new at 11 tonight the chairman of the
National gridiron League came to Roanoke
this week to reassure city leaders that
the league is still on track
the Virginia iron horses are supposed to
launch next month but even after the
meeting many still question if arena
football will actually make its comeback
in an exclusive interview the Chairman
sat down with ten News reporter shame
Dwyer who joins us now in the studio so
Shane what's he saying Lindsey and John
Joe McClendon says his meeting with city
staff went well and the league is still
coming to town it announced the delay
last week they were supposed to start at
the end of this month now the end of
next month you can see there 41 days 20
hours and some change until football
kicks off for their league there are
still some major boxes left to be check
however but we are told not to worry
last summer the message broadcasts clear
arena football was coming back to
Roanoke but we're coming up on almost a
year since this moment and there hasn't
been much to see cities should know and
the community should know we working
hard to put the best possible product on
the field that's Joe McClendon chairman
of the National gridiron League bringing
the Virginia iron horses to town we sat
down with him this week to talk about
his league after it recently announced
it's delaying the inaugural season from
the end of March to the end of April he
says it was because of bureaucratic red
tape but how certainly needed that
football will start in April and that
will be ready to go I won't be sitting
in his seat if I want 100 percent in
news reports in other cities McClendon
is quoted as saying it was some other
city's delay and not that one just like
he did in Roanoke so it makes sense why
not everyone's soul especially in the
Star City
McClendon had a meeting with mayor
Sherman Lee this week to talk about it
after he and other city leaders
questioned what's going on it's apparent
that he still wants to have the league
and to play on that shoe that
financially you can all come together
the team would play at the Berglund
Center but the league hasn't paid them
yet and McClendon wasn't straight about
when it would happen so when will you be
cutting a check to the Bergland Center
for the retin over there we've got a few
things we working on I think the most
important thing before even the check is
the medical portion that we're working
on McClendon says making sure players
are cared for is most important but on a
podcast two months ago hosted by
the league it was again about the money
and the first half of the show was a
complete mess this caller says he's an
assistant coach in Mississippi
McClendon says it was a prank call the
problem is we were supposed to start
getting paid the first week in November
and I haven't gotten a paycheck yet not
only that but our Arena down here we
don't even have a lease with so I don't
know what the these guys are doing but
they owe me a couple of grand already
and most of the coaches like pimble and
some of these other guys we haven't been
paid yet have your coach has been paid
yet yes our course has been compensated
yes we reached out to the 11 other
cities that are set to host teams and
skepticism was a common thread even
after his meeting with the league Mayor
Lee says the city wants to give them a
chance but there are roadblocks we want
to see rina football playing for it but
it just doesn't seem like financial
things are falling in place
McClendon wouldn't say how much the
league is worth or where the money is
coming from or how many tickets the iron
horses have sold with a month to go
there's still a lack of any marketing
around and a lot of questions to be
answered are you willing to admit at
this point based on just the surface
level facts that things don't look super
great
I'm willing to admit it may not happen
in the time period everybody else wants
I know the work we put in on des was
most important to me he does say if
football doesn't happen those who bought
tickets would get their money back but
McLennan says that won't be an issue and
that when he came to Roanoke to announce
the team he surely expected things to be
smoother but he'd rather take his time
than rush of bad products what can you
say to the folks here and run-up to give
them confidence that the team is coming
and that they should be excited about
this I don't want to say nothing the one
I really don't I want them to see and
put it and we put in the work to win
people the words is not my approach
another hot question was the League logo
and team names logo you can see the
league logo here almost an exact
duplicate of the UFL which is a former
Arena League team league that has closed
also the Virginia Destroyers very close
to a UofL logo they're the Indiana
Firebirds very close to the New York
Firebirds if we skip ahead to the next
slide you can see exactly the same
Pennsylvania pioneers an exact copy of a
former league Arkansas twister is an
exact copy of a former team and the
Mississippi mud cats a very close copy
of a former team as well the league says
there's a good explanation for that all
of these previous trademarks on these
logos had expired so it was just good
business sense to reuse the team name
and those logos to lock in on the fan
base that's already there the league
tells us that players are set to arrive
in the Roanoke area in the next week or
two in the studio Shayne Dwyer 10news
working for you