Lingerie football won’t kick off at Family Arena
June 24, 2012 by admin
Filed under Latest Lingerie News
UPDATED at 4 p.m. with comments from league chairman
ST. CHARLES • The Lingerie Football League’s new St. Louis franchise won’t play at the Family Arena after failing to reach agreement on a contract with St. Charles County officials.
“In the end, we just felt it wasn’t a good fit and didn’t make sense from a business or a public relations standpoint,” County Executive Steve Ehlmann said in a news release Friday.
An Ehlmann aide, John Sonderegger, said the league wouldn’t provide financial guarantees that the county had required to reserve game dates next year at the county-owned facility in St. Charles.
Officials with the league – which features female teams attired in sports bras, shorts, football pads and helmets - said they remain committed to St. Louis.
“We cannot comment on current discussions with several other venues until we have a signed agreement,” Mitchell Mortaza, the league’s founder and chairman, said in an email.
League officials wouldn’t say what alternative locations are being sought for the team, which was recently named the St. Louis Saints after an online vote by potential fans.
Tryouts scheduled for Sunday will go on as planned. They will be at Vetta Sports’ south St. Louis County location at 12320 Old Tesson Road from noon to 3 p.m.
The league’s website asks “prospective athletes” who show up to be prepared for speed, agility and strength drills and to bring “a full body picture” to leave behind with the team.
The league had announced a month ago that a St. Louis expansion team would begin play next April at the Family Arena.
County officials said then that the league had jumped the gun with its statement because a contract had yet to be worked out.
Ehlmann on Friday said a three-person county committee had determined that the lingerie league didn’t violate an arena policy barring events advocating violence, sexual depravity, illegal behavior or degradation of certain groups.
Ehlmann added that just because the arena is called Family Arena, not every event there is “suitable for every member of the family.”
“We’ve had Bill Maher and Dennis Miller there, and I wouldn’t recommend their acts for children,” he said, referring to two politically-oriented comedians.
Mortaza, in his email statement, didn’t comment on Ehlmann’s statement. However, he did take a rhetorical jab at the county.
“Family Arena was never Plan A,” Mortaza said. “Our arenas and stadiums around the country are all top-tier NBA/NHL/NFL type facilities run by sophisticated groups. Family Arena did not meet either of those requirements.”
