LAFAYETTE, La. — The Louisiana VooDoo football team has the second game cancelled in just three weeks; since arriving in Lafayette the team has played only one game at their new home in Blackham Coliseum.
As uncertainty across the Arena Football League grows, KATC spoke with Louisiana VooDoo Head Coach James Shiver on his thoughts. Many teams are beginning to drop from the AFL, while others are not sure if they’ll finish the season — and that uncertainty has made its way here to Lafayette.
Shiver believes the issue at hand is a lack of communication from the Arena Football League as to what is happening with the team's scheduled games.
“I just don’t know what the league is going to do. I mean, I’ve been a part of professional leagues for a long time and I’ve never seen this before. This is new to me and I just don’t understand why there’s no direction, there’s no press releases, no information, we can't even tell our fans where to buy tickets at, it's ridiculous,” Shiver says.
Coach Shiver tells KATC he can understand the frustration that VooDoo fans have from across the state that have anticipated the season and hopes the league can figure out everything, so that the season can get back on track.
Shiver is not alone in his experiences.
Media outlets across the country are reporting on similar situations with AFL teams. Here's an article from the sports and culture website The Defector, about numerous cancellations. This story from Fox 9 in Minneapolis is about one team leaving the league and the questions surrounding that move. And here's a story from Front Office Sports about several teams folding, the NFL halting a TV deal and other issues with the league.
Recent issues with Louisiana VooDoo echo issues reported across the league.
This week, the Louisiana VooDoo announced the cancellation of the game scheduled for Saturday, but last weekend's game was canceled without any social media announcement.
The Arena Football League team, which was born in New Orleans but most recently lived in Lake Charles, announced their move to Lafayette's Blackham Coliseum in April.
When they left Lake Charles, officials there issued a joint press release saying that the team hadn't paid their rent for the arena there, and couldn't produce proof of insurance for their events. We've reached out to UL to ask if the team is paying their rent here, and if there's a certificate of insurance, but we haven't heard back yet.
When we asked Shiver about the unpaid rent issue, here's what he said:
"The whole thing when they left Lake Charles is there was a statement made by ASM that the team never paid rent at the Lake Charles Civic Center, there was never one day that they were inside that civic center I was there. We didn’t have office space inside there we never had anything delivered to the civic center, their was never a game played there and I was explaining it when we first moved if I rented an apartment at Bayou Shadows in Lafayette and I never moved in or anything more then likely I don’t owe you any rent….I will say this I know for a fact that they were paid in Blackham Coliseum…Blackham Coliseum was paid and I know up front because right before the game I saw the people there and they said they received a check…I don’t think that was the issue. I know I'm sure they paid the arena. I do know they have bills that are outstanding in the community because the only reason I know that is because people tell me about it….I did some investigating they are some unpaid bills but not a lot, you would be surprised."
The VooDoo played their first home game in Lafayette on April 27, defeating the Philadelphia Soul 53 to 18. They also announced that anyone with a valid UL ID can get into any home game for free.
But the next game, which was set for May 4, did not happen. While here's nothing on the team's Facebook page about it, a member of the team fan group posted that it had been canceled because "new nets and walls" had not arrived in time for the game.
Yesterday, the team did post about it on the Facebook page, saying that "We want to apologize to you all. We did not communicate like we normally would under normal circumstances about the cancellation of Saturday’s game. If you are not already aware, there has been scheduling issues that have become completely out of our control. We will keep you updated with any future scheduling changes. Please understand that we are doing all that we can for our team and the fans. Failure is not an option."
And, a few hours later, the team canceled this Saturday's game as well:
"To our concerned fans, we are saddened to inform you that we WILL NOT be playing the game against the Orlando, Predators this week. As you may know, communication to us has been at a minimum. Changes are constantly being made that we as a team, have no control over. We do not have any further information to give you at this time. We do not know what the future will hold. We are doing our best. Please keep the Louisiana Football players, coaches, and staff in your thoughts and prayers," the team posted on its Facebook page.
That second cancellation prompted Lake Charles Mayor Nic Hunter to post a message on his Facebook page, saying that his town dodged a bullet.
"The Louisiana VooDoo debacle has been a roller coaster ride, and one that I’ve been quite content to view from the sidelines over the last couple weeks," Hunter wrote. "Earlier this year, my team and I started to see multiple red flags in dealing with league representatives. Things they said didn’t make sense, and ultimately we had to make a judgment call.
"We chose not to allow a questionable entity to occupy the LC Event Center without paying rent or providing a certificate of insurance. This was the right decision to make, though I knew it would be dissected apart, misunderstood, and even used by some for cheap political commentary."
Hunter said he thinks he made the right choice because "today, it seems as if another community is dealing with the sinking of the RMS VooDoo Titanic rather than the City of Lake Charles."
He added that he's sorry things didn't work out, but urges Lake Charles citizens to "consider this a bullet dodged."
