Birmingham Americans - Financial Fallout

Financial Fallout

In early November 1974, Alabama Attorney General Bill Baxley filed suit in Jefferson County Circuit Court for a tax lien against the team's property. The suit sought to recover the US$30,000 in state income withholding taxes and more than US$57,000 in sales taxes for August and September 1974 (plus a then-undetermined amount due for October 1974) due to the state of Alabama. The judge ordered Jefferson County's sheriff to "attach the property, real, personal and mixed, of the defendant, wherever it may be in Jefferson County." The team also admitted it owed roughly US$14,000 in back sales taxes to both Jefferson County and to the city of Birmingham.

The Birmingham motel where the coaching staff had its offices evicted the team for non-payment on November 14. At that time, the Americans had not paid their players for five weeks, nor their staff and coaches for two weeks. On November 18, 1974, the Internal Revenue Service filed its own tax liens of about US$237,000 against the Americans and US$160,000 against team owner Bill Putnam.

Putnam announced at a press conference that he was trying to raise the funds to pay the team's debts. He reported that the team had taken in about US$2.3 million in gate receipts to that point, which left him "only $300,000 short of operating the club", but revealed that the team had also "paid out over $1.2 million in bonuses to future players." He asserted that the team would not be in such dire financial straits if that bonus money had not been paid. Putnam said that he would need to raise US$750,000 by November 28 so the team could pay back taxes due to the state, county, and city as well as the salaries of players who had not been paid in four weeks. He said "If the money comes from Birmingham, we'll stay here but if the money comes from people in Timbuktu who want the team in Timbuktu, them we'll move there." Putnam said a group from New York was interested in purchasing the Americans. Putnam speculated that one reason he had been unable to secure "local money" to invest in the franchise was that local interests were still hoping to bring an NFL franchise to the city.