The AFLE Conundrum
- Jordan Pryor
- 1 hour ago
- 8 min read
American Football continues to make news with our friends across the pond, and there is a lot to cover this offseason. Shortly after the end of the 2025 European League of Football (ELF) season, there was an outcry from ownership for better transparency and a more democratic style of league management.
Team owners became frustrated with ELF CEO Zeljko Karajica at the helm. Money was not coming in, sponsors were not paying up, and the entire league reeked of a potential collapse, all while Zeljko strangled teams financially by the necks of their contracts–contracts he could not pay out, mind you.
The “Almost” Divorce
Eleven clubs banded together to build the European Football Alliance (EFA), an alternative to the ELF with the end goal of financial transparency and managerial freedom. On the Fourth Down Fiasco podcast, we were very honest in our take that the EFA was primarily a leverage play, and that the league itself would likely never come to fruition due to lack of time and sponsors.
I’ll toot our horn here and say: we were right.
It wasn’t long before the EFA forced Zeljko’s hand by cancelling their contracts. This set up the EFA and the ELF coming to terms, allowing for a board of governors, forcing Zeljko to step down as CEO, and requiring him to sell most of his shares, bringing his ownership status down to less than 15%—per sources. That stake also comes with provisions he must follow, or his shares will be depleted to under 10%.
Not to mention, the old split was 75% of revenue going to the league and 25% to the teams, but that has now flipped, ensuring teams are getting the majority of revenue moving forward. A massive win for the EFA, which is now the governing body of the ELF.
Additionally, with the new board of governors the EFA has established, they will collectively approve or deny new programs based on talent, region, and other KPIs to judge whether they are a competitive fit for the EFA. In theory, this should mitigate non-competitive teams like the Enthroners and the Centurions.
The new expansion teams are currently going through this process to become established in the league, and less-competitive teams like the Mercenaries are also going through the process in an attempt to prove they can create a viable product on the field.
Overall, the approach should lead to more nuance in the standings and more parity in the league as a whole. All of these processes are good and keep the vision and integrity of the league at the forefront of operations. All good things.
So, everything is fine, right? RIGHT..?
No…
It can never be that easy. In a world where it seems like the EFA won and the future of the ELF seemed as strong as ever, it is only appropriate that we throw a wrench in the machine and fuck everything up.
Queue the Undertaker’s Theme Song
Just when it looked like the European League of Football had survived its own civil war and settled into a new world order under the EFA, a fresh challenger slides out from under the apron: The American Football League of Europe (AFLE).
This league, spearheaded by Vikings owner, Robin Lumsden, has reportedly brought in an investor willing to drop $10 million into this new league. Sounds massive, right? The catch: the setup looks eerily similar to the old ELF model, where the real power sits with one central figure instead of with the teams.
The offer on the table, per sources:
$300K upfront payout for each team
5% of revenue
12% gross interest
On paper, that sounds like easy money. But here’s the twist: 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.
Now, you’re probably thinking, “There is no way they’re pulling $30 million in gross revenue in three years.” And you’d be right. After paying coaches, players, staff, media teams, stadium costs, taxes, and everyone else in between, the odds of having $30 million just lying around are slim to none. So why would anyone sign up for a deal that looks like ELF 2.0 in terms of ownership and control?
In our view, there are two realistic explanations:
This is a high-leverage play to force Zeljko completely out of the picture.
This is a cash grab for team owners who have been bleeding money for years.
The Cash Grab Option
We can start with the more nefarious option because this is fun, and there is nothing we love more than drama. To begin, let’s be brutally honest about the state of some of the teams circling the AFLE right now:
Berlin is bankrupt.
Stuttgart is in solvency.
Rhein has financial problems.
Munich could be staring down legal issues, given they’re minority owners in the ELF, but reportedly plan to play in the AFLE.
That is the majority of the established teams–as we still don’t know enough about Paris 2.0, London, Monaco, etc.–currently geared up to play for the AFLE.
On top of team financial constraints, the AFLE is dangling serious money to get teams on board. There’s talk of a $600K offer to the Prague Black Panthers, and we’ve heard of this investor reaching out directly to players, trying to poach them from ELF rosters with undisclosed sums—Galaxy players in particular have been mentioned.
For struggling clubs and underpaid players, that kind of money is hard to walk away from. It’s a quick injection of cash into organizations that have been operating on fumes. Does it fix long-term sustainability? Not really. But if you’re an owner staring down debt, or a player who’s been promised the world and paid in peanuts, this looks like a lifeline. Viable, tangible cash.
