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Heat cancels its final home game By KRIS HENRY Kevin Wells' voice mailbox for his cell phone is full. Eric VanderWegen's home phone in Medford has been disconnected. And the National Indoor Football League front office took message after message when contacted Wednesday, with nary a call returned. All evidence that the Heat's house of cards has finally collapsed. To wit, Southern Oregon's scheduled home game tonight with the Utah Rattlers has been canceled due to the Heat's inability to afford rental space at the Jackson County Expo Park. "We won't be playing it due to the fact that we just don't have the funds to get the game on," Wells said in a voice mail left early Wednesday. Tonight's game was to be the last home game for the Heat this season, as well as the last chance for any incoming funds for the financially-troubled franchise. After the cancellation, the Heat's status is up in the air for the rest of the season. Besides tonight's scheduled home game against Utah, the Heat was slated to finish the season with road games at Yakima, Wash. (June 21), Tupelo, Miss. (July 7), and Rapid City, S.D. (July 12). NIFL President Carolyn Shiver, Utah GM Robert Redmiles and Wells did not return phone calls and therefore were unavailable for comment as of press time. VanderWegen, the Heat's head coach, was also unavailable. Shiver had said last week that the league guaranteed that the Heat would finish out its season. She said the NIFL would provide financial backing to aid the Heat and its tapped-out owner. As of Wednesday night, the check apparently was still in the mail - something Chris Borovansky, manager of the Expo, has heard for weeks from league officials. With Wells out of the financial picture for the past few weeks, Borovansky said the league has been handling affairs for back-payments owed and use of the Expo. Borovansky said the Expo needed its full share of the $10,000 owed to free up use of the Inferno tonight. That figure, Borovansky said, was understood by the league but no payment has been made despite representations to suggest otherwise. "We had been told as late as three weeks ago that the check was in the mail," Borovansky said of his league dealings. "We had offered to take less than the full amount owed us to get the game off the ground but the league reneged on that at several points." Borovansky said his group has bent over backwards for Wells and the Heat, adding that he sympathizes with the owner and bears no ill feelings toward him. "Our problem has never been with Kevin," said Borovansky. "Our problem has been with the league office and representations that have been made that haven't been followed through. "We've been Kevin's biggest supporter," he added. "We wanted to see this go as much as anyone. The people that came (to Heat games) I think enjoyed what went on and I think it was good for the community. It's one of those bad breaks all around." Borovansky said the Expo facility is rented out based on a guaranteed percentage of gross revenues, with the group making a few concessions to Wells with its fee of $1,000 against 10 percent of the nightly gross. Despite canceling the game early Wednesday, Wells actually attempted to find alternate financing later in the day before finally pulling the plug around 3 p.m. "He was trying to put together some options for financing and they fell through and he felt that in good faith he couldn't force the issue and possibly put a bad product out there," said Borovansky. The Heat (1-9) is not the only NIFL franchise to suffer through tough times this year. Tonight's scheduled opponent, the Utah Rattlers, had its season saved with a mid-season owner change. The Heat's opponent last week, the Mobile Seagulls, also had a mid-season owner change, but the state of that franchise is far from secure these days. The Mobile Register reported Wednesday that Seagulls owner David Stevens plans to move his team from Mobile, Ala., due to a lack of support from city officials and football fans. Stevens told the Register that his team will likely make its remaining home games road games, and that the Seagulls (5-4) could land in Mississippi for next season. An arenafootball2 franchise is slated to play in Mobile, Ala., next season. The Seagulls averaged between 800 and 1,200 fans - a slight step below the Heat's following at the Inferno. Reach reporter Kris Henry at 776-4488, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.