ELF: League Commissioner Patrick Esume comments on Prague Lions situation

| American Football | 07/25/2023

During the latest episode of the Sami on the Road podcast of the Football Bromance group, the European League of Football Commissioner Patrick Esume was asked about the current situation with the Prague Lions.

For context, the Prague Lions recently cancelled their game Sunday against the Fehervar Enthroners after players refused to play following the resignation of head coach Zach Harrod, the departure of 6’9 quarterback Nate Cox, and a multitude of unpaid debts including player salaries for June and May.

Esume was of course asked about the controversy as this could mark the second team in the ELF dropping out of the league in less than a month as the Leipzig Kings announced their inability to continue on July 11th. 

“What’s going on in my head, I can’t share here. What everyone must understand. Prague is its own company. You can’t make statements for a separate company, even if it’s your partner. Prague has to make the statements.”

The league commissioner was apparently on a call with the team Friday evening trying to convince the team to play. However, this was unsuccessful as the Prague players who had not practiced all week in a sort of strike, voted not to make the trip to Hungary.

“The players decided not to play and they have their reasons for doing so, which are probably justified. Now Prague has soul searching to do. There will certainly be changes. I’ll jump right back on the call when I leave here, with ownership groups also from America, to see that they come back in next week and it continues”

Esume did compare the situations in Prague and Leipzig as ELF fans hope the Lions won’t follow the Kings into financial insolvency.

“The big difference to Leipzig is that there are actually owners here who say: ‘we want to invest in this thing here, it has to go on’. The willingness to continue is there. The conditions are completely different. All our franchises are our partners, but they are also their own corporations. We do everything in our power. However, a few things are out of our control”

As of writing this, the Prague Lions are scheduled to host the Wroclaw Panthers in the Czech capital this Saturday, July 29 at 16:00 CET. No word on the game’s status has been released yet.

Special thanks too Around the ELF for translating this:

Alex is a former NCAA and semi-pro American football player who is now located in London, where he works in digital marketing. His goal in writing for AFI is to stay involved with the game that has given him so much. Alex enjoys covering leagues and