Birmingham Iron General Manager Joe Pendry acknowledged a payroll “glitch” delayed players’ pay, but he disputed reports that a $250 million investment from Carolina Hurricanes owner Tom Dundon to the Alliance of American Football was a needed to save the fledgling spring football league.
"You cannot say the league is not in position to pay players," Pendry said today.
The Athletic reported Dundon’s $250 million investment was needed to keep the league afloat, and sports business reporter Darren Rovell tweeted the league did not pay players after its Week 1 games.
Pendry said players are scheduled to be paid on the Friday after each game, but the league changed payroll companies last week. That change, he said, delayed players' weekly check until this week.
That meant players were not paid last week -- the week after the first weekend of games and just before suiting up for Week 2.
Since banks were closed Monday for Presidents Day, Pendry said players received payments today. Players will presumably receive pay for Week 2 games on Friday as scheduled.
Pendry dismissed the notion that Dundon’s investment saved the league, as did Alliance co-founder Charlie Ebersol in an interview with the Associated Press.
“It’s not to keep the league afloat,” Pendry said. “That’s not his reason. (Dundon) sees the future of the league. That’s his reason for being involved in it. That was not it at all, as far as him coming in to keep the league afloat. They’ve got other investors.”
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Pendry instead said Dundon's decision to join the league as an investor and become chairman of the league is positive.
"It means to us that we're glad we've got people interested to invest in what we've got going here, what we're doing for players and giving them another opportunity," Pendry said. "It's a new company that had a glitch in one area that simultaneously there happened to be a release coming out about a new investor. If either one of those would have been separate timing, they'd be nothing, but because they came out at the same time, it's a semi-story.
"For a Birmingham Iron fan, this is good, because we've got another investor."
Dundon is a a primary investor in Topgolf, according to the Associated Press, and he’s also co-founder of Trinity Forest Golf Club in Dallas, home of the PGA Tour’s AT&T Byron Nelson tournament, and majority owner of Employer Direct Healthcare.
Birmingham (2-0) makes its first road trip this week against the Atlanta Legends.