I’m not saying owners would grab the bag and disappear overnight—but business is business. Taking the money might be the smartest move for them, even if it’s not the best for the league’s long-term health. The agreement they currently have is a non-compete agreement, so if the team owners sell high, it’s up to someone else to clean up the mess.
Again, I am not claiming that all the owners sell as soon as the 2026 season is over, but business is like poker, and sometimes you need to know when to walk away. Cashing out $600K, is the correct time to walk away…
The Leverage Option
This is the option we’ve been leaning toward the most on the Fourth Down Fiasco podcast. The idea here isn’t to burn the whole European American Football landscape to the ground; it’s to finish what the EFA started and completely remove Zeljko from any position of real power. The EFA move forced him to step down as CEO, sell most of his shares, and accept a new system where teams finally see the majority of revenue.
But, to quote the great Kobe Bryant: “Job’s not finished.”
If the endgame for certain teams has always been getting Zeljko out, then we’re only halfway there. Teams and their governors have more control than any single investor now, but there is still power in Zeljko’s voice. So, if some team governors are dead set on a Zeljko-less league, why not push again, similar to what the EFA did?
In this scenario, the AFLE is just another pressure point. There’s a world where the AFLE puts so much strain on the ELF that it triggers a hostile takeover, or the ELF simply collapses under the weight of all this drama, leaving EFA-aligned teams looking for a new home—and finding it in the AFLE. Either way, the desired outcome for that camp is simple: Zeljko out, team owners in.
The Third Option: The AFLE is Legit
Okay, fine… I’ll entertain the idea that the AFLE is a legitimate league with legitimate investors. I don’t want to go down this path, but I’m sure I’ll get a few nasty messages from high-ranking personnel if I don’t.
Let’s say it all works out for the AFLE. Let’s say they get the money, the expansion teams pull it together in time for the 2026 season, and boom—they have a league. On paper, that sounds exciting. In reality, two opposing leagues of this magnitude would be TERRIBLE for European American Football.
You’d have:
Split deals
Split allegiances
Split viewership
And ultimately, not enough fans—at least right now—to sustain both.
Both leagues would have their powerhouse names and flagship brands. Fans—the ones actually bringing in the money—are not likely to carve out time, money, and emotional investment for two separate leagues. They’ll keep rooting for their hometown teams like they always have. That loyalty doesn’t automatically double just because there’s another logo on the market.
Now add in the highest number of expansion teams we’ve ever seen in a single offseason. Such a task should take years to properly complete (hence why the ELF’s London team is set for 2027). It just seems like too much of a rush, with too many moving parts, involving too many fan bases that would need to be built from scratch, in a very short window. That’s not a recipe for stability. It’s a recipe for both leagues stretching themselves thin and flirting with financial collapse.
How is that for examining the third option?
The Real Problem at Hand
Here’s the most maddening part of all this:
This entire situation is foggier than London in December.
This article, to be fully transparent, is built on information shared with us by team owners, players, and various inside sources. It is, by nature, speculative. What we were told could be wrong. The numbers might be off. Different people are seeing different pieces of the puzzle, and nobody seems to have the full picture.
Some examples of what we’ve been hearing:
An anonymous A-import called the ELF “a damn shell of a corporation” and claimed many ELF employees have already jumped ship to the AFLE while ELF owners are posing as though the ELF is currently firing on all cylinders.
An unnamed Surge player said it’s unlikely the Surge even play football in 2026, despite whatever is being hinted at in AFLE communications.
Multiple UK-based ELF insiders insist there will not be a London team in 2026, no matter what the AFLE is suggesting. Yet some players told us a London team has already reached out to them.
The Alpine Rams who were once going through the ELF vetting process have since switched to the AFLE.
A long-time friend of one of the AFLE owner’s said that Prince Albert II will be the one funding the Monaco team. There hasn’t been a claim against, but I personally doubt this.
Owners on both sides are pointing fingers at each other, each claiming the other is the problem.
So much for “transparency.”
One homegrown player who plans to stay with their current team told us the AFLE is working toward more openness—but as fans, we haven’t seen much of that yet. The EFA was founded in the name of transparency. The AFLE is being sold under the same banner. And still, here we all are, sitting in a pitch-black room with no real information, just rumors and power plays.
No matter how the ELF vs. AFLE heavyweight bout ends—whether it’s a merger, a hostile takeover, or mutual destruction, the ones taking the punches right now are the fans and the players. People who have such a love for the game of football that they would participate—in whatever capacity—with a European league that doesn’t have the same backing or funding as the NFL. People who simply love football. And those people are caught in the crossfire of a handful of rich guys who can’t seem to play nice in the sandbox.
And sadly, that might be the most consistent trend in European American Football.