Financial struggles left the Baltimore Blackbirds players and coaches unpaid the final two games of the season, but that may only be the start of the team’s problems.

“I know players are upset,” Baltimore coach Chris Simpson said. “Because of the situation, they don’t know if they want to play with the team anymore.”

Due to scheduling issues late in the season, the Blackbirds — the American Indoor Football Association’s expansion franchise in 2007 — ended the season in debt. Blackbirds owner Alexander Austin has not been able to pay his players and coaches for games on May 27 and June 1.

“Those are things first-year teams encounter,” Austin said. “Those are things that we’re going to rectify. We are going to take care of it. That’s just what we do.”

This story continues below
Advertisement

Austin said he told players during a team meeting this past Sunday they would receive their compensation by Sept. 1. Austin said players and coaches would split approximately $14,000.

However, John Wolfe, the team’s vice president and director of corporate operations, said the lapse in payment could lead to players quitting the team.

“I’m sure it is possible we could lose some players over this, but I think the core group of players we want back understand the business side of things,” Wolfe said.

The players and coaches were paid for the first 11 games of the season within two or three days after each game, ahead of the league-mandated seven.

“We are just asking for patience while we get things worked out,” Wolfe said.

Wolfe said the team’s schedule was root of the team’s financial problems.

The Blackbirds’ first three home games at 1st Mariner Arena were held on Saturday nights and brought in an average of 3,100 fans per game. But the team sold approximately just 3,000 tickets combined for their final two games — played on a Monday and Friday — according to the arena’s audit.

The Blackbirds front-office staff is trying to schedule all home games next season on Saturday nights.