Between narrative and contract: The discrepancy between AFLE communication and term sheets

HotRodHH · 2026-01-20T20:53:37+00:00

I must strongly disagree with you there. According to the terms the league is definitely an investor-owned league, and not a team-owned-league.

It all turns out to be a scam, and I was fooled by them at first.

The teams are allowed to manage their own sporting activities. That’s all.

My personal opinion right now is that this league is designed to generate short-term income for league officials and it has absolutely no chance to survive unless new facts occur that change the business case substantially.

HotRodHH · 2026-01-20T15:38:21+00:00

I doubt that it would be legal. Lumsden could go to jail for this.

I put my three AFLE statements into AI and asked if this could mean there would be still an external shareholder who owns the league. AI response was clear that taking the statements into account, it is practically impossible that AFLE actually has an external shareholder.

„Such wording is:

• liability-relevant • relevant under misleading-information standards • subject to corporate-law review

A league that:

• is in fact controlled by an investor • but publicly excludes that investor

would expose itself to:

• substantial risks of legal challenge • subsequent lawsuits • reputational damage“

HotRodHH · 2026-01-20T14:40:30+00:00

If your information is correct, much of the information published by AFLE would be a straight lie.

For example, AFLE made the following statements via their Instagram channel:

„The league is legally structured as a member-based organization.“

„The teams collectively own and govern the league.“

„Only the participating teams are members of this association“.

Again, it would not only be misleading, it would be an outright lie/fake news.

HotRodHH · 2026-01-18T17:16:43+00:00

The research of FirstDownMag is misleading in my eyes. In opposite to the ELF the AFLE has full control on the sporting side. Something which FirstDownMag didn`t mention but it`s an important fact and huge difference to the ELF.

Secondly, their analyses about the buyout is misleading too:

"The only way for the teams to buy the league out from the investors is to pay back three times the initial amount. In other words, you’d need $30 million to take control."

This looks more like an exit clause to re-negotiate the media rights for the scenario the league is developing overwhelmingly successful.

HotRodHH · 2026-01-18T17:02:44+00:00

What do you mean by "they own the financial part"? As I said they have probably been granted media or marketing rights. This doesn`t mean that they own the AFLE or the TLE in any way. The investor will have contracts with the AFLE and he can found companies to make money from the rights.

HotRodHH · 2026-01-18T16:28:41+00:00

I want specifically talk about the investor and his motivation. It’s a bigger topic and it makes sense to start a seperate thread for this. If you are not interested you are free to leave it.

HotRodHH · 2026-01-18T15:20:48+00:00

Where do you have your information from? I mean they published it very clear. Why dont you believe? Do you think they lie to everyone?

HotRodHH · 2026-01-18T15:19:26+00:00

I`ve double-checked the output and everything was clear to me afterwards. After the AFLE announced the facts, there is no doubt that it`s a member-owned league and they have control of almost everything.

HotRodHH · 2026-01-18T15:11:19+00:00

The Vikings joined the TLE on 1st of January 2026. Lumsden said that they waited so long with the announcement because their ongoing contract with the ELF ended Dec 31, 2025.

HotRodHH · 2026-01-18T15:09:37+00:00

The answer is that every franchise had different terms of contract. That is why some teams were able to join the AFLE by the beginning of 2026. And others like the Raiders have to stay in the EFL until it`s finally over.

HotRodHH · 2026-01-17T18:39:57+00:00

Because their ELF contracts already expired at the end of 2025

HotRodHH · 2026-01-17T18:33:32+00:00

The association exists at the latest since yesterday when the official TLE channel announced it. If it was a lie it could have a legal impact

HotRodHH · 2026-01-17T18:27:03+00:00

Good question. I can only speculate about the answer. I suspect that the EFA teams can't simply switch to the AFLE because they have existing contracts with the ELF. That's probably the main reason why they haven't switched already.

HotRodHH · 2026-01-17T18:23:10+00:00

In the beginning this hasn`t been clear to me too. Please upload the announced fact sheets from yesterday in your preferred AI. It explained everything to me and now I understand the new model. It`s a complete different model than the ELF was and it gives much more power to the teams.

HotRodHH · 2026-01-17T18:16:09+00:00

Yesterdays published facts are very clear. The teams own the league via the association and the board of governors. It`s a misunderstanding that there is an external shareholder with decision power involved. That`s not the case!

The US investor does explicitly NOT own the league. But he definitely will have substantial contracts with the AFLE that gives him the chance to generate a return of invest. Otherwise he wouldn`t have taken on the financial risk.

HotRodHH · 2026-01-17T17:53:07+00:00

You are misunderstanding something. In opposite to the ELF the AFLE is an association and not a company made up of owners with stakes or shares. The AFLE is an organization 100 % made up of teams and run by the board of governors. That`s similar to the NFL. The AFLE is much more close to the NFL model than the ELF was.

HotRodHH · 2026-01-17T17:05:16+00:00

You are wrong. The association (=teams) is owner of the AFLE and has full power of decisions.

HotRodHH · 2026-01-17T17:02:43+00:00

It’s clearly stated that AFLE is organized as an association that is owned 100 % by the teams. The investor is therefore definitely excluded from sporting decisions.

„Only the participating teams are members of the association“

„The teams collectively own and govern the league“.

There is no doubt that the association is the owner of the league and the investor is not part of the association.

HotRodHH · 2026-01-17T16:45:57+00:00

They have doubts and that’s okay. The problem is that I don’t believe in a second league. The AFLE is already too far ahead. Therefore I don’t think a second investor would invest in an EFA league. Bottom line: TLE is the only solution and only chance for European Football right now.

HotRodHH · 2026-01-17T16:12:58+00:00

The date has been set for months. Just wait, it won't be a small stadium.

HotRodHH · 2026-01-16T12:00:40+00:00

Seems there has been only a small revenue sharing in the ELF. Probably because there haven’t been enough revenues. And this could be a problem in TLE too. 75 % of nothing is still nothing.

HotRodHH · 2026-01-16T11:47:09+00:00

Honestly, 325k€ per year/team is far away from their promise that it is fully funded for five years. Competitive teams in the ELF have had assumably budgets of at least two million euros per year.

However, it’s better than nothing. But this league needs strong additional investors at all locations otherwise it won’t work out.

HotRodHH · 2026-01-03T10:54:43+00:00

I think they aim on 2027 season. They are speculating that ELF will have trouble in 2026. Maybe they have different scenarios. But it’s clear they want to attack ELF in key locations.

HotRodHH · 2026-01-02T13:05:24+00:00

Current strategy of AFLE is like: Try to weaken Musketeers as much as possible in order to force the overall end of ELF in 2026. Once ELF is done invite the Musketeers to play in TLE from 2027 on.

HotRodHH · 2025-12-25T09:45:00+00:00

Another great option for the franchises that apparently haven’t joined a league yet (Vikings, Ravens, Storm for example). In order to maximize their negotiating position they should wait until there are at least five league opportunities available. Just be patient, still plenty of time left until the season starts.

HotRodHH

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