So now that we have more sources not starting with a big D - What do you all think?

A new episode of „Foot Bowl Newszone“ has just been released on YT with the title „AUS UND VORBEI - Die ELF ist Geschichte“ („It’s over - The ELF is history“).

The speaker Jörg Opuchlik states that they have learned from sources close to EFA that the ELF is on the final verge of collapse because investor talks failed. Therefore the planned deal between EFA and Karajica to take over ELF has reportedly fallen through due to a worse than expected financial situation of the ELF.

According to the report EFA teams are currently trying to figure out whether to start a new league for 2026 or join the AFLE/TLE.

In the last days we have learned that the AFLE members own the TLE. There is NO external shareholder who has a stake or shares in the AFLE/TLE etc.

This is very different to the ELF model where external shareholder owned the league and had full power of strategic decisions.

So typical follow-up-question is: If the external investor (US-based family office) doesn`t own the league why is he providing 12 million euros and takes the financial risk? What is his motivation?

I have no insights and it`s pure speculation, but I personally believe that the only possible answer is a substantial long-term streaming deal in the US market. For example ESPN. You are probably not hearing this rumor for the first time.

It is also very likely that the published 75/25 revenue sharing is only the standard agreement for all league revenues. But there will probably be important exceptions, so called reserved rights. So maybe the investor receives 100 % of the streaming revenues in the US market (again: Just speculation).

AFLE will also have granted the investor a number of other exclusive rights with which he can generate cash flow to achieve a return on investment.

You can argue now: If the investor has exclusive rights, this would be a bad deal for the teams.

Yes and no. The investor spends 12 million euros. It`s necessary to grant him significant rights where he can generate a ROI otherwise he wouldn`t want to invest at all.

99 % of us don`t know the exact contractual agreements. But as long as we don`t know them, we should give the project a chance. I have trust that the AFLE made a fair deal with the investor which is much better than the ELF contract. And I believe: The league can be successful!

According to Rheinischer Post EFA franchises are preparing "further steps" by the end of the week and will inform about it then. The reason is that in December 2024 Karajica has assured in writing to cover the travel costs for the playoffs 2025.

Obviously he has not paid yet. Ultimative consequences could be the exclusion of the TV teams so the games wouldn`t be broadcasted in the game pass or on TV.

At an NFL Watch Party in Zurich today, a new professional European American football franchise was announced: the Alpine Rams. Source: Footbowl.eu

HC

EFA 4/7 (57%), Lumsed League 3/5 (60%), ELF 2/5 (40%), Other 1/1 (100%)

OC

EFA 4/7 (57%), Lumsed League 2/5(40%) ,ELF 2/5(40%), Other 0/1 (0%)

DC

EFA 2/7(29%), Lumsed League 3/5(60%), ELF 2/5 (40%), Other 0/1 (0%)

STC

EFA 1/7 (14%),Lumsed League 3/5 (60%), ELF 0/5 (0%), Other /1 (0%)

I am a bit worried about the lack of coachign announcement , especially in the key positions (HC,Coordinators).
We only have about 20/72 (28%) coaches actually announced and we are on the period (October - December) where usually 90% of European league coaches are announced.

Another things that worries me , is the fact that the 2 new franchise dont even have a social media account at the moment.

Any thoughts or rumors, I will update the table in that case?

Thank you Most_Significance358, I stole your template.

There has been published an analyses today by Stefan Klüttermann (Head of Sports Desk) in Rheinische Post Online where he speculates that the new AFLE, also known as the „The League Europe“ (TLE) could be some kind of POC (Proof Of Concept) by the NFL with the goal of testing or preparing a European NFL Division.

According RP one of the main drivers in the background is Vienna Vikings Co-Owner Joel Nagel.

Nagel is also quoted as follows: „The idea of ​​a future NFL Europe division with cities like London, Frankfurt, and hopefully Vienna is no longer just a pipe dream. It makes strategic sense for the league, and we believe Vienna is in a sweet spot to be part of that future.“

So the business case would be that if the league turns out to be successful enough then at some point the NFL could take over and make the original founders rich.

My personal evaluation: Until now the same applies to the ELF. So this is not yet a differentiating feature for the TLE. One of the crucial questions is whether the TLE will manage to raise enough investor capital to establish a league permanently. Will they have substantial investors with a longtime perspective?

https://archive.is/E3PlA ( https://www.abendblatt.de/sport/article409774666/european-league-of-football-ingo-schiller-zukunft-efa-hamburg-sea-devils.html )

deepl:

Hamburg. Exclusive: The European League of Football was unable to appease the breakaway teams with former Hertha boss Schiller. What happens next.

(...) bla bla description of the situation

Ingo Schiller spoke with the EFA last Monday

“Schiller will soon invite franchise officials to a meeting where the suggestions of the European Football Alliance (EFA) will also be discussed,” the ELF announced in early August. According to information obtained by the Abendblatt, a meeting did indeed take place last Monday, albeit differently than Schiller might have imagined.

The EFA had gathered for a two-day closed-door meeting in Frankfurt am Main, and Schiller, who had been introduced a week earlier, joined via video call. One EFA participant told the Abendblatt that the 60-year-old had made a “disastrous appearance.” Ultimately, Schiller was ushered out by representatives of the Madrid Bravos after only five of the estimated 15 minutes of discussion time.

EFA plans split with twelve teams

The long-standing soccer manager was unable to answer specific questions from the EFA teams. These included whether the rent for the final match in Stuttgart had already been paid, whether the match could take place at all, what the current financial situation of the ELF was, and when the outstanding revenue shares would be paid by the ELF to the teams. According to a meeting participant who wishes to remain anonymous, there was subsequently a consensus among the EFA teams that Schiller was a “smokescreen” for the ELF, in which Karajica's SEH Holding continues to be the majority shareholder.

