Famous” this month.
“I have been a success all my life and I am committed to bringing the best in sports and entertainment to Springfield,” Brown said. “The Stallions will win. We’re going to bring that to Springfield.”
There were no dollar figures or percentages concerning Brown’s involvement, but Underwood said the budget for the team is expected to be in the neighborhood of $225,000, with around $45,000 designated for salaries.
Brown said the Stallions’ first home game at the PCCC against Kalamazoo on April 7 will be followed by what he described as a “wrestling show,” although he did not go into details on who would be involved.
“All I’ll say is those people don’t have the contacts that I have,” he said, referring to other professional wrestling organizations.
When asked about maintaining the competitive credibility of the CIFL against the perception of the professional wrestling being more entertainment than true sports, Brown said the priority of management will be to make that distinction clear.
“They are going to be separate entities,” he said. “The (football) games will not be predetermined, but we do want entertainment for the whole family.”
Underwood said the franchise has sold 460 season tickets. The team also announced that single-game tickets went on sale for the first time Wednesday at the PCCC and through Ticketmaster.
He said anyone who bought season tickets from the Springfield Slayers’ indoor franchise back in 2001 would be entitled to a free season ticket for the Stallions for this season.
“There were so many ticket holders who got stiffed . . . we didn’t realize how many there were,” he said.
The Slayers had been set to begin playing in the Indoor Football League in the summer of 2001. But the beginning of the end started when Slayers officials didn’t show up for a player tryout at Soccer World.
That was followed by the IFL being bought out by Arena Football 2. AF2 did not pick up most of the IFL franchises, including Springfield. Neither the IFL or AF2 reimbursed the 29 Slayers season ticket holders for the $13,500 worth of tickets that had been purchased.
Underwood said he’s ready to do his part to make good.
“We’ve got 26 names of people, but that doesn’t equal the $14,000 that was put out,” he said. “Us giving season tickets away is our way of making it up.”
Underwood said Slayers ticket holders can call the Stallions’ office at 553-2198 to make arrangements for season tickets.
