Promoter’s Football Blues

A South Dakota indoor football team has been sued for $19,000 by Full Throttle Productions for nonpayment after the company promoted shows on the team’s behalf.

Mike Ballard of Full Throttle Productions alleges that Howard Neal, owner of the Rapid City Flying Aces, asked that his company promote concerts for the team, according to the Rapid City Journal.

The suit alleges that the owners of the team pocketed gate receipts and 20 percent of the bar sales for a March 8th Jackyl concert at Venue 8 in Rapid City and failed to make a down payment on a scheduled FireHouse show that was to take place a few weeks later, according to the Journal. Full Throttle paid $19,000 for the bands and equipment, the suit claims.

The suit also charges that the Flying Aces have taken in an estimated $140,000 in five weeks, but haven’t paid up.

But team co-owner Paul Brennan, in a statement to a 7th Circuit Court of Appeals Judge, said the allegations are false and that Full Throttle actually owes money to the team. He said Full Throttle never presented a written agreement regarding the concerts.

The newly formed team was off to a 6-0 start and has drawn crowds averaging 2,800 per game to the city’s Rushmore Plaza Civic Centre Arena, according to the paper, but the problems with Full Throttle aren’t the team’s only.

Team GM and coach Dan Maciejczak told the paper that Flying Aces owner Neal left town in mid-April, leaving “the community high and dry” with as much as $50,000 in unpaid bills. Maciejczak said the team is trying to work out a repayment schedule and is looking for local investors.

Even the players, staff and cheerleaders are waiting for payments, according to the coach. Meanwhile, other teams are making offers to unpaid Rapid City players.

Mike Ballard also owns Full Throttle Saloon in Sturgis, S.D., which is reportedly the biggest biker bar in the world.