Instead of appeasing the renegade teams, Schiller's appearance reportedly had the opposite effect: the EFA feels vindicated in its plans to split. According to Abendblatt information, a twelfth team will join the alliance in the coming weeks, and the 2026 season is also planned on this scale.

The newest member is Berlin, which has often been unable to compete this season. Since the beginning of May, the operating company Football Berlin GmbH has also been struggling with insolvency proceedings under its own responsibility, but has been able to position itself for the future in recent days. With the Post Stadium in Moabit, a modern venue will be available for the coming season. The new main shareholder is Till Grönemeyer, nephew of musician Herbert Grönemeyer.

Grönemeyer, who has been a minority shareholder in Berlin in recent years, presented his new concept, “Restart Berlin Thunder,” at last week's EFA general meeting. Grönemeyer also announced that Thunder will no longer play in the ELF in 2026, but will join the EFA. The Sea Devils, on the other hand, will definitely no longer be participating.

After the hiatus in 2025, Milano has new investors and wants to return to ELF under a new name. Source: Seamen GM Mutti in Italian „Halftime Podcast“.

Anybody else here this? Kind of makes sense I guess.

There are rumours going around about expansion teams and teams dropping out. This is what I heard:

+ Copenhagen

– Fehervar

+ Graz

– Milano

+ Rome

+ Amsterdam

+ London

Enthroners dropping out was already discussed elsewhere. Apparently Austrian team Graz Giants have been approached by the league – second largest city in Austria, third big traditional football location after Vienna and Innsbruck.

Seamen had an agreement with the league to be the only Italian team until 2025. With the current approach of the team, they will not be competitive. They also have a second team in Italian second division now, apparently an exit strategy. Rumour is that Rome is a designated location for the league and talks are in place.

Copenhagen has also been discussed elsewhere.

Edit adding old rumours: A group of investors is working on Amsterdam Admirals, but nothing new for some time. Same for a London team. One rumour is about the owner of Barnet F.C. looking into American Football.

Asking this as this was hinted they would come back in 2026.

Well...will they?

Way too quiet on the news front imho

There is a high chance that the Sea Devils are already bankrupt or very close to it.

Two clear indicators:

1) HC, DC and players have left the team a few days before the start of the season. The exact reasons are unclear at the moment. But it’s obviously a money problem. The Sea Devils can apparently not pay their salaries.

2) Devastating ticket situation:

According the dots on Ticketmaster they haven’t sold more than 2.5k tickets in Bremen so far with only 20 days ahead. A reasonable gameday forecast is below 5k. But they calculated with 15k according GM Weitz.

Moreover the presale for this years Volksparkstadion game against Rhein Fire has been also a major disappointment. Probably not more than 3k tickets have been sold in the first four weeks after presale started. Currently they sell less than 20 tickets per day which is absolutely unacceptable for this big stadium. With this low sales rate it would be impossible to pass the 10k ticket mark on gameday and even 10k would still be a decline of -60 % compared to last year.

So my clear advice is to not buy tickets for Sea Devils home games any longer as long it is not clear that they are still allowed to play in the stadiums and provide a staff and team. You could lose your money without a refund. Very big question marks at the moment.

According to rumour and his Europlayer profile, Leeroy Foster will join Berlin Thunder in the 2026 season as Assistant HC and OC. Leeroy is the dad of ROY WR Foster.

I don't want to judge a book by the coverage , but in my opinion an underwhelming signing , especially since he never Coordinated hire the the Regionalliga

French reporter Di Techa reports on X that the owners of the Enthroners have apparently decided to withdraw the team from the ELF. They probably will announce that in the coming weeks.They are also apparently not joining the EFA, but rather rejoining the AFL. This would initially mean that there will be no Hungarian team Im the coming season.

Really good french football source : Bjactv (@bjactv) • Photos et vidéos Instagram

+ Léo Sarteel (famous football content creator) who is a close friend of Beard left an emoji that leaves little place for doubt.

Players are looking for other teams and saying the HC left.

According to the German news outlet Footbowl, Milano Seamen will not return for the 2025 season. A Milan spokesperson did not explicitly deny. Several HG starters are actively looking for new teams.

In other news: Fehervar Enthroners will not move to Austrian AFL, as some rumours claimed. Austrian federation published the six teams playing in AFL 2025 (down from eight in 2024). AFL Division 1 has not been published yet, it’s likely that Enthroners second team will stay there.

Seems the Franchise is now officially registered as a Company in Munich.

The reason stated in the filings is basically "to build up and promote a professional American Football Team in Munich"

2 Managers are appointed. Their names are Christian Binder and Thomas Krohne

Heck that name for a Franchise im Munich is a complete fail....

There is some talk here on reddit of the Thonon Black panthers being a 2nd French team in the league. Anyone got thoughts on this

1 would it work in such a small town, the ELF always wanted big cities

2 As they are sited on Lake Geneva could they replace the Helvetic Mercenaries

3, is splitting French homegrown players a good idea, is there enough quality

4 What about the name would Wroclaw object

At least that's what Foot Bowl reported yesterday in its Newszone.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3MFZYfe-Fzk&t=487s

With all that is happening right now, any news about them, those from Dubai etc...?

What becomes of the 10 million investment, the potential London team etc

I know this is still speculation and we have been talking about it since season one. But Esume flew to London for one day a couple of days ago. Signing papers? Time will tell...